[Solved] Vista not booting up after connecting a PCI wireless card !

Hi,

I put together a white box a few months ago and installed Vista 64bit on it. It was working beautifully no problem, until I decided to install a PCI wireless adaptor:
D-Link DWA-542

Ever since, it never booted up properly. First it shows the "Windows Error Recovery" page:

"Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem....
"

but then it doesn't even boot up in safe mode, showing another page:

"Windows Boot Manager"


File: \Windows\system32\config\system
status: 0xc00000e9
Info: Windows failed to load because the system registray file is missing, or corrupt.

Now, even after removing the card, it's still the exact same scenario.

I'm just stumped how installing a pci card (while the system not even booting up) could damage the registry file and cripple windows like this.

Please help!

Thanks,

parachuter2b

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system specs:
Mother Board: M3A78-T
RAM: 4gb 2X (2gb OCZ)
Video card: Sphire HD 2600 Pro
sound: onboard
hard drive: 2Xseagate (1TB and 0.5TB)
OS: Windows Vista (64bit)

Could be a bad card... did you unplug the AC before installing that card? It's something that I agree shouldn't have to be done... but it is still something you should always do just in case.