Problems with X205-S9359

I have had problems with my new x205 from when I first got it. It will not run some programs (Battlefield 2142). Sometimes it takes 7-10 min. to open a program (autocad, control panel, IE). 75% of the time it wont shut down and I have to manually shut it down. Ive tried to do a system restore and it has an error and aborts. I checked the event viewer and it has 174 errors logged starting back in June. Im not sure what this means because i orederd the computer on August 10th and received the computer August 15th. Is this normal. Was going to return it to Amazon but my 30 days is up. Is this normal. I have a cousin that bought a HP at the same time for $1000 less and he does not have these problems but according to the specs i have a better machine. If anyone has any advice on what I can do to fix the problem please let me know.

 

Try to restore your system using system backup DVDs.

 

Omega Supreme - I used this guide: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=144783, to do a clean install this weekend on my X205-9349 mainly to get rid of all the bloatware and my X205-9349 is running much better without all the bloatware garbage. I would recommend you try this is not hard to do at all.

 

I had a similar problem on my X205-S9359 that I just solved, actually. Applications like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, apps I rely on, would take forever and a day to start, and when they started, would be unresponsive and SLOOOOOW.

So, I disabled the Superfetch service... and it resolved about 75% of the problem. Then, I disabled System Restore, and the problem went away COMPLETELY.

Before doing it my design apps were completely useless. THe hard drive would simply grind away non-stop for hours at a time. Now, it's perfect. Smooth. Silky. Elegant. But, oddly, I didn't have this problem on my other Toshiba or Desktop PC, just the X205.

Try the above, see if it works for you.

 

Thanks for the replys. How can I do a hardware check to see if i have any hardware problems. I would like to check this first before I take the steps listed above.

 

You don't need to do a hardaware check for the clean install, just backup your activation settings, all you important data files, download all the drivers and do the install, restore activation settings and then install all the drivers and appz.

 

I was wanting to know how to do a hardware check so I would know if it was the hardware or software. If it is the software then I may do a clean install this weekend.

 

These guys are steering you in the right direction. You will want to do a clean install before trying to figure out if it is hardware or software. By installing vista from scratch, you eliminate the software part. Then you can start tweaking you system like the others have mentioned.

My suggestion is to get a Vista Anytime Upgrade disc and do a clean install from that. Then there is absolutely no bloatware and you just need to install the drivers. Be sure to write the drivers down as you install them so you don't skip over them like I did and end up with a non-working HD-DVD! The drivers are on the discs that came with your system. They are buried, but you can find them.

 

I would suggest the you do System Recovery. Start from scratch rather than trying to do elimination. I would also suggest to check the programs that you are installing if they are fully compatible with Vista. Some programs are not design to run with Vista and causing instability of the system.

 

Exactly!!!, He should have gotten the Vista anytime upgrade DVD with his X205-9359, my X205-9349 came with one and I used that and this guide: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=144783 , to do a clean install on both my Toshiba X205-9349 and also on my Sony FZ180E and I am very glad I did, both are running much better without all the bloatware crap.

 

Mine didnt come with the anytime upgrade disk. All I got was the system restore disks (2 disks). I ran the system restore last night and when I get my anytime upgrade disk I will try to do the "clean install". Its running much better though. Zone Alarm antivirus was the first thing i installed (the vista version) when i got the computer but I wonder if I got a virus. I chose Zone Alarm because it look liked it got the best review on the net. I wonder this because a few days ago Zone alarm alerted me that I had a program trying to load on my D: drive. That is the additional hard drive. All that was on the drive was an episode of CSI that I had recorded and some AutoCad files. The program that was trying to run had a name like 9245x5e4fdse8bj54.exe. I explored that drive and noticed that there were 2 files like that on that drive. If it was a virus im not sure how i got it because all I ever downloaded was quicktime and Zone Alarm. I dont know atleast it is working now. By the way I had forgoten how much bloatware that was on there :-( How much faster will my computer run if i do a "clean install"? 10%, 20%, 50% ect...?

 

An X205 S9359 will not come with an Anytime Upgrade Disk as it's got Ultimate on there already. Your best bet is to find a friend who has it or try to get ahold of a regular Vista installer (that's what I did).

Any Vista DVD contains all copies (all!) of Windows Vista. Home, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate. It just may or may not have the 64-bit version with it.

Keep in mind you will need to re-active your OS, which will require a call to Microsoft, but it takes all of about five minutes to do.

 

I can confirm that there is something a little quirky about Zone Alarm on the X205, and maybe it is somehow related to superfetch.

2 days after I installed the Zone Alarm Suite, I began to notice what appeared to be random performance loss. Through a series of sequences of turning things on/off, etc. I isolated the cause to the Zone Alarm Antivirus scanner. What I found was that the antivirus processes (there are several) would begin to thrash on an on-access scan of a file or application. It would begin to consume CPU cycles and would continue to consume more and more cycles without letting up. I confirmed that it was Zone Alarm Antivirus (which is actually a Kaspersky engine) by simply opening Zone Alarm from the tray and flipping off the radio button for the Antivirus, and then flip it back on. The thrashing stopped, and system performance returned to normal right away and stayed normal until the next day or so when the who crazy thing started again.

So far I cannot isolate any particular application, or file, or time of day, or anything else that directly relates to the problem. I cannot find any postings on any forums anywhere about a similar problem, including the Zone Alarm support site. Which makes me start to suspect superfetch, so I might try disabling it and see what happens.

I like Zone Alarm, and so for now I am content to simply toggle the radio buttons on the virus scanner when I get the performance thrash (which averages about once every day or two, depending on how much I am using my computer. In the mean time, maybe something more definitive shows up on the support forums.

 

For you guys doing a clean install on an x205 using that process that's listed-what do you do about installing Toshiba software you actually want? Like I'm assuming you'd want that Toshiba HD-DVD player at least-is it possible to get that installed somehow?

 

There is an executable file of the support web site for the HD DVD player and most of the other applications.

 

I have stopped using Zone Alarm. Every single time I installed it on a system, it would crash hard within a month or so. I have not used it in a couple of years. Now obviously a whole lot can change in that amount of time, but I still keep my distance from that software.

I purchased an anytime upgrade disc from Amazon for around $10 shipped (My mother-in-law's Toshiba came with one). I then used the disc that came with my Toshiba to install the drivers. That was much faster than online. I did install the HD DVD software, but beware; you need to install the HD audio drivers as well or you will not be able to watch HD movies.