Not sure if anyone can help on this, heck I don't even know what I'm getting into. I had someone call me that had just bought a brand new computer and it had Vista preloaded. She says she is constantly getting lockups... to the point unplugging it is the only way to reboot. I did not discuss in detail whether she is using any things like a printer, a monitor, scanner, etc. from her previous setup. But would your first guess be a device driver that needs updating? Or has anyone already encountered something like this. I'm not sure where she bought it, but looks like I made the right move on holding off on this. I think Vista has some reporting features that can be utilized, but I'm going in blind and the only knowledge of it is what I've read over the last 3 years on it.
Biggest thing I've seen is that it is a memory hog, and that 512mb just will get the computer up and running with basic home vista (forget about the extra stuff), and not much else. Drivers and memory would probably be the first two things to check into as being possible problem areas. Craig
Wife spent a good part of the weekend installing this and the appropriate Office software. She liked it but was suprised by the lack of drivers for it. She has some HP Printers that HP does not intend to provide drivers for, naturally HP would like you to purchase their latest and greatest. Sounds like a very expensive "upgrade".
First question of tech support: "What were the last 5 things you did that couldn't possibly have caused the problem." If the answer is truly "I just took it out of the box and it's broken", then send it back... it's a hardware problem. Vista is pulling a LOT of heat for its lack of driver support. So if he/she did install something, like hardware (or kernel tampering software like Anti virus or anti-spyware (not designed for Vista), then I'd start uninstalling one at a time until the problem goes away.
Hopefully she created a restore point when she fired the machine up for the first time. Ok, I'm dreaming again. :lol: :lol: If not follow Lesters advice. As for the drivers for older hardware, don't hold your breath. That's going to take at least a year while individuals, not manufacturers, start hacking away at the drivers needed for Mistya, oops, I mean Vista. VISTA = Virtual Integrated System for viewing T & A
All kidding aside, Vista is using RA memory in a different way then XP. Many people loading it on an XP machine as an upgrade are in for a suprise when they have to buy new RAM. This being a new machine it should have had adequate and the correct memory installed. But, just in case you had an idiot on the assembly line changing out the RAM for his home machine, here's the Mem Diagnostic for Vista. 1. Hit the start button (control-ESC) and type "memory". The new Vista start button will automatically present and highlight "Memory Diagnostics Tool" so you just need to hit ENTER. 2. It will prompt you to reboot now or run the memory test later. 3. On the next reboot, the test will automatically run in normal mode twice. You can use F1 to customize the testing options. Select "Extended" memory test. Tab twice to jump to the repeat settings. You can set the number of tests to 0 to have it run indefinitely until you hit the ESC key. Hit the ESC a few times to break out of the testing cycle and boot Vista. 4. Find the error report at C:/Windows/System32/LogFiles/MemDiag The second reason could be the indexing service. Turn the power management and the indexing service off and let it run overnight. Reboot the next morning, turn the service and management back on and reboot again. See if the re-indexing has fixed it.
I'm currently spec'ing out a new system* and thought, for just a minute, about ordering an OEM copy of Vista 64-bit (I may still... it's not ordered yet). AMD claims that their procs run better with Vista than XP due to Vista's ability to handle NUMA properly. I don't know if that's true, but I do know our internal benchmarks showed a pretty good jump between XP and Vista on an AMD, and a bit of a slow down on a Core2Duo. Still, not a reason to upgrade... but something to consider on a new platform. (*Can you believe that Rainbow Six: Vegas thinks a P4 2.8ghz HT is TOO SLOW?!?!)
My brother is thinking about buying a new computer, and I keep telling him to hold out a few months until they get some of the kinks worked out of VISTA. He's waited this long, a little longer shouldn't hurt.
Using Vista on an upgrade to an existing PC is not a good move at this time. MS is famous for releasing OS prior to adequate testing. Last count on XP errors was 141,000. Tried to load it on a "Vista" ready laptop yesterday. The nightmare continues today.
Ken, like you, I've had it with MS developing software for idiots and leaving the mess for tech's to work out. I'm not going as far as you are because I like 2K pro. I've finally got it down on tweaks for 2K so it runs like "I" want it too. Security is the only downfall, and not having all the bells an whistles on the web. But I really don't need that trash anyway.
Just a note that after getting a chance to look at the computer, it was the Earthlink softwre that was causing her lockups. She can only get dial-up and everytime the software (or any AV software, etc that needed a connection) tried to access the internet, it would lockup. She decided (not me) that she'd try the AOL dialup and she has been 3 days now and no lockups.
Even on the XT, Earthlink software was giving both mine and the kick around laptop my wife plays with problems. Now that most hotels are providing wifi I was finally able to remove this software this year.
AOL ..... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!! "By far," the most invasive, nasty, useless, trashy, poorly written piece of crap, memory resource hog I've even seen. She would have been better off clipping that small vein under her big toe and very very slowly bleed to death. The problems AOL creates will make the earthlink problem look good. Can you tell I don't like AOL ? It's because their software is the worst spyware I've ever seen people actualy "pay" for. There are settings in the "network" of the PC that are not necessary and their only purpose is direct access to your PC. And, their tech's are just some overseas idiots reading from a screen.
Now that is something I can agree with.. At least they quit making people pay for their spyware garbage.
I'm not familiar with AOL's setup, but I know with Earthlink, you don't have to install anything to make it work. You can totally chose to connect without it.
yea don't forget Microsoft OS's always have bugs when they come out. (the main reason i refuse to get Vista) so i have no doubt it will crash and do other weird things here and there. ah..the joys of microsoft. (plus they announced their new OS to come out in 2009....so it'll be out by at least 2012. )
