Vista driver errors

[poehunter]

Hi, I'm working on putting a new computer together, and I'm having trouble with Vista. Randomly, while installing drivers, the system locks up, and when I reset, it gives me a blank screen, reset again, and another blank screen, 3rd time reset, it gives me the "windows did not shut down properly" message, I try to start normally and it tells me the registry is corrupted or missing.

Any thoughts as to what might be the problem?

Vista32 Home Premium
Gigabyte S-Series GA-M57SLI-S4 rev2
4GB RAM Patriot DDR2 6400
400GB Seagate HDD (SATA 3.0)
EVGA nVidia 8800GT 512MB
Athlon 64 X2 2.6GHz
OCZ 600W PS
2 LG DVDRW drives (SATA 3.0)

now, I'vew already updated BIOS to the newest version, but it was having the same problem with the old BIOS. And I checked all 4GB with the Microsoft Memory Diagnostic (the downloadable one, not the Vista one) extended tests, they didn't show any problems.

thanks

 

[KSoD]

Use only 1 stick of RAM and fully update to SP1. Then put the other sticks of RAM in. Also read how you are limiting yourself with 4GB of RAM and 32 Bit OS.

http://www.techist.com/forums/f9/difference-between-32-bit-x86-64-bit-x64-171390/#post1349279

 

[poehunter]

Well, here's the thing, SP1 is preinstalled with the copy of Vista. Any other thoughts?

I've been thinking about it, and it seems that the crashes happen when new drivers are installed, not when new software is installed. Firefox for example installs without issues, which leads me to think that it's a Vista issue, rather than a hardware issue. But if anyone knows of a hardware failure that is associated with this kind of problem, let me know.

And I understand the limitations of a 32-bit system and 4GB of RAM, but thank you

 

[Lexluethar]

Check the literature of each piece of hardware, ensuring that it is Vista compatable. Driver issues are with the hardware itself, NOT Vista. Do you think Microsoft goes out and writes code for millions of individual hardware products? Well they don't, this is up to the hardware manf. to update these drivers. And you would be supporised at how many drivers are not Vista compatable.

Double check the drivers and literature of each hardware piece.

 

[poehunter]

Yes, they are all Vista compatible, and it was the Vista drivers that were causing the crash.