When you go to install Vista, you get a “STOP 0×0000000A”. This occurs if the following conditions are true:
- You have more than 3 GB of RAM in your system
- The computer uses a storage system that is running the Storport miniport driver.
- The computer uses a controller that uses 32-bit direct memory access (DMA).
- You have a Vista DVD which does not have SP1

Furthermore, when rebooting the system get a “STOP 0×0000007e” error after installing the nVidia or ATi Catalyst driver for your video card.

The way to fix this problem is to remove any extra RAM from the system to get you to 3GB or less of RAM. After doing so, complete the installation of Vista and install the Windows Vista hotfix from the link below:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929777/en-us

Alternatively, if you want to get around the hassle of having to remove the extra RAM from the system each time you go to reinstall, you can create your own Windows DVD with the hotfix ‘slipstreamed’ into it. Slipstreaming is just a fancy word for adding the hotfix into the DVD image. To learn more on how to do this, read the article below on how it’s done:

http://www.hardwareproblems.com/software-solutions/how-to-slim-down-vista-vlite.html