Technical challenges with my HP dv8000t laptop

This is an update on my dv8000t laptop technical challenges ...

I'm receiving an "INVALID_PROCESS_ATTACH_ATTEMPT" and blue screen of death (BSOD) about every other day now. The laptop will just freeze and crash. I turned off the option to automatically reboot after a BSOD so that I could read the error messages.

The crash does not seem to be directly related to a specific operation or application; however, I can recreate this crash by doing the following ... load HQuotes v6.3.0.81 > select About > close the About window > open the help file > sometimes the application crashes, sometimes the computer crashes.

Here is the report from the Event Viewer:
Faulting application hquote.exe, version 6.3.0.81, faulting module msvbvm60.dll, version 6.0.96.90, fault address 0x00015559.

I will try this option to see if it helps ...
Windows XP - To resolve this problem in Windows XP SP2, download and install the 887742 update for Windows XP. The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center: Download the the 887742 for Windows XP package now.

887742 Update:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887742
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887742/de

 

As I typed the last post, I discovered a new "dead" or "lazy" pixel. It must have formed within the last few days.

 

Every few days, certain applications will freeze and stop responding, including "Task Manager"! I'll be using several applications at-a-time and then I'll notice one or two of these applications stop responding ... I open Task Manager to try to "End Task" on those and Task Manager immediately stops responding. I'm unable to close those non-responsive applications so I have to reboot to recover the system.

 

Also, I continue to have the occasional problem with the keyboard and mousepad switching into "ClickLock" mode ... only solution is to reboot.

 

That's too comlicated for me. I don't program computers and I don't know C++. As far as I know, I didn't get these kind of problems with my DV4000.

 

One thing I reconmmend doing, re-install Windows and see if that helps. If that still doesn't work, then you might want to consult HP.

 

Update on the "lazy" pixel problem ...

I rubbed my finger, very gently, on the screen over the "lazy" pixel and, so far, it's working again.

Ref: http://forums.tweakguides.com/showthread.php?t=152

Ref: http://digg.com/software/A_program_that_can_fix_dead_pixels_on_your_LCD_(WORKS_)

 

Do a complete clean xp re install with a full format (dont use quick format). Use the computer for a bit and see if it happens again. If you have no issues then you should be fine and it could have been a bad/corrupt install or a bad program.

If you still getting issues after the re-install you could have bad hardware on the system.

Scott

 

ScottM,

Why do you recommend a full format?

From Microsoft...

Do you think the hard drive is going and that is what is causing the problems? Very well could be. Windows is a crazy beast sometimes.

 

If you suspect there's something wrong with the HD, buy Spinrite and see what it says. It'll do a very thorough interrogation of the HD, much better than merely reformatting. I don't think the HD is the problem in this case though.

I would burn and boot MemTest86+ and see what it says. Undiagnosed memory errors will do all sorts of goofy things. I doubt this is your problem either but it's a cheap test and it's good to be thorough.

Have you kept up with Windows Updates? Have you done the obligatory virus/worm/spyware sweep? My bet is that your Windows installation is damaged, somewhere. Patch Tuesday for this month is coming up, if you're really lucky new Windows Updates will overwrite whatever went wrong. Doing a clean install is the most thorough approach of course and can be made less annoying by integrating post-SP2 updates into a standard Windows install CD first.

 

Thanks for lots of great suggestions.

My system took weeks to set up so I'm not eager to reformat and reinstall. Here's a possibility ... Langa Letter: XP's No-Reformat, Nondestructive Total-Rebuild Option ... http://www.informationweek.com/windows/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=189400897

I will, however, run Spinrite and MemTest to look for weaknesses ... both are great pieces of software.

I'm not too excited about Windows updates as there is talk that Microsoft might start distributing their "Kill Switch" soon ... http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=84

 

More on lazy and dead pixel fixes:

http://digg.com/software/A_program_that_can_fix_dead_pixels_on_your_LCD_(WORKS_)

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=67742