I'm hating Vista!!

I have a Dell M1330, 32 bit, SP1, Vista Home Premium. I can't stand how it's bluescreening all the time!!!! I have the Intel wireless card and Nvidia 8400m graphics too. I think it's either unstable drivers or a networking problem. In either case, is anyone else using Vista and getting bluescreens all the time? if so, is there any solution? I can't go to XP right now because I'd like to save some money by not buying a disc, so should I wipe Vista and see if it's more stable? I haven't done any reformatting on this computer yet, and I'm hoping I don't have to, but does anyone have any advice?

 

I have had three different Dell laptops with Vista Home Premium, and my current one with Vista Ultimate, and none of them have ever blue screened.

I can't confirm this as a solution, but this site suggests a registry repair.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Windows-Vista-Blue-Screen-Error&id=693332

Best of luck! Don't give up on Vista so soon!

 

Bluscreens withtout touching anythng once you received it? RMA

 

Have you tried installing Nvidia drivers from www.laptopvideo2go.com?

I also had BSODs during my first experiences with Vista, but it turned out to be the video driver. Somewhere on the BSOD should be a fiename indicating what driver or Windows component caused the failure anyway. Have you looked, or does the computer restart right away?

 

Might be hardware issues. I've had like 5 computers with Vista (home basic, home premium, ultimate [all mixed]) and NONE have bluescreened, BUT my girlfriend had an HP with vista home premium and it bluescreened nonstop at one point, and the motherboard, RAM, DVD drive, and CPU had to be changed (according to the HP repair report they gave me).

 

Also make sure your not laying your laptop on a bed or anything plushy and soft as it can restrict airflow therefore making a bluescreen saying instability due to overheating components. But follow unknowntt's advice as it can be the exact fix. Let us know what happens.

 

I have a m1330 and ran it on vista 32-bit for a couple months, one month with SP1 and one month without sp1 without bluescreens. The only bluescreen I ever got on the system was in the process of installing 64-bit vista.

However, the first m1330 I bought from Best Buy operated at a temperature very close to the maximum recommended by intel for my particular processor, so I returned it out of concern over future problems. The one I recieved from Dell was a different configuration, but it also operated much further away from the maximum recommended operating temperature. Try one of the programs which monitor this and check the maximum recommended operating temperature from intel. Maybe this is the case? The dell warranty should cover a crappy software/hardware configuration if that is the case.

 

I haven't had a Dell for a while, but the Dells I have owned always came loaded with bloat and junk apps which sometimes caused the sorts of problems you've described. You mention not having reformatted yet. Maybe a clean install is what's needed?

 

well thanks guys. I won't give up on Vista, but I've had this computer since December actually. In reality, it runs well. I don't think there's a hardware problem. But who knows. I might try a different driver. But I thought the problem could be something to do with the networking (particularly wireless). Here's the thing, if I was downloading something, and lost my network or switched wireless networks, it would sometimes bluescreen. However, after I installed SP1, I seem to be getting random bluescreens, as in I wouldn't do anything and it would bluescreen.
Also, mine runs pretty cool I would say, and certainly well within the expected normal temperature range. I also never use it on my bed or other soft surface, and it's never overheated as far as I can tell.
I'm guessing the problem is with the stock Nvidia driver. I read a while ago that a majority of vista bluescreens are due to crappy Nvidia drivers, so that might be the best bet.

 

I should also say my title is wrong, I don't actually hate Vista, I was just frustrated because of the BSOD.

 

Try different drivers, and if that fails, try a clean install of vista. I would think that would do the job. If it still doesn't work, even after reformatting the hard drive and doing a CLEAN install, I would think it is a hardware issue, or even over heating (which could theoretically be the same thing I suppose). Get dell to repair/replace it, as it is still under warranty.

Please tell us how it goes! Good luck jaakobi!

 

I'm fairly sure Dell tested the design of their laptops to death - including blocking the airflow completely to cause deliberate overtemp problems. I would be very surpsrised if the laptop doesn't firstly reduce CPU/GPU speeds and then automatically shut down when it overheats.

 

How often do the random bsod happen?

Next time it happens, once you restart the computer, click Start, and in the search bar type eve

Once you see event viewer show up, click it. A new window will pop up. Expand the folder named Windows Logs and look for errors that happened around the time you got the bsod. Most of the time it will tell you exactly what caused the computer to crash.

 

Software usually doesnt tell you the accurate temperature from what I have learned from computer specialists from college graduates. If you really want an accurate guage, aim a laser theremometer into the vents of the notebook to see the actual temperature. I have aimed at my CPU in my desktop(with a fan) and it was VERY different like 10 degrees different from my reading from the software. So yea....just trying to clarify

 

Well, it happened twice yesterday. It happened a couple times (at least 3 other times) since I've installed SP1. I looked at the event log and it appears there's a lot of network errors, many are ethernet related, and some are wireless, though I'm only connected to ethernet for now. I'm thinking it's network related now, so I guess I should try reinstalling Vista when I get the time.

 

how do you know it's the software and not your laser thermometer that's giving you the innacurate reading

 

Yes, i'd try changing the video drivers. If all else fails, go ahead and reinstall the OS.
I found that after I tried a certain video driver set (for overclocking) my sysetem would blue screen when I close the lid in order for the lappy to go to sleep. After resetting the drivers back to the factory dell drivers, this problem went away.

 

Jaakobi...I see you say that you've had the system since December, but it wasn't clear if you have been getting the blue screens right from the start or if they started sometime later.

If the system has been bluscreening from the very beginning with the stock Dell installation, then Stop now, don't pass go, just call Dell and demand either a full system swap, or at minimum a motherboard replacement. You shouldn't be put into a position to have to troubleshoot a new machine out of the gate.

If on the other hand it was fine for some length of time and then later started acting up, then you might suspect a software/driver problem introduced by some program install or update. In that case, format the drive and start over...either with a recovery CD or a clean install from an OS CD...whichever you have.

If you clean install with all proper drivers and you immdiately start having the same issue, time to suspect hardware error. Call Dell.

 

LMAO I always get that question...well I placed a mercury filled thermometer (The old school ones) and stuck it in the vent of my friend's xps 1530 for about an hour and got the same temp as the laser thermometer there we go but good question though

Hey...you can't beat the classical ways of checking tech where there used to be knobs and dials instead of digital read-outs.

 

This is what happened with mine right out of the box, it had XP pro on it and was doing all sorts of blue screens, dvd drive not working right, system hanging, shutting down, I installed vista, updated all drivers etc. still having the same problems so now Dell is going to replace the notebook, I have only had mine for about 2 weeks

 

How did you install SP1 - windows update, or did you download the full version? The NVIDIA drivers that come with the 1330 cause problems with SP1. Just download the updated drivers from Dell's website and you'll be good.

 

Ok, just an update, I've updated to the latest drivers on the Dell website.
I thought Vista was supposed to find the newest drivers automatically but whatever. So far so good. Hope things stay this way. Thanks all!

 

You said it BSOD several times, but what are the BSOD message? Is it 0x9F, 0x7F, invalid power state, etc...Try updating BIOS to A10 if it's not already updated. It is supposed to fix Dell wifi problems, although I think it also helped me as well.

I had BSOD problems before about 40% of the time while ENTERING hibernation. I tried reinstalling drivers from dell.com and whatnot, but it never fixed the issue. I then integrated Vista SP1 using vLite ( http://www.vlite.net/) from the Dell Vista disk and reinstalled the OS.

I haven't have a single BSOD for about a month now. Integrating SP1 will take about 2 hours to complete. The program is not frozen so give it time. It's also a much cleaner way of installing Vista.