What bootloader are you using? I assume Grub?
 
If so, is Grub pointing to the XP partition, or Vista's?

I'm using grub, for the first time, usually Mandriva has used lilo. But this is the first time the 64bit version installed ok.
 
But that's besides the point. The point is that vista won't boot after it installs(this is before linux is even installed).
 
After I gave up trying to get vista to work, I then installed Mandriva powerpack 2007 64bit. Grub pointed to the partition with the MBR, which then the windows bootloader shows both xp and vista. Vista still just goes into the rebooting without loading thing.

Try using Bootrec tool to fix your corrupt MBR.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/
 

I really don't think that the problem has anything to do with the bootloader. I've tried to install Vista on 4 different partitions, on 4 different hard drives. I even tried to do an upgrade on top of XP, which I didn't really want to do because of a compatibility problem with a mmorpg that I play.
 
Both ways, upgrade and clean install, yielded a failed attempt to get vista up and running. At least when the upgrade didn't work, windows gave me the option to revert back to XP.
 
I think that I just happened to get all new hardware that doesn't play well enough together to let Vista install right.

I really don't think that the problem has anything to do with the bootloader. I've tried to install Vista on 4 different partitions, on 4 different hard drives. I even tried to do an upgrade on top of XP, which I didn't really want to do because of a compatibility problem with a mmorpg that I play.
 
Both ways, upgrade and clean install, yielded a failed attempt to get vista up and running. At least when the upgrade didn't work, windows gave me the option to revert back to XP.
 
I think that I just happened to get all new hardware that doesn't play well enough together to let Vista install right.

Ok, let's look at this step by step. At first you said;

Quote:I tried to install Vista to a new partition along side of XP and Mandriva. 
Which led me to believe that you had tried to install Vista after XP and Mandriva. But that is not the case?
 
You said that Vista seemed to install quickly? How quickly?
 
Then you noted;
 

Quote: I'm using grub, for the first time, usually Mandriva has used lilo. But this is the first time the 64bit version installed ok. 
But that's besides the point. The point is that vista won't boot after it installs(this is before linux is even installed).
 
So, currently is Grub installed and you are booting using Grub, which gives you the XP boot.ini with XP and Vista as options, or straight to the Windows bootloader...no grub bootloader interaction at all?
 
If the Windows bootloader only, did you use the Vista hardware compatability tool to make sure that your hardware was compatable with Vista before you attempted the installation?
 
Vista and XP use two different booloader methods. When I did this with my system, the Vista bootloader took over, but pointed to Vista (believe it or not) at the incorrect location.
 
This is why peterh suggested the bootloader fix.
 
Windows will do the repeated booting thing when either there is a hardware problem, or the bootloader is corrupted.
 
Finally, you said;
 

Quote: I really don't think that the problem has anything to do with the bootloader. I've tried to install Vista on 4 different partitions, on 4 different hard drives.  
Was the primary (boot) drive in the system always the same (you addded secondary drive(s) to try re-installations) or did you swap out drives at random?
 
What I am getting at, is this a Vista hardware issue, or actually a bootloader problem?
 
You might want to state what your hardware is, so folks can troubleshoot which may be the issue.
 
 

I have gotten advice from this forum before, and it was suggested that the order I should install should be XP, then Vista, then linux.
 
When I say that Vista installs quickly, I mean that it finishes copying the files to the partition in 4 or 5 minutes and then does it's first reboot straight into safe mode.
 
I only said that grub points to the both XP and Vista because after the failed attempt to install Vista, I then installed Mandriva. Grub doesn't really point to XP or Vista, it points to the partitions that they're on. The MBR is always on the same drive for all the OS's.
 
The reason I installed them in the order I did is because of the bootloaders. I was told that Vista would overwrite the MBR but still point to the XP partition. When Mandriva installed, it too overwrites the MBR, but points to all three of the OS's. But again, linux isn't the problem because I got the reboot loop before linux was ever installed.
 
All of my hard drives are in the same place as when I installed them. The only thing I changed was the two drives I had in RAID zero. I tried using the drives not in raid to see if raid was the problem, and if Vista wasn't recognizing the raid drivers.
The primary boot drive has always been the RAID Zero drives, or the one when not in RAID.
 
My system is as follows:
 
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-M59SLI-S5
CPU - AMD X2 5200+
RAM - Corsair XM2 DDR2 800, 2x1GB Dual Channel
Video - EVGA Geforce7950GT PCI-E x16 256MB
Power - Apevia BeastPower680w
Sound - Audigy eX Platinum
HDD - 2x WD160GB SATA2 (RAID Zero) Two 160GB partitions
HDD - WD250GB SATA2 (storage)
HDD - Maxtor 160GB PATA
DVD - Samsung SH-S162L DVD Burner

Quote:When I say that Vista installs quickly, I mean that it finishes copying the files to the partition in 4 or 5 minutes and then does it's first reboot straight into safe mode.

Vista is not installing properly. Did you to download the sata/raid drivers on floppy from the Gigabyte website download page for your motherboard before installing Vista?

Make the disk and then press F6 during Windows setup to read from floppy. Then your raid/sata drive will be recognized correctly.

Found this place searching for help on what sounds like the same problem. For me, at the "Finishing Installation" or whatever it's called reaches 54% the screen turns black with nothing on it but the mouse, comes back with the installation screen, which seems to dramatically gain a speed boost (So fast, that I think it goes to 54% to 100% in around 7 seconds) and then goes back to blackness till it reboots. Finally reboot Limbo until I select "Rollback".
 
One site said to remove Daemon Tools or any virtual drive emulator. For me this removed the sata/raid issue on the compatibility check yet it still went to Limbo. I'm installing the 32bit Home Premium on a "Vista Ready lol" XP Media center pc. Waiting for the "Wow", so far I've said everything but that in the last 14 hours of cursing and hair yanking.
 
Other things that have come to mind of why,
I still have PowerISO (another drive emulator), it didn't nag so I decided to leave it.
 
We're both using a Geforce (though mine's a 7600) so it just might be that.
 
The only thing that Vista says it isn't compatible with is my Geforce 7600 diver. To back this up, DriverAgent.com says it's out of date. I've hit the nvidia site for drivers and downloaded what they said were the latest ones. Still out of date.
 
I've also thought maybe it was some Vista incompatible software unknowns to Microsoft at this point. Hey, it's still a pretty new system, never know.
 
Really sounds like the same problem, hope we figure it out. If I get it running I'll be sure to tell ya.

Another forum also said Vista at this time (which I'm not sure when it was posted) was not SLI compatible.
 

Well, I did it. I got Vista to install, finally.
 
I had decided to format the unused(raw) partition on my raid drive to install Ubuntu on(Mandriva doesn't see my raid drives).
After I finished formatting the partition in XP, I decided to try to install Vista on that partition instead, just on a whim.
 
The first thing that I really changed was which raid to put the drives on. This motherboard had two, one from Gigabyte and one from Nvidia. My first attempt was on the Gigabyte, so I switched to the Nvidia raid.
 
The difference between these two with the way Vista is concerned is that when I tried to install on the Gigabyte raid, I did have to install the drivers for the raid to be recognized. But after I switched the drive to the Nvidia raid, Vista recognized it before and raid drivers were installed. When I did install the Nvidia drivers, then Vista didn't recognize the raid drives.
 
So I just restarted the install process and didn't install the raid drivers. Low and behold, praise be to Buddha, and with my fingers crossed just for good measure, I watched as Vista rebooted for the first time, and the install continued (and finished even) without going into safe mode.
 
I am even writing this in Vista, who knew.
 
So the three things I changed were:
1. I switched my drives to the Nvidia raid instead of Gigabyte.
2. I formatted the Vista partition in XP instead of letting Vista's installer do it.
3. I didn't use the raid drivers because Vista recognized the raid without them.
 
Now it's not perfect. I have two things in the device manager which don't have working drivers. One is for a raid device (I think that the Gigabyte raid, not the one the drives are on), and the other is an unknown device ( that I think is the scanner part of my HP PSC printer). Also I can't get my Logitech webcam to work, even though the latest Vista divers are being used. And lastly the gameport that's part of the Audigy sound card doesn't work.

Are you trying to do a fresh install of Vista or an Upgrade installation?
 
What version of PowerISO are you using? From what I read version 3.7 is compatible with Vista.
 
What exact make and model Geoforce card is this? VGA...PCI-E?
 
Did you run the upgrade advisor before the installation attempt?

I did a fresh install of Vista.
 
I don't know what PowerISO is.
 
My video card is an EVGA 7950GT 256MB PCI-E.
 
And yes, I did run the installation advisor. The only things it said I would have to do was to download the latest drivers/installers for : Nero and Logitech webcam.