Windows wont start

[SCW]

I just put together my computer, installed vista, but would not start. So i tried installing it again, got the same problem. I reformatted the drive i intalled it on and now it says "Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets the criteria for installation". Anyone have any ideas?

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by SCW

I just put together my computer, installed vista, but would not start. So i tried installing it again, got the same problem. I reformatted the drive i intalled it on and now it says "Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets the criteria for installation". Anyone have any ideas?

How many hard drives? If more than one unplug one.

[CMetaphor]

I had the same problem for a long while, but found a stupid solution. Put the hard drive you want to install windows to first in the boot order (doesnt matter how many other hard drives are hooked up afaik). Works for me everytime since... Something to do with skipping past the hard drive when its empty (nothing on it) to the dvd rom for the install then after the reset it goes to the new copied windows install files on the hard drive first. hope it helps!

[SCW]

I have set the hard drive as the first boot option and have tried only having one hard drive hooked up aswell and Vista still refuses to complete its install. This is after it has unpacked everything, installed updates, but i get the BSOD when it tries "completing installation". Any ideas?

[Supergrover]

Have you tryed running any diagnostics on the hdd? What make?

What about installing to a different drive and cloning everything over? I know kinda a pain but it's 6 am and thats all i can think of before I go to work.

[CGW]

Just to clarify, I'm SCW'd dad, and between us we've tried just about every switch we could find to get Vista to load.

It seems to have installed 99.9% of Vista and then chokes at the end. It unpacks, installs, loads, but when it says "finishing installation" and reboots we get the "starting windows for the first time" screen and then it crashes. The BSOD says it's shutting down to avoid damaging the system ( a real cheery thought eh?) but we've checked temps and there's no conflicts that we can see.

When we restart PC it askes us if we want safe mode etc......but no matter what we choose it either freezes or BSOD

We've tried with both HD, single drive, played w/BIOS settings, restored to default, reseated all cards and wires, we finally tried to install XP, and that crashed too. Which leads me to believe Windows doesn't like something in the hardware or BIOS.

Any ideas? I've posted the system ayone see a conflict?

[3.0charlie]

Hardware / Win drivers issue - I'm pretty sure.

Have you tried loading with minimal hardware, ie. PSU, CPU, 1 stick of Ram, 1 HDD and DVD? Also, change temporarely the video card to a PCI one, if you can.

Are you sure that the BIOS is supplying enough volts to the CPU and Ram? I would try and bump both voltages one notch.

John

[CGW]

I checked voltages and temps last night, they were at spec. If I were to "bump upa notch", err, how much doyou suggest?
BTW at work so can't play with it til I get home tonight...

[3.0charlie]

I meant in the sense that the default voltage may not be enough to provide stability. What is one notch? If default is 1.3250V for the CPU, bump to 1.35V. Same for the Ram - 1.8V default, bump to 1.9V. I never believed that a CPU could be unstable @ default voltage, until it happened to me.

John

[Infiniti]

Maybe its the RAM?
Try and take out one stick at a time and then boot the PC up, do that until you have one stick left.... If that still doesnt make it boot, then it might be that one or more pieces of hardware are dead.. Try taking them out one by one and testing.. Hope this helps...