0x0000007B Error During Vista HP 64Bit Setup

[Blackfyre88]

Hello, im new to the forums and was hoping that i could get a solution to the problem im having installing windows vista HP 64 bit. This is long story but its better to have all of the details about a problem so you know what your up against, than not have all of them and not be able to come up with a solution.

Here are all of the parts that i have, the MOBO that i ordered is not open box, i wouldnt be dumb enough to buy one of those, but it is the same MOBO linked here just not open box.

MOBO Newegg.com - ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
RAM Newegg.com - Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
DVD Newegg.com - LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - CD / DVD Burners
OS Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - Operating Systems
CPU Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Power Supply Newegg.com - COOLMAX CUG-950B 950W ATX12V V.2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies
Video Card Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
HDD Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

When i finally managed to get all of these parts, i put them all together in a case and booted it up, everything ran great so i flashed the bios to the most recent version and began my install of vista.

I put the cd in and it prompted me to start from cd/dvd, which i did, and it began the installation. i put in the product key, selected my HDD, created a partition on it (the entire disk) formatted the partition, and began the installation. Oddly enough, it copied all of the files instantly to the HDD and when it went to expand the files, it only took about 10 minutes, the rest of the installation process was instant as well. It restarted, however when it got to the screen with Microsoft Corporation and the little green loading bar underneath it, after about 5 seconds of that, it came up with a BSOD but it flashed by to quickly for me to read it, so i disabled automatic restart on system failure so that i could jot down the error code, and this was it:

*** STOP: 0x0000007b (0xFFFFFA60005AF900, 0x0FFFFFFFFC0000034, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000)

I did some reasearch and the 0x7B code is a boot error, not sure what the other 2 parameters are however. I read up on some forums about SATA drives being out dated and causing problems with vista installation, so i updated mine, and no luck, also read a lot about settings in the bios which can cause vista installation problems, which i tried every setting people on other forums were telling me, not only individual settings but every combination of those settings that i could think of and no luck. Another bad thing is, since i purchased the OS from newegg as OEM, microsoft wont offer me customer support unless i pay 60 bucks a month for it and they tell me to go to newegg for support since thats who i bought it from, but newegg doesnt have technical support. so its a freaky version of a catch 22 i suppose. Anywho, thank you all for your time in reading this and hopefully someone here can assist me with my issue. Ive been working on this for a little over 3 weeks now and my patience is starting to run a little low heh.

This pay check im going to attempt the install on an IDE HDD instead of a SATA because thats another thing that ive heard might effect the install. So wish me luck, again thank you all for your time.

My email is Andrew Vanderboegh (at) brooks . af. mi if anyone has any suggestions and you wanted to contact me directly.

[mjc]

With Vista, the error message should have some more detail...see if you can catch what it says...

What are you using to partition and format the drive?

Use the drive manufacturer's diagnostics to 'zero fill' the drive and start from scratch. Then use the Vista media to partition and format the drive.

How much RAM is installed when trying to run the Vista setup?

If more than 2 GB, drop to 2 GB or less, just for the install...Setup can have problems with larger amounts of RAM on some systems.

[Blackfyre88]

My HDD didnt come with a CD to format the drive, think its cause i got it OEM, but i use the vista software to create the partition and to format the drive, and currently im only using 2 GB of ram, which is the smallest portion of ram i have available, from what i can remember, the BSOD states that Windows has shut down to prevent any damage to your computer, then it says something along the lines of, if you have recently added any new hardwar, to remove it and try again, but all im using right now is the bare minimum, ram, video card, cpu, DVD drive and HDD. I have formatted the drive through DOS and tried it and again, BSOD came up after first reboot after installation is completed. and one more small detail, since i am clean installing, i dont have access to the web or anything like that. Hope that helps with the diagnostics.

[mjc]

The drive software is available for download, from the manufacturer's website...usually an ISO of the CD that is included with the retail drive is available, too.

If this is happening after the first reboot, then you may actually need to use the option to install the SATA drivers for your motherboard, during the install. Although, a P35 should have native Vista drivers, it just may be that it doesn't.

[Blackfyre88]

At the current point in time my SATA drivers are up do date, i updated them through vista after downloading the update through asus onto a flash drive just a couple of days ago

[mjc]

Ok...what is your BIOS version?

Is there a BIOS level AV...boot sector protection?

If so, disable it during the install.

[Blackfyre88]

My bios version is 1202 not sure about the protection option, ill double check it when i get home from work and see if it helps at all, ill post you on that either later tonight, or tomorrow

[Blackfyre88]

I looked under every category of my BIOS and didnt find anything even relative to Boot Sector Protection