I'm having problems

[Gadget Guy 47]

We've had our new PC for about 3 weeks now and it's been one headache after another. I've gotten the BSOD several times, and now I'm seeing screens where Vista won't boot on the startup screen.

Sometimes the segmented green bar will travel l-r 4-5 times and everything works fine. Sometimes the bar will suddenly freeze and the screen goes dark, giving me a message to the effect that something or other has crashed.

Since the onscreen message only lasts a few seconds (ditto for the BSOD alerts) I can't read that many lines that fast before they disappear. Is there any way I can instruct the PC to slow the script down so I could at least hand-copy the message?

We're running Vista Home Premium on a new HP machine, it came with 2048mb ram and a 500GB drive, if that helps any.

I would greatly appreciate any advice, tips, etc. that you may be able to offer me.

Thank you!

Bob

 

[BigEasy18]

Just to clarify is the computer 100% new and if so where was it purchased?

 

[johngalt]

1. Did it come preinstalled with Sp1, or did you install it yourself?
2. Have you checked for the absolute latest drivers in Vista?
3. To have the machine not automatically reboot on BSODs, hold the Windows key and press Pause, then click on Advanced system settings, and then under Startup and Recovery click on the Settings button, then under System failure uncheck Automatically restart. Click OK all the way out.

 

[Gadget Guy 47]

Just to clarify is the computer 100% new and if so where was it purchased?

It is indeed brand-new, we purchased it last month at Wal-Mart on May 22nd. It was the bundle designated A6403-w, which also included a 20" HP LCD widescreen monitor.

 

[Gadget Guy 47]

1. Did it come preinstalled with Sp1, or did you install it yourself?
2. Have you checked for the absolute latest drivers in Vista?
3. To have the machine not automatically reboot on BSODs, hold the Windows key and press Pause, then click on Advanced system settings, and then under Startup and Recovery click on the Settings button, then under System failure uncheck Automatically restart. Click OK all the way out.

SP1 came preinstalled. I haven't yet checked for current Vista drivers, not completely sure how to go about that. And many thanks for the info on circumventing the automatic reboot when the BSOD rears its ugly head.

For the time being I'll be leaving this computer in 'Sleep Mode' when I'm done, maybe I can bypass any more buggy starts that way. No longer than we've had it, it's a little discouraging to repeatedly have these problems with our new PC. Our last HP (underpowered as it was) ran XP Home flawlessly, and not once in the past 5 years did we ever experience any trouble with the OS.

Hopefully when Microsoft releases SP2 for Vista these problems will be addressed and fixed, once and for all.

 

[johngalt]

Well, go to the HP website and look for drivers for your model computer.

And you need to understand something very basic here - blame HP for problems with your Vista machine, not Vista. And if you continue to have problems you need to be bugging the mess out of HP - before your tech support period is over. Don't let them railroad you about it being Vista, because I have installed it 35+ times and the only times I get problems is when I have a bad driver from a manufacturer. I even have it running as a virtual machine inside Mac OS-X Leopard 10.5.3.

 

[Gadget Guy 47]

Well, go to the HP website and look for drivers for your model computer.

And you need to understand something very basic here - blame HP for problems with your Vista machine, not Vista. And if you continue to have problems you need to be bugging the mess out of HP - before your tech support period is over. Don't let them railroad you about it being Vista, because I have installed it 35+ times and the only times I get problems is when I have a bad driver from a manufacturer. I even have it running as a virtual machine inside Mac OS-X Leopard 10.5.3.

I will do as you suggest, and my thanks for the tip!

To be sure, there are more than a few things that I do like about Vista. Sorry if I came across as ragging on the OS, because all things considered I think Microsoft did an admirable job with the successor to XP.

Having contacted them last Tuesday evening (June 17th) I DL what I presume was a patch from HP, intended to address both the BSOD and Start Screen problems. I've not seen the BSOD since then, and the start-up problem has only occurred once since I installed the DL.

My warranty on this 6403-w is for a full year, and I absolutely intend to hold HP accountable on their end of things. Not being particularly tech-minded, my personal feeling is that the hardware is indeed the likely culprit in this situation. And I expect for HP to make good on this problem, however long it may take.

 

[vdesai]

There is also a BIOS update I suggest you give that a try

 

[Gadget Guy 47]

There is also a BIOS update I suggest you give that a try

Will do, and my thanks for the suggestion!

 

[xacimo]

I'm having very similar problems to you. I built my pc myself, and SP1 is installed. I obviously can't get those drivers from HP, but I can get them from component manufacturers. Do you know what type of drivers they are?

 

[acdcfan]

Just to clarify is the computer 100% new and if so where was it purchased?

It is indeed brand-new, we purchased it last month at Wal-Mart on May 22nd. It was the bundle designated A6403-w, which also included a 20" HP LCD widescreen monitor.

Take it back and let them fix it..... You should not be bothered with things like this until warranty runs out

 

[Gadget Guy 47]

I'm having very similar problems to you. I built my pc myself, and SP1 is installed. I obviously can't get those drivers from HP, but I can get them from component manufacturers. Do you know what type of drivers they are?

Congrats on building your own PC, wish I had the expertise to do something like that. I wish I could answer your question about the drivers you require, but the truth is I don't know. Sorry.

 

[Gadget Guy 47]

Just to clarify is the computer 100% new and if so where was it purchased?

It is indeed brand-new, we purchased it last month at Wal-Mart on May 22nd. It was the bundle designated A6403-w, which also included a 20" HP LCD widescreen monitor.

Take it back and let them fix it..... You should not be bothered with things like this until warranty runs out

I agree with you, this should be Wal-Mart's baby to fix by all rights. Their 15-day exchange policy is completely unrealistic for something this complex/expensive, but it's how they've always done business where computers are concerned. It's also something they really need to look at changing, especially in today's business climate.

The Electronics Department manager is a good friend, and if things continue going haywire with our PC then I'm going to lean on him a little, see if maybe he'll intercede with WM on my behalf.

That said, our next purchase is going to be a 40" Flat Panel early next year, and how Wal-Mart handles this situation will dictate whether or not they get that business. Seems only fair to me.

 

[BigEasy18]

I'm having very similar problems to you. I built my pc myself, and SP1 is installed. I obviously can't get those drivers from HP, but I can get them from component manufacturers. Do you know what type of drivers they are?

When dealing with a personally built computer it's a little tougher, first step would be to check every component you have in your machine for driver updates.
If you do that and are still having issues then you may have something wrong with the hardware itself. I have always gone about checking this by taking out all non-essential hardware from my computer and turning it on, if it works fine then turn your computer off (I have fried an 8800GTX by spacing off and just plugging my wireless card into my motherboard when my computer was on... thank goodness for a warranty) and unplug it before you add one more device. Do this until you find the faulty hardware.

This is just my idea but I know for a fact there are A LOT of people on this website that know A LOT more then me. You may just want to search in the other forums before taking your computer apart just for fun.

I completely agree with acdcfan, but you need to go to the source. HP loads their computers full of unnecessary and most of the time annoying software and from what I've heard of their tech support it seems hit or miss whether they want to help you or not.

 

[johngalt]

Any and *all* drivers - and particularly *after* you install Sp1, as it can break poorly written drivers.