Vista - The BIOS in this sytem is not fully ACPI compliant

I'm needing a genuine "guru" to help resolve a serious problem. Hopefully
someone here is up for the challenge. The following is long but perhaps
necessary to provide information which would most likely be asked for
anyway. The system is just short of a year old and has been working
perfectly up until yesterday.

System Specs:
Windows Vista Ultimate and XP Home (dual-boot)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
Asus M2N-E
Mushkin PC2 5300 667 - 3 gigs
EVGA GeForce 7600 GT KO
Antec NS 430 Watt
WD 250 gig SATA II x2

Problem:
Most of the time when I bootup I get a BSOD with the following message:

I removed the CMOS battery and reset the BIOS with the mb jumper. No change.
I just now tried "Last known good configuration" for the second time today.
No change.

I following the insructions in a MSKB article,
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/831691, that dealt with this error that
recommended removing the "hiberfil.sys" file, but I wasn't able to delete
it. When I tried to delete it I got an error message saying "File not
found"??? But it is definitely there.

I wondered if the same anomalies I'm seeing in Vista also would be in XP.
So, I tried booting into XP (dual-boot) system and the bootup hung and the
bootscreen logo. So, I can't get into XP to find out. I then used Vista
BootPro 3.3 to restore a saved backup but no change. I pulled the mb battery
and reset the BIOS with the mb jumper, no change. I have run 2 memory
diagnostic tests both with no errors. I have run WD's "Data Lifeguard
Diagnostic" utility and all passed with flying colors. I have tried booting
into "Last known good configuration", but again, no change. And I decided to
restore a week-old True Image backup, using the Boot Disk, but clicking
"Next" on the first screen of the Restore feature, the system hung and I got
one loud, long beep. I had to hard reboot to escape. I've flashed the BIOS
with 3 different versions, no change. I've also tried System Restore with 3
different restore points

I booted with the Vista DVD and ran the Boot repair/check and no errors.
Also ran Vista/Microsoft RAM diagnostic even though memtest86 said no errors
and Microsoft's test was good too. I ran WD's "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic"
utility, both Quick and Advanced with no errors or problems. I removed the
last two "Hot Fixes", uninstalled Logitech Mouse drivers, disabled the
Sidebar, etc. No change.

The only real change I have made is to install a new Samsung 931c LCD
monitor. And, I even disconnected that and tried an old CRT monitor out of
desperation.... no change. I am running the latest Nvidia drivers v. 162.66
and reverted back to an earlier version 158.44 and no change.
Another very strange anomaly is after the system boots into Windows Vista,
if I click on the Start Orb to open the Start Menu, a very long line of "+"
symbols fills the field. After about 30 seconds the same Search results are
displayed above. I can use "Ctrl + a" to select all the "+" signs and delete
them which then reverts the Start Menu to the way it should be. These same
"+" signs will appear in the "Instant Search" box of Windows Explorer if I
open that first.

Hapkido wrote:My guess would be that your motherboard or processor (or possibly RAM)
has failed.
Probably motherboard. (There is little to go wrong with the RAM if it's
been working for a year and you're not overclocking it (too much)).

Alun Harford

Hapkido wrote:
I have the same machine almost and it's been faultless - and since XP is
also having trouble it is unlikely a Vista problem or any OS problem.
That MS is power hungry IMHO judging by the heat coming off that big
heatsink tube and with the 7600 SLI card mine gets pretty warm.

I wonder if your 450 watt PSU is big enough and whether it's on the way
out. If this problem just recently started it may be worth a try. My
biggest machine has 1000 Watt

Where do you live? It's been damned hot in Iowa recently and if, like
me, you prefer to leave machines running than risk thermal shock by keep
turning them off then maybe a bigger PSU would work out a cheaper
diagnostic option.

Also we had a lot of thunderstorms and of course that brings with it
power glitches.

Have to triend turning off all power management features in your BIOS?

As far as the + signs go, what happens when you open notepad, or any other text editor, like word?. Do the +++++++'s begin to appear there also? That could be indicative of a bad keyboard/keyboard controller, in which case you need to check motherboard drivers.

If you're using a USB keyboard, try replacing that with a PS/2 based keyboard, or if not possible, then enable Legacy USB support in your BIOS also.

"Hapkido" <hapkidomeister@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:uGn9RcA6HHA.5316@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...change.today.
<snip>

First off, you cannot simply delete your hiberfil.sys

you need to turn off hyberantion (from in the control panel)


I'd do so from withing both operating systems.

Even though you have reflashed your bios...I'd still have one more look
everywhere you can possibly look
(see advanced settings etc) to see if there is anything having to do with
ACPI that you might have missed.

Next try things such as underclocking the RAM and/or CPU.

I've often worked around some very odd glitches by slightly underclocking

Without jumping the gun here, I believe you have found the problem. I
switched keyboards; removing the MS Natural Ergonomic 4000 (USB 2.0) and
going back to my previous MS Natural Elite (PS-2). I've been able to reboot
several times with no BSOD, no "+" signs in the "Search Now" field nor
anywhere else where they were appearing.... etc. In short, everything seems
to be back to normal and working 100%. I can't believe it..... roflol.

So now, how can I determine whether it is a faulty keyboard or the keyboard
controller has a problem? They keyboard can be tested by trying another
similar one and seeing if the problem resurfaces. But if it is the keyboard
controller wouldn't that have the same effect on any/all keyboards?

THANKS!! :~)


"dzomlija" <dzomlija.2vxpq3@no-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:dzomlija.2vxpq3@no-mx.forums.net...

Glad to be of service.

I Think the point was, if another keyboard resulted in the same errors, then the Keyboard Controller would be at fault. But the problem has gone away, so it's a safe bet to assume that the keyboard itself was at fault.

What does the the "bad" keyboard do on another machine?