Article ID: 946532 - Last Review: April 10, 2008 - Revision: 2.2

When you start a Windows Vista-based computer, the system may stop responding (hang) at a black screen

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Support for Windows Vista without any service packs installed ended on April 13, 2010. To continue receiving security updates for Windows, make sure you're running Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 (SP2). For more information, refer to this Microsoft web page: Support is ending for some versions of Windows (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/help/end-support-windows-xp-sp2-windows-vista-without-service-packs)

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SYMPTOMS

When you start a Windows Vista-based computer, the system may stop responding (hang) at a black screen.

Additionally, you may experience the following symptoms when you try to recover from this problem:
  • If you restart the computer, press F8 before the Windows Vista progress indicator appears, and then click the Safe Mode option, the same problem occurs.
  • If you start Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to restore the Windows Vista-based computer, WinRE stops responding.
  • If you try to use Windows Vista installation media to repair the system, the system stops responding.
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CAUSE

This problem may occur because of file system corruption within the $Txf directory. This corruption causes a deadlock condition between the Transactional NTFS (TxF) process and the Autocheck process.
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WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, perform a clean installation or a parallel installation of Windows Vista.

Warning In a clean installation, existing data is deleted. This data includes personal data and settings. After you install the operating system, you must also reinstall all programs.

For more information about how to reinstall Windows Vista, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
918884  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918884/ ) How to install Windows Vista
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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was corrected in Windows Vista Service Pack 1.
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MORE INFORMATION

Windows Vista introduces the TxF technology. TxF enables file operations on an NTFS file system volume to be performed in transactions. For more information about TxF, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365456.aspx (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365456.aspx)
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APPLIES TO
  • Windows Vista Business
  • Windows Vista Enterprise
  • Windows Vista Home Basic
  • Windows Vista Home Premium
  • Windows Vista Ultimate
  • Windows Vista Business 64-bit Edition
  • Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit Edition
  • Windows Vista Home Basic 64-bit Edition
  • Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition
  • Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit Edition
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Keywords: 
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