Help: Not responding errors constantly

I have a new 9743cl laptop bought from Costco. This computer is always locking up. I currently use Firefox browser. I was using IE, but it kept saying " not responding" so I downloaded Firefox which also is having the same problem. The screen goes cloudy and fan runs. It takes several minutes to get back any response. I have tried closing out the file in task manager. I have a D-Link dir-655 router and a dsl line. It says I have 4 bars, the wireless says the connection is working.

This problem happens on all tasks, even not ones related to the internet. I have the same not responding problem while trying to use Microsoft works.

I'm ready to take this back to Costco and get my $1300 back. That was with a $150 discount. This seems like alot of money to spend on something that is slow. This computer has a Intel Centrino duo processor. For this much money, it didn't even come with a Tv tuner.

Help, what should I do with this thing?

 

Reinstalling Windows should fix all of those problems.

I haven't done so on a HP before, so hopefully someone can chime in and let you know exactly how.

Greg

 

i agree.... reinstall windows

 

This is a brand new computer. I shouldn't have to re-install anything. This does not have a cd with it. It must be the bluescreen of death. It gives me a stop 0x00000 error and shutsdown windows automatically. I don't want to void the warranty performing any functions that they don't allow.

Is this a problem with other brands of notebooks or Hp mostly?

I can return this within 90 days. Should I just exchange it as this might be a lemon. Or should I just by a Dell or Toshiba?

 

Have you removed the bloat? If not go read in the OS section, the thread for "Tweak Vista" and see if that resolves your issues.

 

It doesn't have much of anything to do with HP. There is a problem with the Windows installation. This can happen to any computer, new, old it doesn't matter.

You need to either make recovery DVD's or boot into a special recovery program that is separate from Windows, again, this process differs slightly from brand to brand, so if someone with a HP computer(ideally the same one) could chime in and let you know which keys to hit, etc to recover the operating system. It is most likely not a lemon, as this seems to be a simple software problem.

Greg

 

I agree that bloat could easily be the cause of these problems. If you do reinstall Windows, do a a clean install or you'll have the same junk again and problems again.

Once the bloat is gone, I think the performance of the machine will be much improved.

 

I don't think I should have any of these problems on something that I just opened. Obviously Hp doesn't have very good quality control. This one probably going back to the store. This is a joke. Spend all your money on garbage that won't work out of the box. Those companies are making fools of us. I don't want to be stuck with something that shuts down every 10 minutes.

 

One of the reasons hardware is so cheap now days is because software vendors pay companies like HP to include their software on every new pc they sell for X amount of dollars per unit. This sounds good because you get a better price on the hardware but the consequence is you often have to remove the junk (aka bloat) before your hardware will perform the way it was designed to. Yes its a pain, but that's just how it is (you will encounter this in one form or another no matter what major company you buy from).

So before you return it you may want to spend some time reading the OS tweaks thread like I suggested and I'd bet it will clear up your issues. If you cant follow the tweaks in the guide then it is probably best to simply return the laptop (no offense meant but some people just cant handle technology well).

Whatever you do, good luck and we all hope it works out for ya. For the record I just love my dv9500!

Regards,

-Reby

 

villager, you don't actually have to reinstall Windows, though it would be faster and more thorough than simply cleaning the bloat. LOL

You can start easily enough, just by uninstalling apps you don't need and which are obviously garbage, from the Control Panel. Also, PC Decrapifier can get rid of most of the junk automatically (note here: I've not used the program, but have read good reviews about it).

Blackviper can help you with processes in the background which are unnecessary. Start, Run, msconfig will bring you to your start up apps. Stop those you don't need when you fire up your machine.

CCleaner can help clean up remaining bits of uninstalled junk, etc, and even help with your Registry (be very careful with this if you choose to use this function).

After doing these things (much easier and faster than you might imagine), your machine will probably seem like a different laptop. My eMachines desktop was much like yours before cleaning and now runs fine (with Linux). LOL

Reby made a good point when he said that you'll probably run into this situation with most machines. You might as well give your HP a shot at a cleanup. Good luck.

 

It does sound like a software problem, and while clean installing Vista would be ideal the stock configuration shouldn't be misbehaving THAT badly.

Try leaving Task Manager up and see what your memory and processor usage is when Vista freezes. How much total memory do you have? For $1300 I'd hope you'd have at least 2GB, but even with 1GB Vista shouldn't lock that badly.

Uninstalling all the Norton/Symantec software and replacing it with just about anything else (I use AVG Free) is a good idea. That's the only decrapification I bother with when I don't feel like clean installing.

 

Of course the stop error could also be triggered by a driver conflict, and the message may unveil the source......

 

This computer has a 320 GB dual hard drive. Right now it has Norton security and anti-virus. I had Norton on my desktop and it always had problems. I loaded Mcafee and it works fine on the Sony desktop. There is mega memory on this laptop, so there is no memory shortage.

This is my first laptop though, and I did research before I bought it. Is it too much to ask that it work out of the box?

 

tell you what you can do...

1: Get rid of everything Norton! Norton and Mcafee are the biggest reasons why computers slow drag while surfing the internet. AVG blows both of them away hands down on finding and removing viruses. And find a different spyware program as well. Something like AD-Aware or Spyware Doctor running with windows defender.

2: Then open up msconfig and disable all start up options.::click start/click run/type msconfig and click OK/ click startup and click disable all/ then reboot computer.

3: This should speed your computer up and hopefully stop the bsod. then you can slowly start adding stuff back to the start up, to see which one is causing problems.

4: And if none of that works, do a factory recovery of the system. this will not void any warranty's by hp, since that's all they we're gonna do if you sent it in for repairs.

5: This should probably go first.... test the memory. you could have a bad memory module. and do a scan disk for disk errors.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try those suggestions. Otherwise, I still have more than 2 months left to return this back to Costco. Maybe, I should just wait till summer to buy a new laptop. They'll be cheaper when the new penryn comes out.

 

no problem.

tis may be true....