BSOD on boot

[Ailthas]

Backstory: a few nights ago my wife's computer started to blue screen while playing WoW. I was thinking it was an overheating issue so we took it apart for spring cleaning and put it back together again. It still blue screened, and then the next day it wouldn't even go to POST, I couldn't even get the video to register. I removed everything, even swapped power supplies, pulled the video card and went to the onboard. Nothing worked. I took the hard drive as someone suggested and put it in my PC and scanned it and it seems fine, though it had already been unplugged so couldn't be the issue.

So... Whether incorrectly or not I purchased a new motherboard and installed it. Now it can post, however now I get a blue screen soon after Vista begins to boot. It won't even boot into safe mode. I've tried researching the problem but answers are ranging from delete certain files to the HD must be bad. So I put it back in my PC, did the longer disk check, and even tried to use it to boot from my PC and it's still failing, and not even a restore is helping. It either stops at AVGIDSEH.SYS or CRCDISK.SYS, but I'm beginning to think neither of those files are actually the issue.

My next step was going to be to try and just reinstall Vista, but I have the upgrade version and it seems it will only allow me to start the process from within windows. But even if I found a way around that, I don't want to just do that if the HD really is bad. But what are the odds of both the MB and HD going bad exactly at the same time?

Any ideas would be most extremely helpful at this point.

[mtber4life889]

Have you checked your RAM?

[ayako]

Take a picture of the BIOS in the Sata AHCI/RAID options window and post.

[MistaFista]

Boot from the cd and select repair my computer, you probably have some corrupt files on your HDD. If you haven't already i would scan it for malware using super anti spyware. is the motherboard you purchased the same one you had in it before?
Most of the time if you change the motherboard type it changes the chip-set and will cause blue-screen issues, i would also dump vista back up your data and go ahead and install windows 7 if the aforementioned do not work.

[Ailthas]

I'm hoping you mean

As for the memory, I tried one or the other chip, neither made a change. That, and I also tried the HD in a different PC with the same results.

---------- Post added 2011-03-30 at 06:42 PM ----------

Boot from the cd and select repair my computer, you probably have some corrupt files on your HDD. If you haven't already i would scan it for malware using super anti spyware. is the motherboard you purchased the same one you had in it before?
Most of the time if you change the motherboard type it changes the chip-set and will cause blue-screen issues, i would also dump vista back up your data and go ahead and install windows 7 if the aforementioned do not work.

No it is not the same motherboard as before. I'm not sure how to get around that issue if that is really the case though since I can't get into Windows. I have tried the repair option, and even a restore from the 24th. Neither have worked.

While I can see going to 7 might work, I don't want to spend $100 to do it if the HD really did go bad, then spend even more time and money waiting on a HD to get here.

[Asera]

Is the replacement motherboard the EXACT same board?

If not, there's a chance the SATA controller isn't the same, which will cause these problems you are having.

[Gnomenfogger]

its more than likely a corrupted kernal in Vista. A reinstallation would fix that.

[Ailthas]

Is the replacement motherboard the EXACT same board?

If not, there's a chance the SATA controller isn't the same, which will cause these problems you are having.

It is not the same motherboard. But I am really not sure how I would go about adding in anything now that it's done.

its more than likely a corrupted kernal in Vista. A reinstallation would fix that.

Like I said in the original post, I am having issues reinstalling since it is the upgrade version and I can't get into windows.

[MistaFista]

You also stated its a different mobo, that is your issue right there. When you change the boards the chip set changes and causes that blue screen. You will have to back up all the data from the original hard drive to a usb stick or an external hard drive and reinstall windows.
There is also a program called "Hard drive Sentinel" it monitors your hdd for bad sectors and the like, it also tells you how much health your hdd has and if it is going bad and how long it will last, there may be a free version of this i am not 100% sure.

[Lagwin]

if it is a diffrent board you would be aswell doing a clean install of your OS.

[Ailthas]

OK so there's an agreement it's not the hard drive and I'm screwed unless I reinstall. The original install was from an OEM XP that I couldn't use anymore since the code I received with it doesn't work anymore which is why I got the upgrade to Vista. Since I can't use the upgrade to Vista without actually starting it from within windows, unless there actually is a way, then I probably have to just suck it up and go to 7.

That said, before I jump into that, my 7 is also an upgrade. Will I be able to do that without being in windows, and will it allow me to run it until I can get a new code for my wife's PC?

[Deleted]

OK so there's an agreement it's not the hard drive and I'm screwed unless I reinstall. The original install was from an OEM XP that I couldn't use anymore since the code I received with it doesn't work anymore which is why I got the upgrade to Vista. Since I can't use the upgrade to Vista without actually starting it from within windows, unless there actually is a way, then I probably have to just suck it up and go to 7.

That said, before I jump into that, my 7 is also an upgrade. Will I be able to do that without being in windows, and will it allow me to run it until I can get a new code for my wife's PC?

The upgrade CD (I assume you got one) should be bootable on its own and permit a clean installation. You'll have 30 days to sort out the licence afterwards. Sometimes though, you can still get a Upgrade Key to work on a new machine, though it might be necessary to make a call to Microsoft to fix it.

Keep in mind that Upgrade keys are normally not valid unless the machine in question has successfully authenticated with a previous version of Windows. The requirement doesn't lie in there currently being a Windows OS on it, just that there has at some point (maybe within the last 3 months though) been a legitimate installation that has successfully been properly validated with Microsoft. (Which also rules out pirated copies since they don't do this)

For the time being, the last try I can suggest is to try and find the IDE/AHCI/RAID storage setting in BIOS and trying to switch between the IDE/AHCI setting. Sometimes the wrong setting here can cause problems because windows is not expecting the correct type of boot device, especially since defaults settings here tends to vary. Sometimes you'll get AHCI by default - sometimes IDE.

[Wries]

I recall in windows ME days (yeah lol I had that) at least that you could do a clean install with the upgrade CD and that it would ask you to put in the CD for windows 98 (in this case) during installation so it knew you had an os to upgrade from. I would imagine the upgrade DVD for vista could ask for your XP-key during a clean install.

For Windows 7, I think Paul Thurrott published an article/note that you could install (clean) the windows 7 upgrade version (with no key put in during install) and then put the dvd in again and choose to upgrade from your unlicensed trial of windows 7. Now that's just lol.

[Deleted]

For Windows 7, I recall Paul Thurrott published an article/note that you could install (clean) the windows 7 upgrade version (with no key put in during install) and then put the dvd in again and choose to upgrade from your unlicensed trial of windows 7. Now that's just lol.

It works with Windows 7 - as in fact I have as of yet to use my Upgrade CD to perform an... upgrade installation. And you can get through the entire installation process without entering a single key. Again, see the 30 day to activate period. (Which reminds me I need to validate my Laptop, forgot to enter its key when I reinstalled)

Thus far I've just always installed Windows XP _afterwards_ on a separate partition, validated it with an old XP key, then booted up and validated Windows 7 with the upgrade key. Never been a problem.

[ayako]

Is the replacement motherboard the EXACT same board?

If not, there's a chance the SATA controller isn't the same, which will cause these problems you are having.

That was my suspicion hence wanting to see his hard drive setup