took my Toshiba Laptop back and got a refund, any experts on here with Laptops?

Got my new Laptop yesterday, the Toshiba Satellite A300-10M with the 15" screen and i took it back today!!!
i tried everything, some of you may laugh but after restoring it to the Factory State 3 times, Windows Vista still took 8 minutes to shut down and start up on this machine, it would load up with the windows scrolly thing going left to right, then before it says WELCOME it would say "Please Wait" then it would pause for about 5 - 6 minutes! then it says welcome and up comes your desktop as normal, no problems at all once the machine had fully loaded...
im confused as to why is was so slow because it has 4GB of Ram and an Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T5800 and running Windows Vista Home Premium....
my sisters HP G70-111EM Laptop starts and shuts down in 90 seconds!
it only has 3GB of Ram and exctly the same speed processor

any experts have any idea why?
im gutted because the Toshiba had AMAZING speakers and sound, the HP is still good but no where in the same league as the Toshiba for Sound Quality, though it does have a 17" screen, so swings and roundabouts i suppose?
i removed all the garbage from each of the above machines, stuff that i wouldnt use, i even removed stuff from loading at startup using MS CONFIG

i phoned Toshiba and the guy on the phone said that Vista on different machines can differ in loading and shutting down times, i thought really? not 8 bloody minutes surely!! ended up having an Argument with him! he obviously doesnt have a clue or he was trying to make me sound stupid!


Staples have ordered me one of the HP G70-111EM`s and are sending the TOSHIBA back as FAULTY because on looking at the event viewer, the page was full of Errors and boot diagnostic messages saying WARNING, ERROR etc etc etc, thank christ i know the Manager as i bet i would have got grief if i had bought it from Currys or Comet

if anyone else here has a Toshiba Satellite machine, can you see how long yours takes to shut down and re-boot?

i would be grateful to know IF it was my machine, wasnt prepared to risk getting an exact model and it still taking 8 minutes again!
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Yeh sounds the same as mine when i bought my Qosmio x300, Turned out i needed a new fingerprint reader driver to stop it taking a few minutes saying "please wait" But in the end it was still full of bloat and i ended up formating and installing a custom x64 Vista Premium using V-lite, Now its bloat free and havent had a problem since!

 

Hi Mick

so, it seems i could have kept my Toshiba A300-10M ?
how could i have put a fingerprint thingy on it ?
it didnt come with one, what did you buy in the end then?

 

If yours didnt come with a fingerprint reader then that is not your problem and it is something else, It maybe full of Toshiba installed stuff and just needed a clearout using the uninstall programs in control panel.

 

when i first got the machine, i set it up as you normally do, it then began pausing at the "Please Wait" stage after it had finished doing all its stuff
i then also removed all the toshiba crap from it and left all the programs that i would be using, made no difference, still paused on "please wait"
i then updated ALL updates and still exactly the same

my sister began winding me up walking about with her 17" laptop with 3GB Ram, 1GB less than mine, saying "should have bought HP" gRRRRRRRRRRRR

hers starts and shuts down in about 90 seconds!!

 

I'm guessing something is clashing with Vista, Possibly a driver or program? This machine came with Vista am I correct? or did you upgrade it? If you upgraded it then perhaps you need a driver update of all your stuff.

I doubt it should take 8 minutes on a Toshiba though.

 

it came with Vista Home Premium installed on it already

 

What Toshiba stuff is still installed? and what is running at startup?

 

Mick - cheers for asking mate, but i took the Laptop back this morning, i removed most of the Toshiba stuff and also went into MSCONFIG and shut off a lot of stuff from starting up, the problem was still there after all that.... it just used to boot up and then say "please wait" for about 5 or 6 minutes just before it went onto my desktop

i got a refund from Staples anyway
(my cousin works there and the manager was a nice chap)
he could have been an arse and sent it back to Toshiba and made me wait weeks, but he didnt, he has ordered me this model and im picking it up tomorrow hopefully
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/e...02-3768356-3816519.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_UKEN

its the exact model as my sisters Laptop that she has just bought, i will then buy 1 more GB of ram and it will be maxxed out like the Toshiba was with 4GB, just tried hers again, from start up to shut down, it took a mere 90 seconds!
better than the Toshiba and 8 minutes with exactly the same processor!

though saying all this, i can get this for an extra £100 !
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/e...54-3744231-3758292.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_UKEN

 

just so i know, my new HP laptop will also be pre-installed with loads of HP crapp all over it like my sisters was, im gonna remove all that like i did hers, is it worth buying a different version of Vista then?
i always heard that Vista was rubbish compared to XP, i actually played with it and find it really ok to use... if i do decide to upgrade my preinstalled version, which should i upgrade to and what will i benefit from?

thanks mate

 

IMO - Vista is not rubbish compared to XP, I actually find it to be the best OS ive ever used. The only disappointment i have is it should of been a custom install from the start, just like certain linux installs do.

The problem with your laptop was a software problem or driver conflict. A fresh install of a retail copy of vista and not the OEM version from Toshiba would of resulted in an OS as fast if not faster than your sisters laptop. But you shouldnt have to pay more money for a new Vista disc! Toshiba is in the wrong and need to sort this out.

You dont need to upgrade your version of Vista, Home premium will be fine for most people unless you want the ultimate extras in the ultimate version and a few other features.

 

Mick - thanks for the advice buddy

one more question, im willing to pay someone to do me a step by step email on how to set up my NEW Vista Laptop to be able to print documents to my Epson 1290 Printer which is still using my Desktop PC which has Windows XP Home on it, it would have to be done via a network i think, my Desktop PC is connected to my Printer via a USB cable obviously
my old Epson Photo 1290 doesnt have wireless or bluetooth on it etc, though it is a great Printer

 

Its pretty easy to do actually, You will need to share the printer over the network on the desktop machine then simply goto "network" on the start menu on the laptop and "add printer", select "add network printer" and it will scan your network for the shared printer, once found it will ask for the driver disc for the printer to install the drivers, Then you should be good to go.

 

I agree with Mickbt26 on Vista, it is not at fault. Toshiba adds so much bloatware to their installation. If you can get a hold of any Vista install disk, you can install a clean install using the COA on the bottom and then download any extra/missing drives from the Toshiba support website. You usually end up having to call MS to get it activated because I think you will get 3 days of trial. Just explain to the MS rep you don't want all of the extras from Toshiba.(Here's my line, "I know Vista is fantastic, but Toshiba ruined it with their junk. I would be better off running WinME.") I was turned down once, but called back 4 hours later and a different rep let me do it. Other wise it will take you hours to get everything un-installed or deleted.

The other big brands have their bloatware too, but I think Toshiba is the worst.

 

is this ok to buy and will it work? do i just stick it in the machine and use the key i got with my new laptop? saying that, where would i find this microsfoft key exactly? you dont get disks with it now a days do you?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WINDOWS-VISTA...286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:16|39:1|240:1318


or this?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Windows-Vista...arms=66:2|65:1|39:1|240:1318#ebayphotohosting



thanks

 

either one will work fine, your buying a retail vista disc, it will have the key obviously.

 

I don't know about the current new laptops, but the Toshiba's I work with (A215 & A135 series) are at least a year old and they have a Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity sticker on the bottom of the laptop. You use the 25 digit key code on the sticker when installing Vista with a retail or OEM disk. If you know someone with a retail or OEM Vista disk, you can borrow their disk and use your key code. All of the versions of Vista are on 1 disk. What version that gets installed is determined by your key code. So, if you have that sticker on the bottom and if you can get a disk, you can do a clean install without having to buy anything.
Another thing I found out by accident. I put a Toshiba A135 Vista Home Premium Recovery disk in a A135 that was suppose to have Vista Home Basic. It installed, was activated and is still working. I haven't tried it with Ultimate on the A215s yet.

 

Oh ok, so if i buy my new HP machine that comes pre-installed with Vista Home Premium, i can then get that Vista Ultimate from Ebay and install it using the key code from under the bottom of my Laptop and it will work fine? or will it not let me because the microsoft key is registered to only work on Vista Home Premium? sorry to appear stupid! lol

 

if you buy vista ulimate , the key on the bottom of the laptop wont work but the key included with ulitmate will work fine

 

I don't know how HPs do their installation and I know this is confusing. Toshiba comes with a recovery disk that will reinstall Vista the way it was when it was new out the box. When you use that disk, you don't enter a key code. The installation program checks and makes sure that it is a Toshiba and that it is the right series. It then installs Vista. These recovery disks are only for 1 version of Vista. They are Basic, Home Premium, or Ultimate. Along with Vista, they also install all of the bloatware.
They are different from the Microsoft OEM and Retail disks, please don't get confused by this. The retail and OEM versions come with their own COA key code and will work on any laptop or desktop. The retail and OEM disks have all of the versions of Vista and the key code determines which version gets installed.
Here's where it gets real confusing. Now if you can borrow one of those retail or OEM Vista disks, you can install it with the key code on the bottom of your Toshiba. This way you don't get the bloatware and you don't have to pay for another COA key code.

This one of the reasons I use a Compal.

 

or just download whatever version of Vista u want ,burn it,use the OEM key pay microsoft nothing and be a pirate with the 1000's of others online but that would be illegal so ,*lol* I dont suggest that at all

just buy a retail copy and you will be fine, but id suggest Vista Ultimate 64 bit if u have 4 gigs of ram, if you dont, then 32-bit is good enough with 2-3 gigs.

 

I'm sorry, but I don't see how you can think it would be pirating. You paid for the laptop, the key code came with the laptop, you are using the key code for that laptop and you have to call Microsoft to get it activated. Using a OEM or retail disk with the COA on the bottom gets you 3 days of use. You then have to call Microsoft to get it activated or it goes into a limited state of use. If you are nice to the MS rep and explain why you installed it that way, they usually activate it. If it was pirating they wouldn't activate it. This is not the same as hacking it your self or buying a hacked or pirated version on line.

 

I know that,Microsoft can activate it over the phone for u, depends on rep,if u get a jerk even after u explain your situation, try later, it will eventually work.

 

Guys - im not sure if its worth me risking installing Vista Ultimate onto my new HP Laptop, only to find that when i ring Microsoft up, they say NO sorry you have to buy it for a lot of money, and were not activating it
im here in the UK and not sure how "Nice" these Microsoft Reps are over here, are you from the UK then? what number do i telephone to speak to someone at Microsoft (should i choose to go ahead with it anyway)
sont fancy installing it and setting it all up nicely, then get told i have 3 days left before my system becomes unusable

 

Question..on setup mode you didn't turn off your system or your system didn't turn off while Vista was setting up your system right ? I know that my system took a good hour to setup as i was getting impatient and thinking of rebooting it as I thought it froze at the "Please Wait..." Screen..If you did, it could of missed a file I have no idea..Not good with computers but..hope this helps a bit.