Vista Startup Snowstorm

Let me set the stage:

First I was born, and then... Ok, I'll fast forward.

My computer comes back from being repaired (in California and I live in Pennsylvania, woo) and I think to myself "Well, I haven't seen my baby in two weeks let me turn her on and get re-acquainted with her new refurbished self". I go through the usual new user registration process and then, bam, she breaks out into a multi-colored snow storm. So I think to myself "That is odd, but it can't possibly do the same thing again". Lo and behold, I turn her on again, it forces me to re-register, I get to the desktop in high spirits and bam, snowstorm again.

At that point I'm descending into a deep pit of depression, anger and, oddly enough, voracious hunger for Nilla Wafers. So I shoot off a quick e-mail to the techies which probably won't be acknowledged until Monday and go through the laborious process of trying to figure it out on my own so I have ammo but I can't for the life of me find another instance of this happening (though vista+snowstorm in google does get some fun results).

I have a strange suspicion it has something to do with starting the computer up while plugged into the AC adapter because, on a hunch, I started my baby up without being plugged in and she's been working fine for 10 minutes. Still, I figured it would be a good idea to pose the question to nerds with greater powers than I possess so I came to an old, and unfortunately often forgotten about, stomping ground from my relative youth.

So please, denizens of the internet, help me with my problem and I will be forever grateful. Oh, and pic related.

http://home.comcast.net/~rdmctague/pwpimages/snow.JPG

 

holy crap, sorry it's so huge but I do not have photoshop installed yet.

 

This is most probably a problem with the power supply. Try plugging it in elsewhere, like at a friend's house. If that still doesn't solve the problem, then your adapter may be faulty.