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Okay, my computer has been behaving like a spoilt child for about two months now, freezing randomly about every half an hour or so, on average. This is more annoying than can possibly be described. I've lost essays, downloads, posts, revision notes and AOL messenger conversations.
Now, I've been fairly thorough in my investigations, and thanks to Turbo I though I had got the problem licked, but it turned out only to be an above average intermission in the freezing. I've moved all the drives in my computer into new positions, bought new IDE cables, conducted lengthy RAM testing, bought a surge protector in case the fault was caused by excessive currents, replaced the fan on my CPU and reinstalled Windows XP five times on different hard-disks. Finally I even packed it up and sent it off for a pro to have a look at it. He too couldn't fix it.
And now it emerges that Windows XP was the problem. Why? Because a clean install of XP on a freshly formatted hard-disk does not work. Whereas if you go down the notoriously unreliable road of upgrading an existing version of Windows it runs like a dream. This would almost be ironic if I hadn't spent so much bloody time trying to get other things to work.
Microsoft are getting an angry e-mail about this.
grrrrrrr...
Thanks to all those who put forward suggestions, they all helped to lead to this rather obvious conclusion: Microsoft will never release a version of Windows that actually works.
Now, I've been fairly thorough in my investigations, and thanks to Turbo I though I had got the problem licked, but it turned out only to be an above average intermission in the freezing. I've moved all the drives in my computer into new positions, bought new IDE cables, conducted lengthy RAM testing, bought a surge protector in case the fault was caused by excessive currents, replaced the fan on my CPU and reinstalled Windows XP five times on different hard-disks. Finally I even packed it up and sent it off for a pro to have a look at it. He too couldn't fix it.
And now it emerges that Windows XP was the problem. Why? Because a clean install of XP on a freshly formatted hard-disk does not work. Whereas if you go down the notoriously unreliable road of upgrading an existing version of Windows it runs like a dream. This would almost be ironic if I hadn't spent so much bloody time trying to get other things to work.
Microsoft are getting an angry e-mail about this.
grrrrrrr...
Thanks to all those who put forward suggestions, they all helped to lead to this rather obvious conclusion: Microsoft will never release a version of Windows that actually works.
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The computers's only a year or so old:
AMD Athlon 700 Mhz processor
512MB RAM
3D Prophet MX II
And two hard-disks - one of which I bought and installed on the assumption that the other one might be faulty and so cause windows to freeze.
I've since replaced virtually all the cabling and cooling units in the computer and had a pro look at the motherboard to see nothing was wrong.
Then I do the upgrade from ME and it works like a dream.
Don't get me wrong XP is a great OS but it just didn't work on a clean install and cost me time and money in trying to fix it. I even bought a surge protector in case current spikes were causing it to crash.
AMD Athlon 700 Mhz processor
512MB RAM
3D Prophet MX II
And two hard-disks - one of which I bought and installed on the assumption that the other one might be faulty and so cause windows to freeze.
I've since replaced virtually all the cabling and cooling units in the computer and had a pro look at the motherboard to see nothing was wrong.
Then I do the upgrade from ME and it works like a dream.
Don't get me wrong XP is a great OS but it just didn't work on a clean install and cost me time and money in trying to fix it. I even bought a surge protector in case current spikes were causing it to crash.
Strange, then!
As far as I know, the upgrade replaces every OS file required. I suppose it must, or compatibility problems would be massive.
How old are the other components in your PC? Graphics, sound card, modem etc.? I did hear just after it was launched that XP had significant problems with 'older hardware' - it was said that it wasn't guaranteed to work with components over 2-3 years old.
In fact, at first I was very reluctant to upgrade because of this. But I took the chance ater getting my new MAXX machine last year, and I have to say that I love XP. It's proved for me to be the most reliable, intuitive and intelligent version of Windows I've ever used. It makes my PC almost as much fun to use as my old Amiga 500 was. :-) And this is from someone who traditionally has a strong dislike of MS operating systems!
I suppose it could be your processor, but then I'd expect it to freeze even after upgrading from ME. I remember reading long ago that AMD processors created problems with some software, and to be honest it's why I've always avoided them like the plague, despite the lower costs etc.
As far as I know, the upgrade replaces every OS file required. I suppose it must, or compatibility problems would be massive.
How old are the other components in your PC? Graphics, sound card, modem etc.? I did hear just after it was launched that XP had significant problems with 'older hardware' - it was said that it wasn't guaranteed to work with components over 2-3 years old.
In fact, at first I was very reluctant to upgrade because of this. But I took the chance ater getting my new MAXX machine last year, and I have to say that I love XP. It's proved for me to be the most reliable, intuitive and intelligent version of Windows I've ever used. It makes my PC almost as much fun to use as my old Amiga 500 was. :-) And this is from someone who traditionally has a strong dislike of MS operating systems!
I suppose it could be your processor, but then I'd expect it to freeze even after upgrading from ME. I remember reading long ago that AMD processors created problems with some software, and to be honest it's why I've always avoided them like the plague, despite the lower costs etc.
Yes it should work fine. And yes it installs fine, formatting and partioning my drive for me, but when it gets down to actually using XP it doesn't work. It freezes at random.
If I upgrade, in the traditional sense, from ME then it works fine. Indeed ME works fine on a clean install. I can only assume that an XP upgrade keeps some of ME's files. I'm tempted to think that it doesn't like my Athlon processor but I'm at a loss as to why the clean install doesn't work. After all that's what you're meant to do if you want an optimal installation of XP.
Still Microsoft in un-tested product ridden with fatal bugs shocker.. nothing new, is it?
If I upgrade, in the traditional sense, from ME then it works fine. Indeed ME works fine on a clean install. I can only assume that an XP upgrade keeps some of ME's files. I'm tempted to think that it doesn't like my Athlon processor but I'm at a loss as to why the clean install doesn't work. After all that's what you're meant to do if you want an optimal installation of XP.
Still Microsoft in un-tested product ridden with fatal bugs shocker.. nothing new, is it?
Mr. Happy wrote:
> XP home edition (upgrade), on my computer, definitely doesn't work on
> fresh install. But when upgrading direct from ME it works fine.
It should work fine - mine does. You can even get the installation routine to partition and format the drives for you. I have XP Home Upgrade, and it works perfectly well.
You can use the Upgrade version to install fresh, without installing an older Windows first.
Make a boot floppy and boot from it, enabling CD-ROM support.
Put your WinXP Upgrade CD in the drive and cd to the I386 directory, then run 'WINNT.EXE'.
That'll start with a DOS-based installation, allowing you to partition and format your drives as required, including support for NTFS, before installing XP from scratch.
You WILL need to insert a valid full-version Windows CD at some point (98, 98SE, ME etc.) to confirm that you're 'eligible' for the upgrade.
> XP home edition (upgrade), on my computer, definitely doesn't work on
> fresh install. But when upgrading direct from ME it works fine.
It should work fine - mine does. You can even get the installation routine to partition and format the drives for you. I have XP Home Upgrade, and it works perfectly well.
You can use the Upgrade version to install fresh, without installing an older Windows first.
Make a boot floppy and boot from it, enabling CD-ROM support.
Put your WinXP Upgrade CD in the drive and cd to the I386 directory, then run 'WINNT.EXE'.
That'll start with a DOS-based installation, allowing you to partition and format your drives as required, including support for NTFS, before installing XP from scratch.
You WILL need to insert a valid full-version Windows CD at some point (98, 98SE, ME etc.) to confirm that you're 'eligible' for the upgrade.
Noooooo
Believe me, every single possible other thing that could have been causing my computer to freeze has been tested.
XP home edition (upgrade), on my computer, definitely doesn't work on fresh install. But when upgrading direct from ME it works fine.
Oh and just in case anyone suggests it, yes you can do a fresh install with an upgrade copy of XP.
And when I say freeze i don't mean crash, I mean the computer completely freezes so that even ctrl+alt+del will not reset it and you have to do it manually. Could be a problem specific to my computer but I've done so much tinkering inside to get it to work I somewhat doubt it. Unless it's a processor-specific problem, which wouldn't be unheard of given Microsoft's allegiance with Intel.
Believe me, every single possible other thing that could have been causing my computer to freeze has been tested.
XP home edition (upgrade), on my computer, definitely doesn't work on fresh install. But when upgrading direct from ME it works fine.
Oh and just in case anyone suggests it, yes you can do a fresh install with an upgrade copy of XP.
And when I say freeze i don't mean crash, I mean the computer completely freezes so that even ctrl+alt+del will not reset it and you have to do it manually. Could be a problem specific to my computer but I've done so much tinkering inside to get it to work I somewhat doubt it. Unless it's a processor-specific problem, which wouldn't be unheard of given Microsoft's allegiance with Intel.
It could be how much stuff you have on your PC like Kazza that takes up alot. Delete some stuff you dont need.
xp on a fresh format works fine....
Grix Thraves wrote:
> *just reminded me of the fantasticly oxymoronic Microsoft Works*
genuine LOL :-D
But I may not be back for long.. I have a-levels starting after half-term and today's my day off revision. I'll be back with a vengeance after that though...
and I'll leave you with a story in the life forum before I go...
> *just reminded me of the fantasticly oxymoronic Microsoft Works*
genuine LOL :-D
But I may not be back for long.. I have a-levels starting after half-term and today's my day off revision. I'll be back with a vengeance after that though...
and I'll leave you with a story in the life forum before I go...
And good to see you back, Mr Happy sir.
*just reminded me of the fantasticly oxymoronic Microsoft Works*
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