All sorts of issues

[drofeel]

Hi there
Hope someone more knowledgable than me can help....Pleaaaasssseeee!
An ongoing problem. Use a Compaq Presario notebook, running XP Home, 384mb Ram, 30 Gb HD, and 1.2 Ghz AMD Athalon XP, with Norton SystemWorks 2002, and Norton Internet Security 2002 (version provided by Compaq).
Main issue is laptop freezes, keyboard becomes inactive as does touchpad or attatched mouse. Only thing that works is cd drive drawer and power button. Have to power off for anything to happen, when I switch on again Windows doesn't think anything's wrong, doesn't run chkdsk just boots normally.
Noticed a strange thing, if I do a fresh install (using restore disc, which I gather restores from d partition of HD), if I install Norton IS next (this also includes a version of Norton AV 2002 combined), choose the option to install this version of AV and then follow with an install of Systemworks (during which it recognises that AV is installed so doesn't try to install it again) this seems to beat the issue. But being a little anal about these things I want to know why this is. Still crashes occasionally when I'm running Nortons Speed disc or AV is scanning my HD.
Have also noticed that Speed disc shows most of my system files at the start of my HD, but there are also some placed 1/3 of the way through the drive after everything else in what is otherwise free disc space, and it wont defrag them.
Sorry the message is so long, and apologies for any tech errors.
Hope you can help, cos this is spoiling my enjoyment of my notebook.

[Conan]

I'll just take a stab here, not sure if it will work. Leave Norton Systemworks out of your system. That program was okay with Windows 98 or Me but it's almost completely useless with XP. If you want a better Defragmenter use Diskeeper, it's better and faster. Systemworks takes too much drive space and resources.

I have a friend with a similar notebook to yours. His freezes when playing games which is a Video-Driver issue. Do you remember what exactly you are doing when the freezes happen?

[drofeel]

Sometimes I'm surfing the web, but mostly when running Systemworks defrag tool or antivirus scan. But it also happens when the laptop is idle. I have already tried leaving Systemworks off my system, but the issue is still there

Any other ideas, cos this is driving me insane

thanks for quick reply

Lee

[zErO]

If I were you and if Im reading this correctly I would simply take my computer back to the compaq shop. As this is a preinstalled OEM version of XP and compaq are legally bound to provide a working O/S recovery disk with any computer sold. Is it still under warranty, or have you added any other hardware to the system since purchasing it. Does it lock up straight after reinstalling a fresh copy of your xp recovery, or only after adding updates etc..

let us know where it first starts getting a problem

[drofeel]

yes still under warranty
No additional hardware added
locks up after installing windows updates and Norton, but has locked up immediately after fresh install too.
When you say Compaq legally bound to provide a working O/S, as far as my knowledge goes, O/S installed on a seperate partition, when using the recovery disc I understand it loads in 'tools' to copy XP from d partition to c drive. Should I ask Compaq for a Windows XP cd instead?

thanks

Lee

[zErO]

So you have a pre partitioned hard drive, If I were you YES I would ask for a cd version of the recovery disk and then reclaim my hard drive space. I would then take it back into them and show them it locking up. You may get a better install of windows without it installing straight of your secondary drive. Strange I have never heard of your recovery install being preset on a secondary drive

[Big Booger]

Just a thought, but why not get windows XP pro. I have a presario Compaq 12XL3, 160 MB ram 6 GIG hdd, 566MHZ runs XP pro smoothly. I had a preinstalled ME OS, deleted that crap, installed XP pro and it works great. Compaq installs a bunch of crap on your PC, so what i did was went to their site, downloaded all the drivers from their softpaq for my notebook, installed XP pro, then used the drivers from the softpaq and overwrote them onto my clean XP pro installation. Everything works great, the touchpad, volume control, and easy access keys...
That is what I would do if I were you.

BB

[zErO]

Try xp pro and see how you go with that, Im sure it would proberly fix your current errors. But check your warranty contract as they are pretty strong on changing O/S. You can always reinstall the OEM version if all else fails and take it back to them to fix

[SupaStar]

Originally posted by zErO
So you have a pre partitioned hard drive, If I were you YES I would ask for a cd version of the recovery disk and then reclaim my hard drive space. I would then take it back into them and show them it locking up. You may get a better install of windows without it installing straight of your secondary drive. Strange I have never heard of your recovery install being preset on a secondary drive

Actually that is becoming more and more common! HP and Compaq machines that we sell at work no longer come with any recovery disks. The recovery is on a partition!

Past experience has shown me that the major companies won't provide a recovery disk as the preference is to use the partition, however it doesn't hurt to ask.

BTW - A PC with a 20GB HDD is still marketed as having a 20GB drive, even though they use up to a gig in the recovery partition! Funny hey, when you consider that you can't utilise a section of your hard drive because it contains stuff that you rarely use!

[uschie]

H.P.and compaq were interviewd 2months ago in pc world concerning this issue and assured the interviewer that they would send a cd to anyone requesting one.

[drofeel]

thanks everyone.
seems like its request cd version of xp from compaq
then upgrade to pro
stilll under warranty so wont change to pro yet.
Any other ideas considered

[Big Booger]

dont install anything related to norton. Uninstall it if you can. Get rid of everything related to norton, use regcleaner,
http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16/shtml/regcleaner.shtml

Get rid of any symantec, norton, or liveupdate crap.
Next, dont install anything other than the OS and windows Updates. Run your PC for a day or two, see if it locks up. If not, then start updating your drivers for all your hardware, install a few programs, and see if it locks up. If not then try norton, but before you do, create a restore point,
start, all programs, accessories, system tools, system restore, click create restore point. Then install norton, do one at a time, the system works first then the system security. In between run your PC a few days see if it locks up. If it does uninstall and find an alternative software.
BB

[drofeel]

thanks BB

Although have followed this step before, am now prettyy tired of the whole thing, so Compaq gonna get a mouthful from me, having spoken to their techs, they want to change the Motherboard and CPU, going round in circle feel like a pup chasing his trail

Ah well netless for about a week i guess

Lee

[drofeel]

hi all

just want to thank everyone for thrie help

my Quick Restore discs have arrived

let you know if it resolves issues once used

thanks agian for all you help

Lee