PROBLEMS WITH MICROSOFT XP?

April 12, 2002 | EggsAckley

[EggsAckley]

We have a Hewlett-Packard, purchased in Oct.01, with the new XP system. We have had continuous trouble with it, and have even sent it back to the factory, where they replaced the hard drive. The system has a tendency to just shut down in the middle of working. Also, Microsoft neglected to make the system compatible with HP's 3-way printer (even though the computer is also HP.) There are other problems concerning word processing, as well.

We are at a point where work that needs to be done, cannot be done on the HP, and must be taken to KINKO'S.
This is WRONG! We get nothing but run-around from both HP AND Microsoft (surprise surprise.)

[TomServo]

Jeez, ya think? ;)

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuh. I dunno, George. ;-)

[rustbucket]

XP is great. ME used to crash all the time.

Still haven't found a good XP driver for my 1 1/2 year-old Epson scanner though. XP detected that the scanner was improperly loaded (I had used a supposedly XP-compatible driver available at the Epson site) and causing severe instabilities. I was able to restore the system to the way it was before I connected the scanner by using XP's Restore Wizard. Now XP works fine, but I have no scanner.

[B Knotts]

Haven't used XP, but here's the uptime from one of my Linux boxes:

corebreach:[12:48]~> uptime
 12:48:03 up 200 days, 18:10,  9 users,  load average: 0.05, 0.06, 0.00

[Big Steve]

Anyone know the best?

If you buy a computer online, buy one from Dell's webpage. You can custom make your Dell computer, and after you are done it will tell you if everything on Dell is compatible. The best store to buy a computer from is Gateway Country. Their representatives are pretty much familiar with what kind of Gateway you want. I read this in a "Computer Shopper" magazine.

[Quix]

I think I stupidly had 3 palmtop computers from HP as well as 3 printers. ALL THEIR PRODUCTS WERE INFURIATING increasingly over the time I used them. I finally gave up on the company. I kept thinking I'd gotten a lemon or some such. Naw, has to be design or production factors that are just enough flawed to be very, very troublesome.

[Quix]

T-ZONE personnel HERE IN TAIPEI says they have HP's to repair under warranty than any other brand by far. Other shops have said similar things.

[TomServo]

OK, what does that mean? Is it a good thing or bad?

It means your HD is divided up into n logical drives. It's a good thing. More than 1 operating system installed on your machine, your data could reside on one drive while OS resides on another, etc...Some folks have Windows and Linux or (insert your OS here) installed on one HD that's been partitioned. Any number of reasons to partition.

[Landru]

I've a new, state-of-the-art Dell running XP; & yea, there've been a few *problems*.

Like hanging up when shutting down, or conversely, *not* starting when launched -- requiring a cold power-up.

I've even had an instance whereupon powering up, my computer tells me I'd *just* experienced "A very serious error" with the OS.
Requires the system to immediately shoot-off a trouble report directly to uSoft!!
I never touched the damned thing, either; and, although I like the machine tattling on itself when it does screw up?
I found the *interaction* somewhat unsettling, nonetheless.

I'm absoultely certain at least a half dozen people have already told you a large part of your troubles are in that you purchased a HP.
I *had* a Compaq &, never again.
That those to dogs would want to *merge* makes an awful lot of sense; a marriage made in hell.

Simply delighted with this Dell system, btw; which is nothing *but* one smart engineering plus after another.

Bill Gates should be flogged for palming the XP bloatware off on the American public.
If he tried this in an Islamic Republic state?
They'd surely cut his hands off, blind em' & fill his ears with parafin wax -- the little weasel should be tied to a tree & whipped.

[texas booster]

Couple of notes:

I think that the biggest issue will be the need to update drivers and update MS Office and Win XP. It is also possible that you have a corrupt file within XP.

You probably have a retail version of an HP computer. Retail versions are typically a one-shot build, often contracted out to the lowest bidder. Companies will build 50,000 or so (a three month supply), and when the supply runs out they build the next model with upgraded parts. It keeps HP, Compaq and yes, Dell, from having a lot of obsolete parts in the warehouse. That's why the bargain prices on sale at the local electronics store may not be much of a bargain.

I happen to like HP systems ,but only the corporate systems. Computers designed for retail sale are either a bargain (never a problem), or an abomination to keep running.

Let's say that your computer took 6 months from start of design to delivery to Sam's. The disk image sent to the factory for duplication might be at least 6 months or so out of date. Not a big deal with Win98, but bad with a new OS like Win XP. Driver updates happen all the time, and a static disk image doesn't help you.

For this type of problem, don't blame Microsoft for everything. They have a program where vendors submit drivers to them for inclusion into the Windows XP CD. Once the CD become gold, no updates to the CD will be made for a while. So now your scanner/printer/fax is using out-of-date drivers; or the drivers were not even included in the XP CD load, or on the HP static drive image.

What to do? The easiest way to check out OS problems is to click on the "Update Windows" icon in the Start menu. The OS will link to Micorsoft on the web and download the latest updates to XP it can find. You can also click here: Microsoft Windows Updates Do the same for MS Office. For HP printer product driver updates start here: HP Drivers and Downloads.

Follow the instructions provided, if any. You might find that several separate downloads and restarts are necessary to install all of the updates available. While you are at it, update the virus scan definitions on the included anti-virus software.

Is this a pain? Of course. The only response is to learn enough to keep your systems updated yourself, or to buy a real software support contract.

Hope this helps.

[AFreeBird]

HP's subpar computers are causing the trouble but yet consumers are blaming microsoft. In order to prevent this from happening with the web browser, they created their own keep their own brand name.

BWAHAHAHAHA - ROFLMAO _

Oh geez, stop it, you're killing me.

That is just the most lame thing I've ever heard. Did Bill whisper that in your ear or something?

[dd5339]

I recently installed XP on my system at home. It runs fantastic! Even my wife hasn't been able to crash it, (she's a Macintosh deviant).

The only issue I had was installing my CD burner software. I had to hunt down a patch to make it XP compatible.

XP picked up the drives for my HP printer and works great with my HP Camera. Not a problem in the world so far with it so far, I also tend to drive the computer pretty hard.

From what it sounds like you need to download some drivers from HP for your 3 in 1.

Overall, it sounds like an HP problem and not a Microsoft problem.

Semper Fi!

[AFreeBird]

Windows 2000 was based on NT. I believe Windows XP was based on Windows 98.

Correct on the 1st part, wrong on the 2nd part. XP is a continuation (I won't say upgrade) of 2000. The only thing from 9x for the both of them is the basic "look" of it.

[TomServo]

The only issue I had was installing my CD burner software. I had to hunt down a patch to make it XP compatible.

Roxio?

[Quix]

Thanks. Am still wary of Norton. It's Clean Sweep did me in several OS's ago. It's fax still won't work with XP and has not been installed again.

I think Ghost is reinstalled but I'd have to check. Guess I haven't familiarized myself with Ghost enough.

Now I'm pondering finding a RAID card that XP already supports;upgrading memory to 1.5 GIGABYTES FROM 1--given that the 1 Gigabyte RAM cards run as much as a new computer. around $900 USD.

Thinking of adding a DVD writable but wondering which brand to get. Getting a new big tower that rolls themother board out the back while still connected--for working with it. Pondering what else to get before I leave Taipei and cheaper components.

Will probably get a video card etc. and dedicated HD's for video movie captures etc. Any recommendations?

Also, have a Sound Blaster audio card that's only about a year old. And can't get but one channel to work on a 5 speaker surround speaker system by Logitech. No clue on that problem. Hasn't been a priority given all the others.

Thanks for your comment. UHHHH how does one use GHOST?

[DennisR]

Thanks for the clarification.

[Black Cat]

That's my experience as well. XP is the best OS I've ever had and when it has crashed, it's been my own fault, usually because of driver mess-ups.

[Quix]

BTW, when I reformatted my 80 Gig, I never partition any of my drives--for some reason, the system decided it was a 40 Gig drive instead of the 80 Gig it really is. How does one solve that? REFORMAT IT AGAIN?

[pt17]

Eggs, I've got two HP Vectras and two Dell Precisions running in my home lab. The Dells, one of which is running WNT and the other XP, have never given me any trouble. By contrast, both HPs were trouble out of the box and I had to reinstall NT on both before they settled down. HP left stuff out of the original install on both. That's one of the reasons I went to Dell.

[Black Cat]

XP is based on 2000. I have a game that whenever I load it, I get a popup that says it's "not designed to operate under Windows 2000". But the game still runs fine -- it just recognizes the basic nuts and bolts of the system.

[TomServo]

How does one solve that? REFORMAT IT AGAIN?

I'd start by seeing if there was a flash upgrade for the motherboard.