Dell Inspiron 1520 Boot Issues / Vista

The Dell Drivers CD also... when was best to present it?

I defer to Dell's reinstall instructions but from your reply I can't tell if Windows is installed yet. That is, a complete install according to Dell.
Bob

I'm not sure what you mean. I am using this PC now, fine. It's just the fact that I am stuck in the loop when I restart it. I have to shut it down and start it up. Hot vs Cold Boot I guess. I have reinstalled all drivers that I know of.

Here is a good ex) of another.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=190249

Here is the best I could find that sums up the driver issue. (or so it seems) I just don't know how to proceed and fix it now?

http://www.west-wind.com/Weblog/posts/146590.aspx

I'm left to guess if you installed Dell's drivers or not. Be a little more forthcoming next time.

Ok. I installed the Dell drivers after I formated the drive and reinstalled Vista. When/where can one offer to install the Dell drivers before the Vista install?

You can't install drivers before you install Vista.

Because I was confused.

I reformatted the drive. (Deleted old partitions)

Installed Vista.

Installed drivers inside Vista.

Now, I'm where I'm at. Do you understand what that article means about installing the ACHI driver on a USB flash drive during installation? I don't know where to install it other than in Windows. I thought it meant that it should be installed as Vista is installed.

Vista has basic SATA support so I never had to supply any AHCI driver during the install.

HOWEVER since this is a Dell product we would always use the procedure Dell told us about.
Bob

It says if I turn the ACHI driver off in Bios and switch to the SATA option it will fix the "reboot" problem. However, by doing this I first have to turn off the "Flash Module" option in the Bios for this Laptop. I'm not sure about the consequences of doing that...?

I found the exact steps listed by Dell.

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?journalid=6D1CDD45DF92FFF2E040AE0AB8E175AA&docid=339949#man_osri_task4

I followed this, so I really have no idea how I'm supposed to load that ACHI driver before Vista installs.

was intended to mean "the exact steps for reinstalling"

The consequences are almost NONE since we are wiping out and starting over. Besides we can always set the BIOS back and reload.

Since this machine came with Vista my approach has always been to take the bios defaults since Dell has been pretty consistent about the defaults being the correct choices when I'm using the OS the machine came with.

I see from your link the driver install order is pretty much the norm for Windows. Only in other makes do you use Recovery Media. Dell has been sticking to the older method of OS install then the drivers.
Bob

Okay, I just didn't know if turning it off would slow down my system or any have other negative downside. I guess I can always turn it back on. I totally agree with leaving the BIOS settings, but this is the only "fix" I can seem to find for my reboot/blue screen of death error that occurs ONLY UPON RESTART.

To be clear, the fix simply states without the driver being fixed, I have to turn off ACHI and switch to SATA in the BIOS. I have no clue if it works, but I guess I should try soon. If I don't find a fix for inside Windows, I will definitely be reformatting again hopefully "with a fix."

I just don't understand the driver issue and why it's fine on a normal boot up, but causes havoc on a restart.