Any help left- xp?

[Beth20]

Any help Left?


hey all, I've reported on my laptop before:

is this a hardware or software problem?
( Apologies for cross posting this to hardware but I have no idea anymore]

I'll pick it up from servicing. It will seem
to run alright for a couple hours - yeah just
enough time to get programs on , connect to
net.

THEN BSOD! - This will happen up to about every
half hour. The problem seems to be connected
to the USB ports. [ but can happen while just
surfing the net, too ]

For example: any other laptop can read a usb drive connected, but this one will crash. Or a simple search will crash it.

It has had new mother boards, etc.

I use a mouse. Also when you reboot, it often hasnt found the usb mouse driver, the pointer is locked and you
have to boot again.

Service cannot fix it to my satisfaction. aLTHOUGH they claim it is up to factory specs. They also claim this is a great laptop, and they never see service problems on this model.

I almost feel like they think I'm crazy now: like they think theres nothing wrong with it.
It's really disheartening to stand their whil
e they boot it up, see the windows screen, do
a couple simple operations and claim it fixed.

Fixed? I suppose if you just wrote a letter in note pad, you might like it - lol.

One bad thing is it has that darn ghost drive
on their with programs to reinstall everything,
so I cant just erase the partitions and install
a clean xp pro on to try.

) the D partition has xp home and bunch of crap
like norton on it. { anyway to erase this?
the d drive is fat 32. Actually I think a bootable cd will erase this D, but NOT the C drive]

any ideas?

thanks!!!

 

[grez]

Hi! A couple of questions...

1)What is the brand / model of the laptop?

2)This crashes with *any* USB device? Proper drivers installed for the devices?

3)Have you removed / restarted / reinstalled the USB drivers from device manager?

4)Windows XP critical updates up to date, including SP2?

5)All normal maintenance performed? (defrag / scandisk)? Check to see what else is running via task manager? Maybe a conflict there.

6)Final attempt would be the repair install option if you can't format / reinstall XP properly as you state, but, the manufacturer should have proper recovery disks for this.

Good luck!

 

[Beth20]

Hi! A couple of questions...

1)What is the brand / model of the laptop?

..........ive posted this before, rather not
repeat incase i have to dump it. 3.2 ht.
1 gig ram.

2) This crashes with *any* USB device? Proper drivers installed for the devices?

not sure. only use external drives and mouse.
+ card reader drive.

Service tests with tiny handheld usb tester.
this shows " ports working" to me this is a joke. what kind of load is on them?

..........microsoft usb mouse - drivers dont
reload often on reboots.

.......usb external drives cause problems always.

.......1394 okay now,was bad too

3)Have you removed / restarted / reinstalled the USB drivers from device manager?

............not sure. which drivers?



4)Windows XP critical updates up to date, including SP2?

........ I assume the factory puts this on not
sure.


5)All normal maintenance performed? (defrag / scandisk)? Check to see what else is running via task manager? Maybe a conflict there.


...........no need. its only home for hours/days before bring back in.



6)Final attempt would be the repair install option if you can't format / reinstall XP properly as you state, but, the manufacturer should have proper recovery disks for this.


..........dont think you understand. I want
to get rid of their partition / xp home / and
crap programs clutter.

I want to test with clean install with ONLY my
programs on their.

anyone know how I can clean format the entire
hardrive? { of course I would have to reinstall
the D partition before bring back in for service.



Good luck!

 

[linney]

Is this what you are thinking about?

Wiping Out Special "Recovery" Partitions, Pt. 1

http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-02-06.htm

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=163105444

http://www.russelltexas.com/delpart.htm

 

[s0121]

1. any bootable copy of XP will allow you to FORMAT the HD. read the ?? carefully and say YES to "Do you want to use the FULL HD".. If you can not boot to your XP CD.. then FORMAT with a Floppy (if you have a floppy drive..
lets keep this simply.. by reading the answers to the above ??/answer this is call to all answers. (K.I.S.)
Keep it simply... & No "There ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS."

Frank Smith irc.dhcnetwork.com

SomeWhere in Kansas Near Dodge City

 

[Beth20]

s0121 (TechnicalUser)
18 Jun 05 19:49
1. any bootable copy of XP will allow you to FORMAT the HD.


............It wont format the C, only the D partition.


read the ?? carefully and say YES to "Do you want to use the FULL HD"..



...........not sure where this comes up??




If you can not boot to your XP CD.. then FORMAT with a Floppy (if you have a floppy drive..


............I tried that too, but dont you need
SIX floppies now with xp?


{ my one copy is so old it wouldnt read it{




lets keep this simply.. by reading the answers to the above ??/answer this is call to all answers. (K.I.S.)
Keep it simply... & No "There ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS."


........thanks.

Frank Smith irc.dhcnetwork.com

 

[Beth20]

inney (TechnicalUser)
18 Jun 05 18:26
Is this what you are thinking about?

Wiping Out Special "Recovery" Partitions, Pt. 1

http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-02-06.htm

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=163105444

http://www.russelltexas.com/delpart.htm

..........thanks. will have to read through this
carefully!!!

 

[s0121]

inney, thanks for posting the sites... I grew up when DOS was the #1 boy on the street... swapped ICs(1st Computer was a '84 Laptop) for programs.. so it never occurred to me that ppl do not understand the FDisk, active parts, how to change attribs, via dos, etc etc... the above links walk you thru that. I do prefer DOS to FDISK, and FULL Format of HD's then I use Partation Magic (easier to make partations) if needed... to do the rest...(the old days when your backup(9 floppies) Win 3.x on a hidden partation. to restore when ppl crashed. ))

Frank Smith irc.dhcnetwork.com

SomeWhere in Kansas Near Dodge City