Vista Freeze On Boot Screen

Hi guys,

I'll try to make this post short as easy to read.

Hardware:
* HP Pavilion Entertainment laptop
(Don't remember the exact model, as I haven't got the laptop in front
of me. I will include the model number + hardware spec when I get
home.)

Software:
* Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit.
* Installed all Windows Update.

Problems:
* When I start the laptop, it gets to the Vista's bootscreen (where
you see the progress bar). At that point, the laptop freezes. In fact,
it freezes before I can see the colored boxes in the progress-bar.
* If I force a cold shutdown (by holding down the power-button), and
then restart the laptop, it might load fine and everything would be
running fine (like there was never any problems).
* Assuming, it didn't freeze and loaded Vista successfully, then I
would shutdown Vista through the Start button.
* If I try to start the laptop again, it will freeze at the bootscreen
again.
* I cannot tell when it will freeze at the bootscreen.
* Every other time, it doesn't freeze at the bootscreen, and Vista
would load successfully.
* If I was to switch the laptop on and off about 10 times, 6 of the 10
times it would freeze at bootscree, and 4 of the 10 times it would
load normally.

Tried:
* Have formatted the HDD, and re-installed Vista.
* Updated all the latest drivers.
* Boot into Safe Mode, but Device Manager shows nothing wrong with
hardware.

This is a very strange issue. I have experienced many problems with
Windows in the past, but I have not seen anything like this before.
I'm thinking it could be a hardware problem. But every other time when
the laptop does load normally, I can't find any hardware problems
through Windows.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Chat with HP Support:
http://h50203.www5.hp.com/hpisweb/cu...&cc=us&lang=en

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows System & Performance

---------------------------------------------------------------

"Shawn H" wrote:

Hi guys,

I'll try to make this post short as easy to read.

Hardware:
* HP Pavilion Entertainment laptop
(Don't remember the exact model, as I haven't got the laptop in front
of me. I will include the model number + hardware spec when I get
home.)

Software:
* Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit.
* Installed all Windows Update.

Problems:
* When I start the laptop, it gets to the Vista's bootscreen (where
you see the progress bar). At that point, the laptop freezes. In fact,
it freezes before I can see the colored boxes in the progress-bar.
* If I force a cold shutdown (by holding down the power-button), and
then restart the laptop, it might load fine and everything would be
running fine (like there was never any problems).
* Assuming, it didn't freeze and loaded Vista successfully, then I
would shutdown Vista through the Start button.
* If I try to start the laptop again, it will freeze at the bootscreen
again.
* I cannot tell when it will freeze at the bootscreen.
* Every other time, it doesn't freeze at the bootscreen, and Vista
would load successfully.
* If I was to switch the laptop on and off about 10 times, 6 of the 10
times it would freeze at bootscree, and 4 of the 10 times it would
load normally.

Tried:
* Have formatted the HDD, and re-installed Vista.
* Updated all the latest drivers.
* Boot into Safe Mode, but Device Manager shows nothing wrong with
hardware.

This is a very strange issue. I have experienced many problems with
Windows in the past, but I have not seen anything like this before.
I'm thinking it could be a hardware problem. But every other time when
the laptop does load normally, I can't find any hardware problems
through Windows.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Can we assume since this is a laptop, that you don't have anything plugged
into it externally. If so, disconnect until after booting. Safe mode
doesn't load most of the drivers, so it is most likely a driver issue. Have
you tried low resolution mode? Just a note, the latest drivers are not
always the best ones. Sometimes a generation or two back will work and the
latest won't. What video is in the laptop?

I had that problem. Asus sent me a new BIOS to pop in and it fixed it.

Thanks for the replies guys. Here's what I tried lastnight:

I formatted the laptop (again), and then re-installed Vista Ultimate.

With that done, I just ran Vista as it is and everything was working
fine. I shut-down and re-started the laptop many times to see if it
would freeze up, but it never did.

I then installed most of the hardware drivers, but leaving out all the
Windows updates, and then shutdown/restart my laptop a few times, and
it didn't freeze either.

So I then went and installed the first 2 Windows updates (I thought
about doing 2 updates at a time because I was a little lazy), and then
shutdown/restart, and that's when it froze at the bootscreen.

So on my next successful bootup, I uninstalled 1 of the 2 updates I
installed previously (to see which one caused the problem), and then
rebooted and it didn't freeze on the bootscreen, so I thought maybe
that first update was causing the problem.

I then went and install the next 1 Windows update (different update to
the last 2), and then shutdown/restart the laptop. This time it froze
on the bootscreen again.
....

Before I formatted and re-installed Vista, I was so sure that it's a
hardware problem, but now I'm not so sure, because it seems that this
problem only occurs when I install Windows Updates. How bizzarre!!!

What do you guys think? Software or hardware?

[PiCo]

Originally Posted by Shawn H

Thanks for the replies guys. Here's what I tried lastnight:

I formatted the laptop (again), and then re-installed Vista Ultimate.

With that done, I just ran Vista as it is and everything was working
fine. I shut-down and re-started the laptop many times to see if it
would freeze up, but it never did.

I then installed most of the hardware drivers, but leaving out all the
Windows updates, and then shutdown/restart my laptop a few times, and
it didn't freeze either.

So I then went and installed the first 2 Windows updates (I thought
about doing 2 updates at a time because I was a little lazy), and then
shutdown/restart, and that's when it froze at the bootscreen.

So on my next successful bootup, I uninstalled 1 of the 2 updates I
installed previously (to see which one caused the problem), and then
rebooted and it didn't freeze on the bootscreen, so I thought maybe
that first update was causing the problem.

I then went and install the next 1 Windows update (different update to
the last 2), and then shutdown/restart the laptop. This time it froze
on the bootscreen again.
....

Before I formatted and re-installed Vista, I was so sure that it's a
hardware problem, but now I'm not so sure, because it seems that this
problem only occurs when I install Windows Updates. How bizzarre!!!

What do you guys think? Software or hardware?

Hi m8! I hope you're still reading this.

I can verify that I run Windows Ultimate on the same hardware for a whole year+ without ever updating, no freezes at all.

I then installed Vista Business and used Windows Update to install all 52 updates it had. From that time on, random freezes every 4-5 boot-ups.

So your question is Software or hardware? My answer is Windows Update! Do NOT ever use it! Just install the service packs :)