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.)

[AgentEcho]

I've got 2 HP Vectras that HP swears are XP compatable but it won't even install on them. I'm perfectly happy running Win2000 on them. I just wanted to test out the latest and greatest OS. Son instead of the PCs I loaded copies on my Dell Laptop (Inspiron 4000) and an ANCIENT Compaq laptop (233MHz/64MB Ram) and both worked flawlessly, though admitedly the later is a bit (sarcasm) slow.

[TomServo]

..get a popup that says it's "not designed to operate under Windows 2000".

Have you downloaded the lates compatibility updates from MS? If that doesn't work, check the properties of the game, click on 'Compatibility' tab and check the box (for designed OS). That might take care of it.

[jude24]

Never had a problem with XP on my dell...

Methinks the problem is with HP....

[Arthalion]

Maybe there is someone who likes HP, but I don't know of one.

HP makes some of the best equipment out there for the corporate market (servers, printers, switches, NAS devices) but their consumer products are pure cr*p. Our datacenter at work is almost 100% HP, and it's a rare day when one of our 200+ HP servers gives us a problem. On our desktops, however, we run Dell's...anyone in purchasing caught ordering an HP workstation or desktop machine would likely be fired on sight. Their consumer grade equipment just breaks too frequently and requires too much maintenance for us to support them (in a 34,000+ user environment), so they've actually been banned from our facilities.

Personally, I run a Dell Optiplex (Precision) at work and it's the fastest, most stable mass market desktop machine I've had the pleasure to run. The only computer I've had that outperforms it is my current home machine, and I dumped $3,000+ into it and put it together myself.

If it's not already too late, get a refund and get a Dell :-)

[TheLurkerX]

not only that, some of the new HP Pavilions pull their onboard video from the installed system memory. When I called their techies to find out why I was missing 32 mb's from my friend's RAM total, it was escalated to a level 3 tech before they could tell me why.

[TheLurkerX]

I don't know much of anybody who'll use their server equipment either. We use strictly Dell equipment, and all the people I know that aren't running Dell, are running IBM. I'm glad you're not having issues though. Bad servers suck.

[EggsAckley]

Dude,you should have bought a Dell.

Funny you should mention that. We have a friend who went with a Dell (with XP,)
and he's having similar problems.

[Quix]

HMMMM ASUS VIA or some such Motherboard. Not sure of the model number but I think that's right. It's what the CD's say anyway. Thanks for the suggestion.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I whole heartedly agree. Buy a Dell. Or better yet, build your own.

I like Gateway. We have a small business. One of the computers is an HP, and it has been a royal pain since the day we got it. It is really only good for light duty.

I love HP printers, but I don't like HP computers. Gateway is great.

[EggsAckley]

Thanks for the chuckle! Our secret weapon: send Bill Gates to the middle east!

[CdMGuy]

Sorry, but HP does not make great printers. I will never buy an HP printer again. I have an 8 year old HP laser printer in my office that works like a charm. However, at home, I am on my second HP ink jet in 3 years, and I have bought the top of the line. The first one just started spitting out rubber rollers. The second one, jams with envelopes half the time, fails to take up paper, takes up and spits out several sheets at a time. Never again for HP. By the way, I might average printing 200 pages a month,so it isn't the volume.

[mercy]

My new Sony puter with XP is a dream. Never locks up. When software glithches that used to lock up my previous '95 system occur, XP fixes em or shuts down the application with no problems in the OS. BUT .... I got all new software applications to go with XP. That is the key. My Word Perfect and Quatro Pro packaged with the puter are flawless. My WordSearch Bible program works fine but I had to upgrade. MS Browser is faster than the old Netscape. Heck even the solataire game is faster. xp

[bandlength]

yeah, you can do a system restore if necessary and use a compatible drive (usually win2K)

click here to check compatibility list

i've found that xp professional is more stable than the home version, as well.

[bandlength]

is that because there are more of them? i know people called in regularly to trash xerox printers left and right!!! there are a few good xerox printers, but they've stopped making the good ones!

drivers tend to be "spookily" written. . .

[bandlength]

oh yeah!

[DB]

I would strongly NOT recommend HP for desktop computers. They always do things differently than what is industry standard. They always require "special" drivers from HP only.

I have no experience with their laptops so they may be better, I don't know. I would be surprised though...

[EggsAckley]

I have the Xerox WorkCentre 3-way printer, and it seems to be fine. (knocking on wood.)
It wasn't very expensive, either. AND, it's so nice to have more room on my desk.

[DB]

Your hard drive is partitioned into two logic drives. This generally is not a good idea. It could be the operating system can't handle the drive size so it had to split it into smaller chunks (Windows 98, the first release and before do this, 2 GB max). It could be because the manufacturer only has drivers for a 16 bit file system so the primary partition is 16 bit (2 GB max) and the rest of the drive is 32 bit (I've seen this done on IBM laptops). It can also be split so the computer can be backed up on the other logical drive. Some people feel this is safe. I don't.

Memory leaks are almost always caused by a bad (poorly written) piece of software running on your machine. It could even be a bad driver. It is very unlikely that it is a hardware problem.

[eno_]

My company has been having a lot of problems with office XP, especially Word.

Unlike the OS, Office had massive internal changes for the XP version. Windows XP is mostly Win2k with fixes, multimedia, and a prettier (some think so, anyway) user interface. Office screws up a lot more than Windows, but if you go to Microsoft's Office Update site you can get all the latest patches - that should do some good.