I Hate Vista

Thanks for the reply .  I am getting  these problems before I even install the ATI drivers and I always update my graghics cards from the maufacturers anyway. Dell haven't even got any drivers or software for these cards which bothers me.  I sent an e mail yesterday about this and got a stupid reply today with a link to completely different Ati drivers namely these  " ATI Theater™ 650 PRO Combo Analog/Digital TV Tuner"  Outsourcing to India is a Joke.  We in the UK have been putting up with that for a while now and theres not a good thing I can say about it.l

Can you go into safe mode and install the ATI drivers? I am like you, it is a total waste of effort to call Dell for any type of support.

No, once it starts blue screening and looping nothing can be done bar reinstall and start the game all over again.  I had a good reply on the XP forum from the Dell liason guy with what drivers to install and in what order but guess what, the same old story.  He starts of with Mediashield floppy at F6.  I'm wondering if its possible to get these drivers already packaged for a floppy as it could be the drivers that I use on my floppy at F6 that are wrong and causing the problem the minute I try installing anything.  Today I followed his instructions

1/ Floppy with sata and raid controllers

2/ Dell Desktop software   and it failed from here

 

next I tried this

 

1/Floppy with sata and raid controllers

2/SP2 upgrade as I was using my older SP1 XP disk  It failed from here

 

If I just install windows and nothing else I think its ok but to be fair I haven't tried restarting with just that configuration.

 

God hates me:smileyhappy: 

 

Please reinstall Vista and end this thread.

Success!!!!    I was using the wrong files on the floppy at the F6 prompt.  Here's the Install sequence that works. Restart whenever it asks you to.

 

1/  Floppy at F6 with R178505.exe (Mediashield Sata Drivers)

2/Dell desktop software (R176236.exe)then restart

3/Smbus Chipset Drivers (R132919.exe) then Restart

4/Next I was advised to install mediashield software (but Don't as you will have to restart with last known good configuration. (R176216.exe)

5/Audio drivers ALC888HD

6/Network adapter (r176513.exe) 

7/Video card drivers and software

8/Nvidia Performance Utility

9/Nvidia Monitor Utility

 

Just Like to say thank you to all who helped esp Boyd on this forum and Larry R the Dell liason on the XP forum 

That is great news. I always knew you could do it. That is why I suggested you not give up. You have learned much and that is why I play around with computers. For me, it's all about the learning experience. Your experience will also help others that find themselves in the same predicament as you.

Congratulations, and thanks to all that helped.