Need help with a New XP Dell

[Fredstar]

For friends i recently sorted them out with a new Dell that cost something like £240 for a ok spec machine that was brand new. Ok i hate XP but they only know how to work XP and had a small budget, so i went over and installed everything along with Norton internet security.

Major problem:Boot ups seem to never fully load, everything freezes up once the main desktop appears. The only time i got it to come out of the freeze was putting in the Installation XP cd for some reason. I tried restarting after that but again all i got was a loading icon for ages, i tried putting in the installation cd but nothing changed.

I guess i could re-install the whole Xp home edition (service pack 2) but how would i do that if it freezes at every start up? ctrl-alt-delete doesn't work either.
Please note that this isn't a dig at Xp or Dells because i think it is great vfm just need to get XP working for them! Any help would be very much appreciated.

[atif.muhammad]

o **** it
jsut repartition the hD and reinstall the OS

[Pilgrims Pro]

For friends i recently sorted them out with a new Dell that cost something like £240 for a ok spec machine that was brand new. Ok i hate XP but they only know how to work XP and had a small budget, so i went over and installed everything along with Norton internet security.

Major problem:Boot ups seem to never fully load, everything freezes up once the main desktop appears. The only time i got it to come out of the freeze was putting in the Installation XP cd for some reason. I tried restarting after that but again all i got was a loading icon for ages, i tried putting in the installation cd but nothing changed.

I guess i could re-install the whole Xp home edition (service pack 2) but how would i do that if it freezes at every start up? ctrl-alt-delete doesn't work either.
Please note that this isn't a dig at Xp or Dells because i think it is great vfm just need to get XP working for them! Any help would be very much appreciated.

First restart the computer, as the computer starts to boot touch the F8 key until you get the safe mode menu. Boot in safe mode, then | Start | Run | type msconfig, hit enter | then go to startup and disable anything besides Norton or any other program they want running.

If that doesn't work, I would try to remove Norton in safe mode.

[Solafaa]

Dont have any tips but you get what you pay for.

[Fredstar]

To reinstall Xp do i just put the cd when it boots up (and freezes) and restart it and press any button? Also, apart from installing the works cd again, is there anything else i need to install on top of the Xp service pack 2 cd?

And i know you get what you pay for but i am sure once i reinstall XP it will be a okay computer, i mean they literally need to surf, write a few letters and e-mail. They will never need anything and for about the price of an ipod i think it is v good value for money and an option for a huge majority of people who do not need a fancy GUI or who spend v little time in front of the computer.

[Pilgrims Pro]

Re-installing windows isnt as easy as some may think. you will have to reinstall the OS, then the drivers, and then any applications that came with the computer. (i.e. MS Works, DVD software, anything similiar)

Did you happen to try what I suggested?

[Fredstar]

I need to go over tomoz to try and sort it out but i will try and do that, so basically eliminate any start up apps and then maybe reinstal Norton (which may be causing the problem)
Thanks for the help and will give it a go. Lets just say that that doesn't work, i would have to reinstall windows, then drivers and then the software..? And could i do all this in an hour or not?

[Mechcozmo]

And could i do all this in an hour or not?

2 hours minimum. If everything went well.

[carlos700]

I've worked with PCs for many years. Here are some suggestions:


Make sure all your Hardware is Windows XP Service Pack 2 Compatible (Some might work with Service Pack 1 but not 2
Try contacting Dell and see what they have to say
When Installing/Starting Windows isolate some hardware like FireWire Cards, 2nd Hard Drives, other PCI Cards


Moreover, you get what you pay for. My eMachines laptop taught me that lesson.

[hcuar]

This problem is easy to fix. Norton sucks... Plain and simple. That's what is causing the problem. If you can uninstall it in safe mode... You'll be fixed. BTW: reinstalling windows is easy with a Dell. The CD that they sent is a "restore" cd which will return the system to factory conditions.

[fuzzai]

if i were you, and im not. but this is what i would do, Since i work with xp :( every day at work.

Reinstall it
try and get a copy of xp with SP2 NOT INCLUDED! its a terrible service pack for some machines.
get a copy from a friend as long as you use your XP HOME KEY your fine.

put the cd in, restart, it will ask you to hit a key to boot to the CD, do so.
just follow the screens, one will ask you to repair. DO NOT REPAIR, delete the old drive you will see that in a screen. then MAKE A NEW PARTITION. then your all set. start installing

XP is fairly smart, sometimes. it may install most of your drivers.
(im taking a guess if its a dell computer you got dell cds? yeah don't use a WINDOWS XP dell cd, get an original one. )
then load all the dell drivers.
you should be set to go.

DO NOT INSTALL NORTON its crap man.
you need a virus scanner, go to www.grisoft.com getg AVG7 free version for home PC's. works well..

i would avoid install SP2 for a while. its a pack that will make or break your home PC.

if you need any help PM me.
take care!

[BakedBeans]

wow, i love pc's

http://img111.exs.cx/img111/6774/greatapc8aq.jpg

[jaromski]

DO NOT INSTALL NORTON its crap man.
you need a virus scanner, go to www.grisoft.com getg AVG7 free version for home PC's. works well..



Yeah I agree. Norton adds a great deal of entropy into your Windows system and its costs outweigh its purported benefits. Plus if it does work it slows your machine down to a crawl at times. I know because my dad bought a copy of the Norton AllInOneVirusFirewallScannerProduct and it ****ing sucked donkey balls. It was always hosing his network connection, fire sharing stuff, and sometimes it would just hang his whole machine. Needless to say this is unacceptable, these are work machines, and sometimes actual work (that you get paid for) must be accomplished.

I junked Norton and installed the grisoft AVG7 free virus/email scanner instead. The machine is useable again and the AVG keeps the bugs off the system. It is more lightweight than norton and you can't beat free, right?

When will Microsoft just buy out Norton? Seriously they are both very large corporations with a penchant for "creating" bloated, dodgy products; it would be a match made in heaven.

Jaromski

[edesignuk]

All this slagging off Norton :rolleyes: Norton AntiVirus Corporate is the dogs dangly bits. Calm down.

[carlos700]

I used Norton Internet Security 2005 on my PC and I never had connection problems.

[Fredstar]

Hey guys firstly cheers for the help and er the comments ;),
In my opinion (as of course 99% of u would agree) XP is crap , especially when you are using OSx 10 mins earlier. God even a brand new intel Celeron 2.6ghz is SO BAD and slow and sluggish.
Anyways, sorted the computer finally after booting in safe mode and uninstalling Mcafee (which was already preinstalled and causing issues) and most of the start up programs and then got a clean boot in normal mode and managed to uninstall Norton internet security 2004.
I use Norton on our Dell and it manages to keep it Virus free and seems to deter intruders and doesn't seem to hog too much cpu so when i get the broadband sorted i will try reinstalling Norton and see what happens, they literally need to just word process/e-mail/browse and this is not even regularly. As long as they don't get intrusions and keep virus free (i doubt they will even download anything) and of course will install Firefox for them.

[ReanimationLP]

Need I say it? DUDE, YOU GOT A DELL! >:D

[Fredstar]

Need I say it? DUDE, YOU GOT A DELL! >:D
It was for friends and for £220 i will say it again, v good vfm.

[absolut_mac]

Hey guys firstly cheers for the help and er the comments ;),
In my opinion (as of course 99% of u would agree) XP is crap , especially when you are using OSx 10 mins earlier. God even a brand new intel Celeron 2.6ghz is SO BAD and slow and sluggish.
Anyways, sorted the computer finally after booting in safe mode and uninstalling Mcafee (which was already preinstalled and causing issues) and most of the start up programs and then got a clean boot in normal mode and managed to uninstall Norton internet security 2004.
I use Norton on our Dell and it manages to keep it Virus free and seems to deter intruders and doesn't seem to hog too much cpu so when i get the broadband sorted i will try reinstalling Norton and see what happens, they literally need to just word process/e-mail/browse and this is not even regularly. As long as they don't get intrusions and keep virus free (i doubt they will even download anything) and of course will install Firefox for them.

Norton Internet Security isn't as effective as Zone Alarm, nor as stable either.

There is a very good reason that most PC mags vote Zone Alarm as the best personal firewall year in and year out - and the best part is that it's free too :)

Absolutely no info goes in or out of your comp without your permission.

http://www.zonelabs.com/

Although I paid a little bit extra and got the Pro version.

[hcuar]

All this slagging off Norton :rolleyes: Norton AntiVirus Corporate is the dogs dangly bits. Calm down.

Every company that I've ever worked for that used Norton, shortly switched to McAfee corporate edition. The switch was for good reason too. Norton has a history of telling you that your computer was just infected, while McAfee actually stops the infection.

That being said, I prefer AVG for home and buisness. (Better yet, I prefer to use a Mac and not worry about the whole silly mess.)

[stevep]

Disable Norton Internet Security - it slows down your WinXP loading time. Norton Anti-Virus is ok, and you need an anti-virus program if you have internet access.

The free version of Zone Alarm is a good software firewall solution.
If you want to re-install, make sure you are booting from the cd drive - you may have to go into the BIOS (watch the screen at boot-up, you'll have to hit the del, F2 or F10 key probably). Once into the BIOS,go to advanced settings and change the boot options so the first boot device is the CD drive. You can then try booting from the cd and reinstalling Windows. There is no reason why Win XP shouldn't work properly as long as you have all the correct drivers installed- my guess is that you have a Dell version of the Win XP disc which has all these on it.

My own Win XP system has been installed for 18 months, without a sign of a blue screen yet. I have 23 machines at work with Win XP installed and they have also been running for a similar time without no OS problems.

[mklos]

My own Win XP system has been installed for 18 months, without a sign of a blue screen yet. I have 23 machines at work with Win XP installed and they have also been running for a similar time without no OS problems.

Because nobody uses them! :P

[mklos]

For friends i recently sorted them out with a new Dell that cost something like £240 for a ok spec machine that was brand new. Ok i hate XP but they only know how to work XP and had a small budget, so i went over and installed everything along with Norton internet security.

Major problem:Boot ups seem to never fully load, everything freezes up once the main desktop appears. The only time i got it to come out of the freeze was putting in the Installation XP cd for some reason. I tried restarting after that but again all i got was a loading icon for ages, i tried putting in the installation cd but nothing changed.

I guess i could re-install the whole Xp home edition (service pack 2) but how would i do that if it freezes at every start up? ctrl-alt-delete doesn't work either.
Please note that this isn't a dig at Xp or Dells because i think it is great vfm just need to get XP working for them! Any help would be very much appreciated.

This is a classic example of why you don't buy a PC! PC=Pile of CRAP!

Speaking of Windoze locking up....This past week, Bill Gates was demoing a new version of Windows and it kept crashing on him!!!! LOL HAHA LMO!!!!!! :D

[solvs]

Yeah, you won't get a lot of sympathy here.

Just re-install from scratch, use NAV, but not the firewall (d/l ZA for that), and if it doesn't work, call Dell. You could have some hardware problems, or a bad install CD. Rebooting into safemode (F8) may get you in, but if you don't know what you're looking for, you won't be able to fix it. Enjoy!

[SiliconAddict]

For friends i recently sorted them out with a new Dell that cost something like £240 for a ok spec machine that was brand new. Ok i hate XP but they only know how to work XP and had a small budget, so i went over and installed everything along with Norton internet security.

Major problem:Boot ups seem to never fully load, everything freezes up once the main desktop appears. The only time i got it to come out of the freeze was putting in the Installation XP cd for some reason. I tried restarting after that but again all i got was a loading icon for ages, i tried putting in the installation cd but nothing changed.

I guess i could re-install the whole XP home edition (service pack 2) but how would i do that if it freezes at every start up? ctrl-alt-delete doesn't work either.
Please note that this isn't a dig at Xp or Dells because i think it is great vfm just need to get XP working for them! Any help would be very much appreciated.

Unfortunately you have XP home. Windows XP Professional can pretty much go head to head with OS X when it comes to stability. (My XP system has been up 4 months so far.) But Home is another matter. So out of the box the system is at a disadvantage. You can’t do much about that so lets focus on what you CAN do. I could go though a tedious procedure on how to possibly recover the system but I’m not because it sounds like you used what Dell gave you out of the box which is a bad thing.

First off I have to ask. IS this thing directly connected to the net? e.g. is it directly connected to a cable modem or DSL or dialup or is there a router in between it and the net? I ask because if this thing didn’t have a firewall installed before you installed SP2 and you simply plugged it into the net and started downloading patches there is greater then 60% chance that the system was compromised before you could patch it. I’m not kidding. They are saying that it now takes 20 minutes for a new unpatched Windows system to be compromised by and exploit. By and large this is NOT enough time to install the necessary patches. That’s the first question I had to ask.

Now onto installs.

First off Dell like most 3rd party OEM’s adds a ton of **** to the system when they ship it out. The best, and frankly easiest, way to get around this is nab the blue, or in some cases, green disk that came with the system and boot off of it. It should be a full version of Windows XP. Format the entire drive and reinstall the OS from scratch. Once you boot into Windows for the love of god apply a password to the user’s account and Administrator! Seriously. Viruses have a hey day with systems that don’t have a password. You can access this screen through the control panel under User Accounts. Second. Even if this system doesn’t come with SP2 installed. (Hopefully it does.) There is a firewall option in Windows. Before you even THINK of putting this system on the net turn this on!!! Again it becomes less important if you have SP2 already install. Most systems are shipping with this now. Esp a Dell. To turn it on go to your Control Panel -> NETWORK CONNECTIONS -> LOCAL AREA CONNECTIONS (For high speed internet) or MODEM CONNECTIONS (For dial up..ick.) Right click on the item you use to connect to the net. Properties. Click on the Advanced Tab. Change the firewall settings. Again this is if you DON’T have SP2.
Then go to Dell's Download Center (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs) and download the latest drivers for the chipset/audio/video for the system. If you know how compare drive dates to the ones installed on the device manager. You can get to the device manager by hitting [Windows Key] and pause/break at the same time -> Click on the hardware tab -> Click on Device Manager. Under each section will be a listed device. Double click on it to open it up. Click on the driver tab to get details on the driver. Name, date, version number, etc.

-Second. When you load Norton do a custom install and load Norton Antivirus ONLY. (Either that or try and browse the CD contents and see if Symantec has a sep installer for Norton AV.) I kid you not. The other **** in Norton Internet Security is more likely to crash your system then anything else. The other two major apps in Norton Internet Security is firewall and spyware cleaner.
You can find free software out there for those.
Firewall simply install ZoneAlarm (http://www.download.com/ZoneAlarm/3000-10435_4-10346118.html?tag=lst-0-1) as your pref firewall of choice. But be sure to disable Microsoft’s firewall that can be found by going START -> CONTROL PANEL -> ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS -> SERVICES. Double click on the service called Windows Firewall. Change the startup type to disabled. Click OK.

NOTE: Do this only AFTER you are completely patched, after you have zone alarm downloaded, and after your are disconnected from the net. I’m not kidding. A direct connection to the net on a Windows box is dangerous now a days.

Next. Go to www.mozilla.org and get FireFox. You want them to have a spyware/adware free computing experience on Windows? FireFox is it. Beyond that is Adaware Personal Edition (http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10319876.html?tag=lst-0-1) and SpyBot Search and Destroy (http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10289035.html?tag=lst-0-2)
The problem with these apps is the free versions don’t actively seek out adware/spyware.

Or tell them to get a $500-$600 iMac when it comes out tomorrow. Because the above is a pain in the ass for anyone other then a techhead like me. No user should have to go through that kind of ****.
:mad:

[SiliconAddict]

This is a classic example of why you don't buy a PC! PC=Pile of CRAP!

Speaking of Windoze locking up....This past week, Bill Gates was demoing a new version of Windows and it kept crashing on him!!!! LOL HAHA LMO!!!!!! :D

You mean like what happened to Jobs when he was demoing OS X back in 99 or was it 2000? :rolleyes:

Oh ************. If you know what you are doing a PC is a perfectly fine computing environment. But the average user is NOT a tech head. They don't know enough to stop using Internet Explorer and use FireFox. They don't know enough to enable a Firewall and why its important. They simply treat their PC like a toaster when its more like a car that requires some maintenance from time to time and you need to know how to drive before you get behind the wheel. That being said I know more then a handful of users who this applies to. Who I would recommend getting a Mac if it wasn’t for their price. You can go on all you want about TCO and such but at the end of the day $1200 is a $1200. (For an iMac. eMac sucks.) Hopefully the $500-$600 iMac is true. If so Apple is going to sell a **** load of those things.

[Fredstar]

Cheers Silicon Addict,
And tbh OSx is hardly that stable on my new imac G5 (which i love to bits btw) and i usually get 2 'unexpectadly quit' apps every week - usually ical/Safari and other 3rd party stuff. ichat has to be force quite sometimes too. To be fair i use my imac a lot. Although the biggest advantage is that the whole system doesn't lock up and i can easily force quit the misbehaving app. And before anyone says i DO run Macaroni and Onyx that takes care of all the scripts and repair permissions.
With the Dell - Haven't been connected to the internet because the broadband company sent a disc with the wrong drivers. So you seriously think i should only install Norton's anti-virus solution and just download that free firewall? On our Dell at home the firewall does a fine job.
Also i have uninstalled and removed all the useless programs that came preinstalled and slows start up.
And yup will download Firefox as i tell everyone it is miles better than IE.
One last thing, until Apple release the cheap headless mac Dell represents a market that meet a huge majority of the population needs, a computer that is cheap and works and can be used to do simple stuff and browse. It also has more power than any of the regular users will ever need.
And if Apple do release the headless mac i might consider it for the friends but again (and this applies to most of the consumer market):
1) They have been brought up on Xp/98/95 and know how it works and are not technophiles and can't/won't learn on a new system.
2)They are not bothered about the fancy things that Apple have - the fancy gui/stabality and free apps that they won't know how to use or can't be bothered or just don't have enough time to use
3)They are happy enough and ACCEPT the XP unstabality and simple gui, they know no better.
4)They don't really care for beautiful computers, a Black Dell tucked away is just fine

[BornAgainMac]

What exactly is "Safe Mode"? So by default, XP will boot up into a unsafe mode? Can I make my Mac boot up in unsafe mode by default?

(Don't answer, I know the answer. But I would think a normal PC user should stand in the corner of a room and look at the wall and think about this for a few minutes)

[SiliconAddict]

Cheers Silicon Addict,
And tbh OSx is hardly that stable on my new imac G5 (which i love to bits btw) and i usually get 2 'unexpectadly quit' apps every week - usually ical/Safari and other 3rd party stuff. ichat has to be force quite sometimes too. To be fair i use my imac a lot. Although the biggest advantage is that the whole system doesn't lock up and i can easily force quit the misbehaving app. And before anyone says i DO run Macaroni and Onyx that takes care of all the scripts and repair permissions.
With the Dell - Haven't been connected to the internet because the broadband company sent a disc with the wrong drivers. So you seriously think i should only install Norton's anti-virus solution and just download that free firewall? On our Dell at home the firewall does a fine job.
Also i have uninstalled and removed all the useless programs that came preinstalled and slows start up.
And yup will download Firefox as i tell everyone it is miles better than IE.
One last thing, until Apple release the cheap headless mac Dell represents a market that meet a huge majority of the population needs, a computer that is cheap and works and can be used to do simple stuff and browse. It also has more power than any of the regular users will ever need.
And if Apple do release the headless mac i might consider it for the friends but again (and this applies to most of the consumer market):
1) They have been brought up on Xp/98/95 and know how it works and are not technophiles and can't/won't learn on a new system.
2)They are not bothered about the fancy things that Apple have - the fancy gui/stabality and free apps that they won't know how to use or can't be bothered or just don't have enough time to use
3)They are happy enough and ACCEPT the XP unstabality and simple gui, they know no better.
4)They don't really care for beautiful computers, a Black Dell tucked away is just fine


*shrugs* This is all opinion. Since I can't sit down with the system so I can't really say anything with 100% certanty. For Norton. I'm just telling you my experience. I received Norton Security with my Linksys router in fall of 2002. The software made my system buggy. What I would suggest is start slow. By and large even Microsoft's built in Firewall software in SP2 is good enough for most people. One of the biggest things about Norton and their software is that when MS comes out with a new OS Norton has a propensity to break the system. It’s so integrated into Windows that it can cause crashes. While XP is by and large still the XP that was release back in ’01 SP2 makes enough changes under the hood that this software could be causing issues. So after installing Norton I would HIGHLY recommend running the update feature on it.
One thing to know about XP is its rollback feature. There are two components to this:
System Restore (Can be found in START -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore.)
And driver rollback (This is under the Device manager that I mentioned in my previous post. Where I mention where you can see the driver version and date? Well you also have a button to rollback to the previous working driver.)

System restore is a dang good tool to have around. Before installing an application run this app and create a restore point. What this does is for all intents and purposes it backs up critical system files and the registry. So in the even of something bad happening to your system you can restore to that point in time. Note that when you install MS patches a restore point is always created "just in case"

I would use that app and start playing around with your choices. I really think the best thing you can do at this point is literally start from scratch. Format and blow the whole system away. As they say in Aliens – “Nuke it from orbit” “It’s the only way to be sure” :cool:

[garybUK]

Here's my two pence take it or leave it...

XP Pro and XP Home are the same OS, no stability difference, the only difference in them is the networking kernel. XP Home is a cut down version of MS's TCP/IP Stack and doesn't allow integration with Domains.

Things I do when instaling a Clean XP OS: Do not use Microsoft's Windows Update Drivers, they are very bad and should not be used. Get the latest WHQL drivers from the manufacturers website or off the Dell CD.

Turn off that stupid rollback thing (right click my computer) it just wastes disk space, cpu & memory and doesn't work all the time.

If in doubt contact dell and ask for the restore cd's to be sent out (about £20) and just restore it using their images.

[jaromski]

Here's my two pence take it or leave it...

...

Turn off that stupid rollback thing (right click my computer) it just wastes disk space, cpu & memory and doesn't work all the time.



Yeah I agree here, the system restore isn't the greatest. I found a better program from PowerQuest called DriveImage. It allows you to make a snapshot of any drive in your system. Very useful for making an image of your C: after you have everything perfect. (e.g. drivers installed, apps installed, etc.) I have been hosed a few times (by myself twic and a virus once) and it sure is nice to have my system back online in less than 15 minutes. Since it is a work machine there are apps I need that are WindowsOnly. YMMV depending on how many apps and stuff you need on your C: drive. But I would recommend a 10GB partition for C: and the balance of your hard drive on D:

The software costs about USD $75.00 but it doesn't take too many **** ups before that $75 investments makes a decent return. I figure in the 3 screw-ups I've had in the past year or so that is about 3-5 hours per reinstall * 3 = 9-15 hours of time. So it is definately worth it. And it will be worth more in the future the next time I screw up something and want to rollback.

My only recommendation is to keep all your documents on a separate partition, like the D: drive. Then if you have to revert to your backup image you won't hose any of your music, documents, etc.

Plus get AVG7free from www.grisoft.com. That will keep the bugs out of your system and it lighter than old resource hog Norton.

jaromSki