Running Vista Ultimate 64-bit and after I boot into vista for the FIRST TIME ONLY I get a lock up after ~5 minutes. At first I can't switch to some programs (Mouse will still move) and some programs are "usable", but after another ~15 secs the system completely locks up. If I do nothing, the system will reset after a few minutes, but normally I just reset the system manually.

This does not happen when I boot in the 2nd time (Although If I reset AGAIN it does happen usually... but it does not seem 100% for the 3rd/5th/etc boots).

This is 100% of the time. I boot up my computer, do some stuff for ~5 minutes while I wait for it... reset and it works FINE for the reset of the night until I shut it down or have to reset again. I can't think of a time Vista has locked up on me other then doing this weird thing... (Unless I'm OCing/etc).

What do you mean by "reset"?
Is it recent event, or it's been like this for a while?

By reset I mean my computer will restart and boot to the login screen.

It has been doing it for 6+ months now, I don't remember if it was doing it when I installed Vista as I had some other things I was working out also so I'm not sure.

Please, post some computer info:
- processor type, amount of RAM (hold Windows key, hit Pause/Break key)
- hard drive size/free space (open "My Computer", right click on hard drive letter, click "Properties")

Does same thing happen in Safe Mode?

I had it in my profile, but here is my system.

System: MSI P6N Diamond
C2D E8400 (3.25 GHz)
4gb (2x2gb) OCZ SLI DDR2 (850MHz)
XFX 9800 GTX+ XXX Edition
WD Cavier SE16 500gb SATA 3.0 HD
PC P&C 750 Quad Power Supply
Operating System: Vista Ultimate 64-bit

Over 200gb of free space on HD. I have Vista installed on a 100gb partition.

Not tried safe mode, I'll test that.

Anyone have an idea here?

I'm so glad someone else is having this issue. I am having this EXACT ISSUE and it's very odd.

It's a new PC custom built, it was working at first but now every single day the first boot it will freeze within 5 minutes.

Below is an email I sent to the Tech Support team earlier today:

I am having an issue with a desktop that I had delivered on Nov. 6th where the system after booting up from a “cold start” locks up after the OS has loaded.

Once Vista loads I can maneuver around and do tasks for about 5 minutes until the system completely locks up hard. Can’t even get to the task-manager and have to do a hard restart with pressing in the power button.

Once I do the hard restart the system comes back up and then it works fine until I go to shut it down for the evening/night and restart it the next day where the same issue happens again. This happens every day.

It appears that the lockup occurs after the system has been off for a extended period of time; if I have to do a hard boot from a lockup and start it up within a minute or so, then I don’t experience any freezes.

I kept the PC turned on this past weekend from Friday night to Sunday night, I don’t like doing that but I did it so that I didn’t have to fight with the system this weekend and all weekend it worked great.

Troubleshooting:
1. System Event logs are routinely checked when I have the freezes.
2. Regularly I see errors for WMI and Kerbros security authentication
3. I have turned off all auto updates thinking that an update was kicking off that was causing the freezes… no luck
4. The system has been put back to the base image with nothing else installed but Vista 64 and again it still freezes
5. CPU and System Board temps are all running cool

System:
• Intel 9550 CPU
• 4GB DDR 3
• Vista 64
• ATI 4870 1GB gfx
• Asus Motherboard

Well, just looking at your system specs, the ONLY thing in commin is Vista 64... different CPU, ram, graphics, and boards.

Does not seem to be happening in safe mode. I've boot into it several times and no lockups.

Anyone have any idea on this?

Ralith,

You said you have an MSI P6N, correct? That board uses an NVIDIA 680i chipset, right? Do you have the nForce chipset drivers installed?

Assuming you answered yes to all of the above, follow these directions (for directions involving the Control Panel, make sure you're using Classic View):

1. Download and install Driver Sweeper.

2. Go to Programs and Features in the Control Panel and uninstall all NVIDIA drivers (other than the display driver).

3. Reboot the computer. While it is rebooting, boot into safe mode by tapping F8 while the computer is booting and selecting Safe Mode.

4. Run Driver Sweeper. Check the box by NVIDIA - Chipset and hit Clean. Once it is finished, close the program and restart the computer, this time regularly.

5. Go to Administrative Tools in the Control Panel and select Device Manager.

6. In the Device Manager look under the Storage Controllers, IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, and SCSI and RAID Controllers sections for any entry called Nvidia SATA controller (or something similar). Uninstall all of these by right clicking on them and selecting Properties, then selecting the Driver tab, and finally selecting Uninstall Driver.

7. After you have uninstalled the drivers for all of the Nvidia SATA controller entries (after you uninstall one, the rest may disappear, in which case you don't need to do anything else), restart the computer.

And that's all there is to it. Let us know if this helps with your problem.