Vista/Longhorn Beta Loads to Black Screen

[xsimatrix]

OK, so my longhorn beta is loading up just like xp does cept in black and white and then after loading is goes to a black screen and stays their forever, I left he computer on for some time and nothing.

I then installed winxp pro on a different partition and booting up xp was succesful and smooth.

I am not sure what is wrong, My first guess was video drivers, but seing that my videocard is not that new, (2003/04 - nvidia 5700fxLE agp 8.0 ).

Can some one give me some suggestions to getting this to load up properly.

[therealwesty]

Can we get a few more details about your system? List the complete system spec's including the motherboard, CPU, hard drives etc. Are you using SATA hard drives? I've seen similar issues when the SATA drivers don't work right during istall. I'll be able to see if there is anything behind this hunch once we see your specs.

[AMDfan]

I pulled this straight off the longhorn DVD. I think it may be ur problem.

"This note applies only to Windows "Longhorn," not Windows Server "Longhorn."

The graphic device drivers included in Windows "Longhorn" Beta 1 do not support the ATI X700 AGP or X800XL AGP graphics devices. Because the PCI-Express versions of these graphics devices are supported, and the AGP versions have the same device ID, Windows "Longhorn" will attempt to install the PCI-Express version of the driver. This can result in a black display screen on computers with the X700 AGP or the X800XL AGP devices. To work around this problem, start your computer in VGA display mode and install the latest ATI Catalyst XDDM display driver."

[Ace]

Edcoppen - hence it seems this does not apply, given we're talking about entirely different cards. Ximatrix's doesn't even come in a PCI-Express version AFAIK. However, that's an interesting issue you've brought to our attention. Top marks to MS once more for their faultless driver support.

Xsimatrix - ensure all other HDDs, RAID Arrays & Controllers are disabled or physically disconnected. If this wasn't the case when you tried installing it, then I'd do so, format and reinstall. Failing that, you may well also need to disable SATA controllers and move onto good ol' fashioned PATA HDDs as Westy says. I think Westy and I both have fallen foul of MS' crappy SATA driver support in Longhorn so far :)