hi folks - let me start off with detailing my system just incase it has any relavance:

Q6600 G0
4x1gb Geil Ultra DDR2 800Mhz
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R Rev 2 (F4)
Point Of View 8800GT 512Mb (Standard Nvidia driver)
Samsung spinpoint 500mb Sata 2
case, 2 ide dvd writers etc etc.....

Ive got my new rig built - and its running stable.... now, however i cant install any updates at the moment.

Im running on Vista 64 Ultimate.

Built my system last week and installed vista, all ran fine - downloaded all available updates and installed them. Let the PC close down and reboot several times without issue. The following day i came back to the machine ad switched it on - managed to get to the desktop but got an error saying that i wasnt connected to a network (im connected to my router via cable).... then my system froze.

several reboots showed that this condition was consistant.... always locked me out at the same point. The windows sidebar would fail to load and the start menu would stay open - leaving me to close down via the power switch on the front of the PC.

Ive seen this before - as i was running on an ECS board untill last week and thought the motherboard with having some kind of compatibility issue with my Ram.

now, ive been able to boot into safe mode and run a system restore and get the machine back to the point where there are no updates installed - if i do this the system is 100% stable... as soon as i start installing updates i get the same situation regarding crashes again.

I've run stress tests on my memory, CPU, GPU and hard disk and they all seem fine. The system isnt overheating - infact ive got aftermarket coolers throughout the case and the temps are remaining quite low.

Obviously - when i switch the machine on now im getting prompted to install the updates, but i really dont want to have to keep going through the hassle of restoring all of the time.

Anyway had simlar issues with a simlar hardware setup and can point me in the direction of an update to avoid? I've been told that theres a certain update that the 8800 doesnt like - but im not sure which one it is.... can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks

First thing I'd do is check the Device Manager for conflicts. Next, in the networking center, you can try to repair your connection - If it can't, then it should tell you why.

thanks for the reply, theres no confilcts in device manager and the connection is fine now ive not applied any Windows updates - my troubles start when i DO apply the updates....

...and then i dont get to do anything with the pc as it just locks up on me.

The easy option is to simply refrain from downloading updates but obviously - i've paid for Windows... it'd be nice to be able to use them!

As a side note - no such issues when booting into Ubuntu 8.04....

Have you set up your RAM correctly in BIOS? Ballistic, Dominator, Reaper, 'Ultra', etc. PC6400 requires 2.0-2.1v. SP1 applys an overhaul of Superfetch. Your RAM needs to be set up properly in BIOS to run complicated software like your OS. Try running the system with 1 DIMM in slot one only. Run memtest86 and check for errors. Get memtest here.

http://majorgeeks.com/Ultimate_Boot_CD_d4981.html

yep - ram is setup correctly - with the correct voltages (the board comes with a standard setting of 1.8v and ive had to add +0.3v in the MIT settings).

Ran memtest and everything seems fine.