Windows VISTA never takes to the login screen

[Niraj19]

Hi

Here's the story...

I had been installing and using Windows XP (Professional and Home edition) on my pc. Whenever I install Windows VISTA (any edition and whether it is update install or clean install) then everything goes well. But As soon as the Windows take me to the VISTA desktop for the first time, a windows message dialog box appears saying "shutting down Windows". After that the system reboots and it never takes me to the Windows username/password screen.
All it does every time is to reboot, displaying something like " Loading GRLDR... Success" (in DOS command prompt like screen) and reboots over and over.

One more thing is that I have been formatting all the partitions of my hard disk (including the primary partition). Hard disk is perfectly clean and without any problems. But every time VISTA plays the same game

Now I am again using Windows XP.

What I don't understand is, if everything is success and as there is no hardware problem then what the hell is with VISTA!

Any comments/suggestions would be highly appreciated.

[Eric B]

It might be the your Windows Installer... Actually i have ever seen that if any OS which doesn't give you the Login screen then it has normally 2 reasons for it. In which one is that Windows Installer might have got corrupted or is got uninstalled & the second is that you are using the old version of Windows Installer.. So i will suggest you to install the latest Windows Installer ver. 4.5. I think that will solve your problem...! If require any further assistance be free to ask...!

[Sam.D]

If you've altered any BIOS configurations, I would advice you to set your BIOS to the factory default settings.

Also, view your harddrive from an outside source or attach it to another PC and see if you can retrieve your important data.

[Lillebror]

The problem is not vista, it's the user. Vista is only ment for new age machines so dont put it on your old computer that had XP on it because all the old software will not work and finding drivers will be harder then raising the dead.

[AustrAlien]

reboot, displaying something like " Loading GRLDR... Success" (in DOS command prompt like screen) and reboots

The Grub boot loader (GRLDR) remains on the hard drive .... remove it to solve your issue with Vista.

[Niraj19]

The problem is not vista, it's the user. Vista is only ment for new age machines so dont put it on your old computer that had XP on it because all the old software will not work and finding drivers will be harder then raising the dead.

It should not be about old computer or new computer
I bought my PC with Windows VISTA Ultimate (installed). I have all drivers.
After a few weeks of that I removed VISTA and installed Windows XP Professional. I used it for quite a long time.

Later I formatted all of my hard disks and now I am in trouble.

Anyhow, that you for your suggestion.

[Tylon Foxx]

The Grub boot loader (GRLDR) remains on the hard drive .... remove it to solve your issue with Vista.

removing it leaves the MBR empty with no Oses stored.


Niraj: You must have used linux at one time or GRUB4DOS, else NTLDR or Vista's bootstrapping mechanism would have taken over instead of GRLDR.

You can probably solve this by throwing your Vista disk in the drive and bringing up the repair console. In here type "fixboot" (sans quotes) and see if that fixes the problem. Fixboot should overwrite the MBR to vista's bootloader, making you able to boot into Windows again.

If you have Linux as a secondary OS, you can usually get a liveCD and fix GRUB by reinstalling it. You can use part of the Gentoo install guide for this: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handboo...part=1&chap=10

Through a Live CD, you can usually get a look at your grub.conf file on your existing Linux partition for copy/pasting and reinstall GRUB through the console

Also before doing any of this, make sure that "Boot sector Virus protection" is turned OFF in BIOS. This feature disables any write operations to the MBR. That may also be the reason as to why GRLDR is stuck in the MBR after formatting.

[Niraj19]

removing it leaves the MBR empty with no Oses stored.


Niraj: You must have used linux at one time or GRUB4DOS, else NTLDR or Vista's bootstrapping mechanism would have taken over instead of GRLDR.

You can probably solve this by throwing your Vista disk in the drive and bringing up the repair console. In here type "fixboot" (sans quotes) and see if that fixes the problem. Fixboot should overwrite the MBR to vista's bootloader, making you able to boot into Windows again.

If you have Linux as a secondary OS, you can usually get a liveCD and fix GRUB by reinstalling it. You can use part of the Gentoo install guide for this: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handboo...part=1&chap=10

Through a Live CD, you can usually get a look at your grub.conf file on your existing Linux partition for copy/pasting and reinstall GRUB through the console

Also before doing any of this, make sure that "Boot sector Virus protection" is turned OFF in BIOS. This feature disables any write operations to the MBR. That may also be the reason as to why GRLDR is stuck in the MBR after formatting.

Hats Off to Tylon Foxx!

The problem has been solved