Vista freezes on boot at crcdisk.sys


Recommended Posts

Yesterday my notebook froze and I did a forced shutdown. When I restarted it, windows froze at the startup progress bar. I attempted to start in Safemode, but it froze at crcdisk.sys.

I tried disabling my various hardware devices in the bios, and eventually came to the conclusion that the cause of the problem is my Intel 3945 wireless card. If I disable this card, windows boots properly. As soon as I enable it, windows fails to boot.

I'm thinking it is a driver issue, but I can't uninstall the driver because it doesn't appear in the Device Manger if the hardware is disabled and I can't get into windows if it is enabled. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Adam

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/607761-vista-freezes-on-boot-at-crcdisksys/
Share on other sites

Yesterday my notebook froze and I did a forced shutdown. When I restarted it, windows froze at the startup progress bar. I attempted to start in Safemode, but it froze at crcdisk.sys.

I tried disabling my various hardware devices in the bios, and eventually came to the conclusion that the cause of the problem is my Intel 3945 wireless card. If I disable this card, windows boots properly. As soon as I enable it, windows fails to boot.

I'm thinking it is a driver issue, but I can't uninstall the driver because it doesn't appear in the Device Manger if the hardware is disabled and I can't get into windows if it is enabled. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Adam

http://search.microsoft.com/results.aspx?m...p;q=crcdisk.sys

That happen to me, but it takes only some seconds, after that it keeps loading other files and then start.

How much did you wait?

I've waited up to an hour.

Ok, that sounds like some corruption in the File System, have you tried to choose Last Know Good Configuration?

P.S.: You can boot into Windows, run CheckDisk or in the Boot Menu choose Directory Services Restore, or something like that.

Ok, that sounds like some corruption in the File System, have you tried to choose Last Know Good Configuration?

P.S.: You can boot into Windows, run CheckDisk or in the Boot Menu choose Directory Services Restore, or something like that.

I've tried "last known good configuration" with no success. Also tried Chkdisk and SpinRite and neither found disk problems. I also tried a repair using the Windows CD, but that too found no problems.

I still believe it is a driver or hardware issue with the Intel Wireless card because disabling it resolves the problem. I just don't know how to uninstall the driver if the device is disabled.

I still believe it is a driver or hardware issue with the Intel Wireless card because disabling it resolves the problem. I just don't know how to uninstall the driver if the device is disabled.

To uninstall the driver go to Add/Remove, Start Menu Folder for the driver (if there's any) or go to device manager, now right lick on the device and select uninstall, that should be enough...

To uninstall the driver go to Add/Remove, Start Menu Folder for the driver (if there's any) or go to device manager, now right lick on the device and select uninstall, that should be enough...

Driver does not appear in Add/Remove programs.

The device also does not appear in Device manager because I have disabled it in the bios, but as I mentioned before, if I enable it in the bios, Windows won't start. And that's my catch 22 situation...

If you press F8 right after POST, there should be an option to enable boot logging. Do that, and when it hangs, reboot off a CD into another OS, UBCD for example, and find (I think) boot.txt. It should list what loaded when Windows was starting. The last entry should be the problem-causing file. If it looks like a driver file, navigate to the Windows/system32 folder and rename it (don't delete it!).

Oh, have you tried the startup repair option? If you haven't, boot from your Vista DVD (hopefully your laptop came with a plain OS DVD), and there should be an option to repair, under the "Install now" button. Click that, choose your installation folder, and the Startup Repair option will check for various problems.

Driver does not appear in Add/Remove programs.

The device also does not appear in Device manager because I have disabled it in the bios, but as I mentioned before, if I enable it in the bios, Windows won't start. And that's my catch 22 situation...

Sorry, i've only understand that you disabled it through the BIOS.

Well, you can manually delete the driver files, however you need to know what files are.

Go to: C:\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers

now look at files description (put explorer in details view and add the needed tabs), then move the files to a new folder, then go to C:\WINDOWS\Inf and search files by name, based on the name of the driver files (eg, iw.sys -- iw.inf etc)

This is something hard to explain trough messages, lol.

See if there's an update for your BIOS.

P.S.: You need that device?

Problem just started out of nowhere. I didn't install any OS updates, drives, or software.

I will try the boot logging suggestion. I did try startup repair, but it didn't find any problems.

Yes, I do need the device, because without it I can't use wireless.

I believe the problem is a hardware issue. I reformatted the hard drive, then tried to reinstall Windows. The install would not start if my wireless card was enabled. I disabled the card and was able to install Windows. But still when I enable the wireless card, windows fails to boot.

I guess I will purchase a new internal wireless card. Thanks for all your suggestions.

  • 3 weeks later...

Well I replaced the wireless card and it did not resolve the problem. The only thing I can think of now is a faulty motherboard.

But I don't want to spend a couple hundred dollars for a new board unless I'm sure it's the problem.

The system passes all the tests when I use the Dell Diagnostics CD.

Any other suggestions?

One other thing to note is that I tried to boot off an Ubuntu 7.10 LiveCD and it also froze during boot, so I'm sure it's a hardware and not OS issue.

  • 3 months later...

Im not sure if you're still having problems, but I encountered the issue today and during the boot I enabled loading non signed drivers in the F8 menu. Booted right up. This is on Vista Ultimate 64 bit edition, shouldn't matter but I did want to mention that. Hope it helps.

  • 1 year later...

I am having this same problem, my wife was right clicking icons in the task bar and shutting them off, and screen went funky, so she rebooted the system, and this happened. i dont know what to do, i cant get into windows at all, through safe mode,last known, anything, it just hangs on the progress bar, or the crc file if i try safe mode.

  • 1 month later...

I'm having this same issue on a Toshiba Satellite A305-S6872.. I've read a couple of suggestion but I need neowin's help.

It's just a brand new install of windows xp home basic 32-bit. Fully updated through automatic updates and it stopped working suddenly. THe person claims that she didn't install anything new, and from what i've read this seems to happen a lot.

things that i will try:

-re installing vista and disabling automatic updates automatically

-disabling hibernation

-update bios if needed

- install drivers from manufactures website (not automatic updates)

- just install security updates

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums...b-3e1811899ce6/

here they're talking about renaming or deleting some files but I don't completely understand the instructions... please help guys. :)

what do you guys think?

  • 1 month later...
Yesterday my notebook froze and I did a forced shutdown. When I restarted it, windows froze at the startup progress bar. I attempted to start in Safemode, but it froze at crcdisk.sys.

I tried disabling my various hardware devices in the bios, and eventually came to the conclusion that the cause of the problem is my Intel 3945 wireless card. If I disable this card, windows boots properly. As soon as I enable it, windows fails to boot.

I'm thinking it is a driver issue, but I can't uninstall the driver because it doesn't appear in the Device Manger if the hardware is disabled and I can't get into windows if it is enabled. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Adam

~<Snip>~

Edited by Andrew-DB
Please do not condone piracy on this board.
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Simple answer is yes, you will still get the Windows updates and as long as browser is up to date, you will be good. Only thing secure boot does is protect you against boot level threats and make it harder to install other OS's. I've been looking into this pretty thoroughly lately myself as wifes computer has secure boot disabled plus my other, older computers that run Linux, don't have secure boot enabled. Have seen all kinds of questions about this on the Linux Mint and MX Linux forums. Just don't suddenly enable secure boot now.
    • How many other companies will follow Ford's lead? Or, have they already gotten lazy and become enslaved to AI--and now can't figure out how to get out of that mess.
    • Why would any self-respecting intelligent person follow any recommendation by Donald's GOP administration? With almost two years of fabrications, deceit, and blatantly illegal behavior, why believe them now? They had best be gone after the November 2026 election, so we'll wait and see.
    • AltSendme 0.4.1 by Razvan Serea AltSendme is a minimal, cross-platform application designed for fast, secure, and private peer-to-peer file transfers. It allows users to send files or entire directories directly between devices without relying on cloud servers, accounts, or any personal information. Everything is encrypted end-to-end using modern protocols like QUIC and TLS 1.3, ensuring both strong security and low-latency performance. Transfers are verified with BLAKE3 for data integrity, and interrupted downloads automatically resume, making the experience reliable even on unstable connections. You can transfer anything—images, videos, documents, and more. Integrity checks are performed on both ends, so your files are automatically verified for correctness during both sending and receiving. AltSendme works seamlessly across local networks or long-distance links, capable of saturating multi-gigabit connections for extremely fast delivery. With built-in NAT traversal and encrypted relay fallback, it connects devices almost anywhere. The app integrates with the Sendme CLI and will soon support mobile and web platforms. Fully free and open-source, AltSendme offers a lightweight, privacy-first alternative to traditional cloud-based services, removing size limits, upload costs, and unnecessary data exposure. AltSendme 0.4.1 changelog: Release Highlights Self-hosted relays: Run your own iroh relay so transfers don't rely on public infrastructure. Includes a full deployment template in deploy/relay/ with Docker Compose for a VPS and configuration examples for production use. Fly.io support: One-click deploy template for Fly.io, including a quick-start config (fly.dev.toml) for testing without a custom domain, plus production setup with Let's Encrypt and your own hostname. Relay settings UI: New Settings → Network panel to choose how AltSendme connects: automatic public relays, custom self-hosted URLs (with optional auth token), or disabled. Test connections, verify latency, and see live relay status in the footer. Disable relays: Turn off relay servers entirely when you only need same-network transfers (e.g. LAN). Direct connections only. No relay hop required when devices can reach each other. Android graduates from beta: Android is now part of the regular release cycle alongside desktop. APKs ship with each version (universal, arm64, and armv7). Other improvements Private relay access control via shared auth token Relay fallback notifications when a custom relay is unreachable Broadcast mode toggle in sharing settings Android release build fixes (split-per-ABI APKs, universal APK preservation) UI polish: mobile safe-area insets, dropzone layout, transfer progress animation Bug fixes for minification-related serialization issues and system tray icon loading What's Changed feat(relay): add relay status functionality and settings UI (a120cdf) feat(relay): implement custom relay server configuration and verification (51276c7) feat(relay): add configuration for private relay access and enhance observability features (48fbabf) feat(relay): enhance relay URL validation, display connection status (d4fffa0) feat(relay): add RelayChangeGuard component and enhance relay-related translations (16ba514) feat(broadcast): add toggle setting for broadcast mode in sharing UI (ca6d977) fix(relay): correct QUIC discovery port, pin image, templatize fly.dev (52a2ba5) fix: More broken serialization due to minification (67491a9) fix(android): preserve true universal APK across per-ABI builds (e9f256f) fix(ui): conditional safe-area insets padding on mobile (1182f0e) refactor(transfer): CircularRing component animation fix (944572b) chore(android): drop x86 and x86_64 release APKs, keep universal+arm64+armv7 (34ada0b) Download: AltSendme 0.4.1 | ARM64 | ~9.0 MB (Open Source) Download: AltSendme for MacOS | Android Links: AltSendme Home Page | GitHub | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • You are mostly right about the ephemeral nature of it. As I mention in the article, if you dont add a second device or take a backup of your account before uninstalling it, then yes you will lose access to your account. That said, in terms of actual user experience when you sync multiple devices your message history carries across and there's also a Saved Messages chat like there is on Telegram to send messages and attachments between your installs. But yh, what you point out are correct and its not trying to emulate Messenger or Telegram.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Woland13 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Woland13 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Year In
      bernmeister earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      495
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      225
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      150
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      75
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      71
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!