Vista - Empty background screen during Vista 64 bit install

I'm having a problem when trying to install Vista x64. I set the boot order right so that it reads off the DVD drive. I hit spacebar to begin running OS off of the DVD drive, and it proceeds to do so.

It gets through the "Loading Windows Files" white on black bar, and the "Microsoft Windows" dotted green bar. However when it jumps into the next screen, which is the standard Vista background (the wavy greenish/turquoise stuff) it shows the "working" symbol next to the cursor for about 10 seconds and then it goes away. It stays in this empty background with nothing happening. I can move the cursor around but the only thing there is the big background picture. It never progresses past that point.

I thought maybe it was a BIOS issue, so I installed XP, downloaded the latest BIOS and flashed the motherboard. Tried installing Vista, but get the same problems.

Here are the system specs, in case you need them:

ASUS P5N-E SLI
Intel Q6600
4 Gigs of DDR
150 GB Western Digital 10k Raptor
2 x 8800 GTX's in SLI
Generic DVD/CD drive. (Think it's a sony)
850Watt Enermax PSU


*NOTE* I have tried installing Vista with only 2 gigs of ram in the system, because I've heard you can't do a fresh install with more than 2, however I still get the same problem of empty background hangups. So it's clearly not a ram issue, or a BIOS version issue.

Any help would be appreciated.

**EDIT** I removed one of the video cards, as Vista x64 doesn't support SLI out of the box, but it didn't fix anything.

Anyone?....

What I don't see in your list is a sound card.
If you have one, unplug it.

Remove one of the two video cards.

Then, try again.

Once installed, reinstall the hardware with boots in between.

SLI and sound cards are problem areas.

Good luck!


"kntgsp" <kntgsp.2yk8i0@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
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