critical system driver missing

N

Norguaard

New Member
My vista 64 machine decided to no longer boot yesterday. It kept giving me a message that a critical system driver is missing, or corrupt. Said:
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Insert your windows installation disk and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language setting, and then click "next."
3. Click "Repair your computer."

When I put my original Vista64 disc in the drive it sometimes loads and sometimes not. Even when it loads files it still locks with the same message, but with different drivers corrupt each time. It will not get to any screen where I can actually work with windows. I disconnected my hard drive thinking that might be the problem but no difference.

This computer is a couple of years old and had a lot of problems at first with vista 64 but has been working very well for over a year.

I don't even know where to start on getting this running again. I was going to just install a new hard drive but that obviously is not going to work since I cannot get my vista install disk to even boot well.

I have an EVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLI motherboard with 4 megs ram, qx9770 quad core processor, and MSI 280 GPU.

Any ideas? This was expensive to build and was supposed to last me a lot longer than a couple of years.
Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    QX9650 (black box) [email protected]
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Premium
    Memory
    8GB-4x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR 2-1066
    Graphics card(s)
    2 x ASUS EAH 4870 X 2 (Quad)
    Sound Card
    Supreme FX 2
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Fujitsu Siemens 22inch flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    150 Gig WD Raptor 300 Gig Maxtor 300 Gig Maxtor, (External)
    PSU
    CoolerMaster 1000
    Case
    CoolerMaster N-Vidia stacker 830
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12P x 1x120mm fan, 6x120mm case fans
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Internet Speed
    20Mbps
    Other Info
    Audio FX Pro 5+1 gaming head set
I have, I just noticed, an "anytime upgrade" OEM of Vista 64, with SP1 on it. My computer has SP2 installed so I don't think my Vista disc will help me at all. I did actually set the CD as the number one device a while back in this problem.

I just received Win7 Home Premium 64 anytime upgrade disc. It also will not load and work.

Could it be a problem with my motherboard? Or do I need to buy a retail version of win7? Or Vista64?
 

My Computer

System One

My other question is: My Vista64 is Ultimate. Does that mean I need to get the Win7 Ultimate upgrade or full version to be able to fix this? Or will any of the retail versions of Win7 64 work?
 

My Computer

System One

Norguaard said:
I have, I just noticed, an "anytime upgrade" OEM of Vista 64, with SP1 on it. My computer has SP2 installed so I don't think my Vista disc will help me at all. I did actually set the CD as the number one device a while back in this problem.

I just received Win7 Home Premium 64 anytime upgrade disc. It also will not load and work.

Could it be a problem with my motherboard? Or do I need to buy a retail version of win7? Or Vista64?
Click to expand...

Norguaard said:
My other question is: My Vista64 is Ultimate. Does that mean I need to get the Win7 Ultimate upgrade or full version to be able to fix this? Or will any of the retail versions of Win7 64 work?
Click to expand...

Have you tried to boot in to safe mode ?.
Also can you check in the Bios to see if all your drives are being recognised, HDD/DVD/CD.
Your Vista disk should work as all it will be doing is to repair the start up portion of your OS.
It could be your MB, DVD, DVD/CD drive, or even your HDD.
The upgrade will work regardless of which OS you have at the moment. It will just overwrite it.
If there is a Bios update i would try that first, if there is a problem with the MB this will sometimes give it a kick start.
Unfortunately there is no easy fix for this.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    QX9650 (black box) [email protected]
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Premium
    Memory
    8GB-4x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR 2-1066
    Graphics card(s)
    2 x ASUS EAH 4870 X 2 (Quad)
    Sound Card
    Supreme FX 2
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Fujitsu Siemens 22inch flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    150 Gig WD Raptor 300 Gig Maxtor 300 Gig Maxtor, (External)
    PSU
    CoolerMaster 1000
    Case
    CoolerMaster N-Vidia stacker 830
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12P x 1x120mm fan, 6x120mm case fans
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Internet Speed
    20Mbps
    Other Info
    Audio FX Pro 5+1 gaming head set
Noorguard,

You could try open up the computer and make sure all cables are properly attached, and blow out some dust at the same time.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS720
    CPU
    Intel Quad Q6600 2.40GHz
    Motherboard
    Dell 0YU822, NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI SPP / SLI MCP
    Memory
    4GB DDR2 800MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Gainward GeForce GTX 560 Ti, 1024 MB GDDR5
    Sound Card
    Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 2407WFP-HC
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    NVIDIA 640GB SATA Raid 0 (2x320GB) (7200 rpm) for Vista, Intel X25-M G2 160 GB for W7, Maxtor OT III External HDD, WD Elements 1 TB External HDD
    Internet Speed
    100/20
    Other Info
    M779 PCIe PAL/SECAM/DVB-T Desktop TV Tuner. Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller.
I have tried to boot to safe mode but get the exact same message, only the corrupt or missing file changes. The computer does indeed recognize all of my hardware. I have tried both DVD drives to hold the installation disc. The installation disc will load some files then lock, or sometimes load all the files then whenever it seems like it wants to try to do something I get the blue screen. Every time.

I have opened the computer, blown out the dust, unplugged and replugged the drives. No difference.

I have not tried to update the bios. I have always been afraid to do that, and I cannot download any info to this computer.

I appreciate the replies and am listening to any and all advice.
 

My Computer

System One

You have not mentioned any overclocking so I'm guessing that nothing is overclocked.
You need to start eliminating hardware problems.
Remove all the memory and try one stick at a time. Give that a go and post your results. Good luck.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    QX9650 (black box) [email protected]
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Premium
    Memory
    8GB-4x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR 2-1066
    Graphics card(s)
    2 x ASUS EAH 4870 X 2 (Quad)
    Sound Card
    Supreme FX 2
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Fujitsu Siemens 22inch flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    150 Gig WD Raptor 300 Gig Maxtor 300 Gig Maxtor, (External)
    PSU
    CoolerMaster 1000
    Case
    CoolerMaster N-Vidia stacker 830
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12P x 1x120mm fan, 6x120mm case fans
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Internet Speed
    20Mbps
    Other Info
    Audio FX Pro 5+1 gaming head set
Also if there is anything you can think of that may have triggered this. Installation, update, power failure...
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS720
    CPU
    Intel Quad Q6600 2.40GHz
    Motherboard
    Dell 0YU822, NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI SPP / SLI MCP
    Memory
    4GB DDR2 800MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Gainward GeForce GTX 560 Ti, 1024 MB GDDR5
    Sound Card
    Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 2407WFP-HC
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    NVIDIA 640GB SATA Raid 0 (2x320GB) (7200 rpm) for Vista, Intel X25-M G2 160 GB for W7, Maxtor OT III External HDD, WD Elements 1 TB External HDD
    Internet Speed
    100/20
    Other Info
    M779 PCIe PAL/SECAM/DVB-T Desktop TV Tuner. Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller.
Thank you very much, Stoneys. That worked. Turns out one of my 2gb memory sticks had corrupted the memory slot. Works fine now. Thank you very, very much. This was so frustrating.....
 

My Computer

System One

Your very welcome. Glad you got it fixed. :party:
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    QX9650 (black box) [email protected]
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Premium
    Memory
    8GB-4x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR 2-1066
    Graphics card(s)
    2 x ASUS EAH 4870 X 2 (Quad)
    Sound Card
    Supreme FX 2
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Fujitsu Siemens 22inch flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    150 Gig WD Raptor 300 Gig Maxtor 300 Gig Maxtor, (External)
    PSU
    CoolerMaster 1000
    Case
    CoolerMaster N-Vidia stacker 830
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12P x 1x120mm fan, 6x120mm case fans
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Internet Speed
    20Mbps
    Other Info
    Audio FX Pro 5+1 gaming head set
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