Installing Vista Ultimate on Vostro 1700 BSOD loop!!

[airbear309]

Seems you got this problem fixed already but here's my two cents on the matter.

I just got my 1520 with Vista Premium and did a clean install of Ultimate - wiped everything off the disk. The install went fine right up until the last reboot. BSOD loop. !

Shut the system down, restarted and got the Windows did not shut down correctly message, selected normal startup and viola! Loads without an issue. So far so good.

Guess I found this thread a little late, oh well

[DoubleBlack]

If you have not loaded the ACHI drivers during installation, you will not be able to do a restart at all, and would only be able to boot sometimes. You really need to load the AHCI drivers DURING INSTALLATION (that is, unless you are using a Dell disk).

[Robert_P]

Im having the same Problems as all of you. Im running a Vostro 1700, and I cannot install the Dell Disk version of Vista Home Basic, without using the previously spoken of Matrix Drivers. I also cannot install Dell Disk version of XP - Period.

I contacted dell support techs and all they could do, after 2 hours of trouble shooting, was send me a replacement pre-flashed HD.
I have been soooo pissed off over this and Dells inadaquite, and merely temporary, assistance that I have decided to take matters into my own hand.

There is a site that Dell runs that basicly works like a blog for public petition over their products and services. I have raised this exact issue under the name "Fix issue regarding OS installation vs. SATA Hard Drive"

I invite you to all go to the site, and register, then 'promote' the proposal so that we can get some real fixes from Dell!

THIS IS THE LINK:
http://www.ideastorm.com/article/sho...ATA_Hard_Drive

[DoubleBlack]

Do you know anything about computers? This is the way they work...you can't just preflash a HDD and have it magically work, or change the BIOS - devices need drivers, and the HDD is no exception. You can complain all you want, the only way to get this "fixed" is to either contact Intel to tell them they need to base their AHCI controllers more standard, which would definitely not fly - or contact Microsoft telling them that they need to ship out all versions of Vista with YOUR AHCI driver, highly unlikely.

You are barking up the wrong tree, but do some research on HDD drivers (particularly with RAID and AHCI)

[Robert_P]

Woulda been nice if you would have put it like that earlier.

- still, why are many people having problems even booting their installation cds/dvds?

[Robert_P]

Also, are the drivers for the AHCI made for control of the HD, or the BIOS, or what? Mo-Bo, Processor?

[DoubleBlack]

AHCI is a special mode of operation for HDD's which speed up operations slightly in many cases, but require special drivers for the operating system to interpret the instructions correctly. So, the drivers are to control the HDD, it has nothing to do with the BIOS. However, if you wish to just make this entire process 10x easier just go into the BIOS and change HDD operation mode from AHCI to ATA and you'll be able to install the Vista disk with no additional drivers necessary

[Mojo]

My Vostro 1700 came out of the box from Dell without the AHCI driver installed. It would BSOD and go to windows error recovery screen in a loop until I disabled automatic restart on system failure and saw the STOP: 0x0000007B error. Then after googling it I was able to disable AHCI and it booted... Of course there was no Vista DVD included with the machine, so I can't do a reinstall w/ the correct drivers.

So now I'm waiting for them to ship me a replacement machine. Hopefully this one will include the Vista DVD (the tech said he ordered it).

[Devedander]

Originally Posted by DoubleBlack

AHCI is a special mode of operation for HDD's which speed up operations slightly in many cases, but require special drivers for the operating system to interpret the instructions correctly. So, the drivers are to control the HDD, it has nothing to do with the BIOS. However, if you wish to just make this entire process 10x easier just go into the BIOS and change HDD operation mode from AHCI to ATA and you'll be able to install the Vista disk with no additional drivers necessary

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't AHCI have to be on to enable Flash Cache? And doesn't FC provide legitimate tangible benefits to most users? I have heard it can do wonders for things like boot time and app loading as well as helping battery life and that it acts as a sort of readyboost that actually functions even before windows loads...

[Mojo]

You are correct. In order to switch from AHCI mode into ATA mode on the disk controller, it makes you disable Flash Cache first.

There has been some debate about the merits of the Intel Turbo Memory with some claiming that you are better off spending the money on extra RAM to get better performance and battery life. But the specs I saw from an article that was quoting HP was on a 1 GB machine where that's probably true -- maybe not for a 2 GB or 4 GB machine. HP also had a valid point that the end user might want more than the 512MB ReadyBoost provided by the Intel Turbo Memory card (split evenly with 512MB for ReadyDrive) by using a memory stick or SD card, which HP claims can be purchased for less than the internal Intel card.

I dunno, I bought my Vostro with the Intel Turbo Memory -- it was only $30 extra and since it's an internal card it allows the use of ReadyDrive. If ReadyDrive decreases boot time (intel claims 20% faster boot times), I think it's probably worthwhile -- if it saves 5 seconds per boot, then $30 is cheap if I boot more than 250 or so times over the life of the machine (and with the ReadyBoost features thrown in for free).