My vista auto updates now shows the KB977165 unchecked in the list of autoupdates to install after a reinstall of vista. It also showed KB968389 unchecked - I went ahead and installed that one, but not the 977165. All other 'auto updates' are or were checked to install - which install with the time of day install settings, or manually. Before I restored vista with the 977165 installed it would try to start windows then reboot to automatic StartUpRepair which would find an ACL change and repair it on windows\system32\KGyGaAvL.sys .. then fail windows start up again over and over. StartUp Repair would again do its thing and say couldnt start because of configuration changes. Another attempt would say a Patch was keeping windows from starting. I kept increasing the reserved size of avail win restore space to not lose an old one that worked to get me into win - But would only get me in with limited off/on lan/internet connection to the router both wifi and wired nic. Pita. But wow.. so far I'm 17GB lighter on the hard drive with my basic most used programs. And I dont have that file with the ACL error... I'll have to spend time trying to figure out where it came from and avoid installing that program for a while hopefully. And wait a while for the offending update to be updated before installing 977165 You can tell I'm bored and writing too much but maybe someone will benefit or be wiser than I.

It seems strange that the BSOD only happens at startup and shutdown, it suggests corrupt files to me. Assuming you have the W98SE CD you could run the System File Checker (sfc) to check for corrupt or missing files. Do not put the CD in the drawer unless asked. Click Start, click Run and type sfc and hit OK. Your computer will test Windows and may well ask you for guidance, this will only be in cases where the installed driver is newer than the original so you would not allow the computer to change that back. If it finds corrupt files it may/will ask for your CD. Christopher wrote I have done all the clean up and virus checks What does that mean? Can you list the task for us please? What anti virus, firewall and other safety programs are you running? I see you have a built in Verge S# video card, the latest driver available from ECS is dated 2004/07/03, you probably have those so updating may not be needed. Try clicking Start/Control panel/System/Device manager and look down the list for yellow marks, either exclamtion or question marks. Double click on anything to bring up Properties and have a looksee. Any irregularities?

Download WhoCrashed See link below for whocrashed. This program checks for any drivers which may have been causing your computer to crash.... Click on the file you just downloaded and run it. 1 Put a tick in Accept then click on Next. 2 Put a tick in the Don't create a start menu folder then click Next 3 Put a tick in Create a Desktop Icon. then click on Install and make sure there is a tick in Launch Whocrashed before clicking Finish. Click Analyze It will want to download the Debugger and install it Say Yes WhoCrashed will create report but you have to scroll down to see it. Copy and paste it into your next reply. Here is a link that might be useful: WhoCrashed

I stand corrected after looking around here is what I found my point was it is a different type of error, but your right still called a blue screen: The blue screen of death frequently occurs in Microsoft's home desktop operating systems Windows 95, 98, and Me. Here it is usually less serious, but much more common. In these operating systems, the BSOD is the main way for virtual device drivers to report errors to the user. It is internally referred to by the name of "_VWIN32_FaultPopup". A Windows 9x/Me BSOD gives the user the option either to restart or continue. However, VxDs do not display BSODs frivolously  they usually indicate a problem which cannot be fixed without restarting the computer, and hence after a BSOD is displayed the system is usually unstable or unresponsive. Two of the most common reasons for BSODs are: Problems that occur with incompatible versions of DLLs. This cause is sometimes referred to as DLL hell. Windows loads these DLLs into memory when they are needed by application programs; if versions are changed, the next time an application loads the DLL it may be different from what the application expects. These incompatibilities increase over time as more new software is installed, and is one of the main reasons why a freshly-installed copy of Windows is more stable than an "old" one. Faulty or poorly written device drivers, hardware incompatibilities, or damaged hardware may also cause a BSOD. If you have just installed a new piece of hardware, updated a driver, or installed an Operating System update shortly before you see the BSOD, be sure to investigate these causes also. In Windows 95 and 98, a BSOD occurred when the system attempted to access the file "c:\con\con" on the hard drive. This was often inserted on websites to crash users' machines. Microsoft has released a patch for this.[4] The BSOD can appear if a user ejects a removable medium while it is being read on 9x/ME. This is particularly common while using Microsoft Office: if a user simply wants to view a document, he might eject a floppy disk before exiting the program. Since Microsoft Office always creates a temporary file in the same directory, it will trigger a BSOD upon exiting because it will attempt to delete the file on the disk that is no longer in the drive. This type of blue screen is no longer seen in Windows NT, 2000, and XP. In the case of these less serious software errors, the program may still crash, but it will not take down the entire operating system with it due to better memory management and decreased legacy support. In these systems, the "true" BSOD is seen only in cases where the entire operating system crashes.