peterbirks | XP hell

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windows xp

XP hell

I just installed XP on my other machine, starting, oh, five hours ago. After having to uninstall Nero and AVG, and unplug every piece of hardware apart from the keyboard and the mouse, I finally got it installed. Then when I re-attached the printer, it wouldn't work, and the CD has no Windows XP driver. So, after an hour or so, I hunted down the driver online (Microsoft couldn't find it) and got the printer working (I think). Then the TDK CD label printer wouldn't work, and I couldn't find the CD. So I hunted and downloaded it, except that it was 44mb in size (zipped!), for probably a 732k driver, because I had to download pdfs in every language known to man. Not sure if that is installed yet.

But the biggest problem is the fact that the dual monitor system won't work. Microsoft was no fucking use, of course. Monitor 2 is just vertical lines and is not displaying properly. I've just downloaded 19mb worth of sis315 video card driver stuff. We'll try to see if that works, although I have no idea how to install the driver.

And I've still got Palm HotSync, the scanner, the Rio Karma and the digital camera to go. And I've lost Nero 6, one of my most useful pieces of software. I am not a happy bunny. I thought the upgrade was meant to be easy?

Jeez, I'd hate if it were difficult. Estimated completion time, midnight.

Hell on earth, hell on earth.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I downloaded and installed the SIS 3.51 video driver. Now Windows XP hangs at the start up screen. Not only no dual monitor. Now no single monitor. And I thought that starting this Friday lunchtime would give me plenty of time. Can anyone help? I can boot up in safe mode, but I don't know what to do when I get there.

I knew this would happen, I just knew it. That's Why I stayed with Windows ME for so long.

Sigh. Beyond depressed.

Very odd. Windows XP has been the standard, current version of Windows since 2001; stuff really ought to work with it by now. Except perhaps very old stuff.

I upgraded to XP in late 2001 and didn't record any serious problems, apart from some initial confusion about how to change from FAT32 to NTFS filing system (not actually difficult, but undocumented by Microsoft, in its usual endearing manner). But your hardware situation seems much more complicated than mine was then.

I did have to lose a flatbed and a film scanner that worked through the parallel port, which XP doesn't like; but I think I was aware of that in advance.

I expect you'll get it sorted out in the end. If you really get in a mess, it may be worth starting again and reinstalling from scratch.

Come to that, you could put Windows Me back again. But that would really be defeatism. XP is a better operating system and works pretty well for most people, considering that it's a Microsoft product.

I don't use Nero, I use Roxio, but Nero's Web page says it runs under XP -- and it would be astonishing if it didn't.

The Oxford English Dictionary I bought on CD in 1995 works under XP on my old computer but not under XP on my new computer -- bizarre. I bought an upgrade recently and that works on the new computer.

Some of the computer games that our four-year-old son plays are pretty old but most of them run under XP (though I had to give him administrator rights because old games mostly require them).

-- Jonathan

It's now hung completely. I can't even get it to work in safe mode. This is truly dreadful.

I've wasted 7 hours now. And I'm trying to work out how even to reinstall it.

Looking bad, an all-night waste of time. I'm so sick, so so sick. I should never have installed it. I should have bought a new computer. This was madness.

The problem is almost certainly the second video card ... nothing to do with software.

Pete

In that case, maybe it would be an idea to remove the second video card and see if you can get everything working without it. Then you could tackle the video card problem more calmly later.

You're right of course, the simplest way to upgrade operating system is to buy a new computer with it pre-installed. Costs money, though, and shouldn't really be necessary.

Better luck tomorrow...

-- Jonathan

Can't get at second video card without removing fan. Had it installed professionally.

I thought I'd managed a repair reinstall, but that appears to have hung as well. Not looking good at all.
May try a complete reinstall before I go to bed. If that fails, then I'll just be lacking the main computer for the weekend.

I've now got the problem nailed down to the SISGRV device driver, which is stuck "in an infinite loop". So, at least I can hunt how to solve that problem.

Hmm, it looks like there ISN'T a solution to the "infinite loop" problem - at least, not one that I can implement. I can't get in to delete the drivers, because the machine hangs. The driver is maintained when I do a reinstall. Taking out the video card (even if I could do it) wouldn't help.

So, this £120 spent on Windows XP seems not to have been one of the best moves in my life, because it's going to cost me another £150 getting a professional to fix the carnage that's been created. We're getting the the level where it would have been cheaper to buy a new machine. Except that now, of course, it's too damned late.

It's the utter waste of time that upsets me. That's part of my life gone, wasted, all because of Microsoft.

Not happy. Definitely not, not happy. I may vanish for a few weeks.

And, at 12.45am (having lost $190 at $5-$10 while trying to solve the problem), I finally got the machine running (although of course without the dual monitor). I had to boot up in "VGA" mode (one of the 8 or 9 options given to you when you press F8). This got the machine going, which was all I needed. I then stripped out anything to do with the SIS drivers. OK, the card is still in there, and it says "new hardware found" every time I start up, and I'll still have to get someone in to fix it so that it works with two monitors, but at least it's running. (Whoops, just got rivered again by JJ to beat my QQ. Make that $250 down)

But this really is an absolutely abysmal flaw in Windows XP, referred to in many many places on the Web, and no-one seeems to have known anything about it. Just type in "infinite loop" and "XP" to read of countless others who have experienced similar nightmares. Nearly always to do with graphics cards, Nvidia, and MRQ or something. Clearly the added video card caused the back-and-forth information between CPU and other hardware bits to keel over the machine. All the fixes mentioned online seemed to involve BIOS and stuff, but the starting in VGA mode seemed to do it for me. That's OK, I just couldn't stand the thought of it beating me.

Still wish that I hadn't installed the bugger, but at least now I can sleep without bursting into tears.

But what a wasted day, what a wasted, wasted day.

And the last word before I go to bed (2.15am). I wish I'd used the VGA option boot first, rather than try the reinstall. I now seem to have three "Peter Birks" and two "Peters". I managed to import all my e-mails and address book (after some effort), but now I have no idea which user profiles I want to keep and which ones I can get rid of. Result, lots of identities in the Documents & Settings area and an unlimited potential for losing files.

The desktop has lost all my shortcuts, but I suppose these can be reinstalled. No printers yet, or the scanner, or the Rio Karma, or the Palm. Not sure how these will interact with the new identities either.

So, plenty of potential for more nightmares to come. I'm not looking forward to the coming week at all.

Net loss on Party in the end, $178. Not bad considering the stress I was under elsewhere and the fact that I wasn't giving it my full attention (I was playing on the laptop). I certainly won't forget this week in a hurry.

Still tempted to hibernate for a few weeks. My mind just isn't up to this kind of stuff any more.

You're welcome to beat Microsoft around the head as far as I'm concerned, and going into an infinite loop certainly sounds like something that shouldn't happen. But if the video card doesn't work properly with Windows XP, maybe the video card company bears some share of the blame -- given that XP has been the standard operating environment since 2001.

Sounds a bit weird that professional attention is needed to yank out a video card. Sounds as though your computer is rather constricted internally.

When I upgraded to XP in 2001, I installed XP into a new folder and deleted the old Windows and Program Files folders. Meant I had to reinstall all software and hardware, but I figured it was safer and cleaner to start afresh. Windows tends to get gradually messy and cluttered up with junk as you use it, and I didn't want my XP installation to start off with all the accumulated junk of my previous Win 98 SE installation.

-- Jonathan

Hey, cos, just get a Mac and get a life!!! xx

Ahh, but very few of the online poker sites are Mac compatible (Pokerroom is the only one that springs to mind). Why this should be, I have no idea.

Believe it or not, I have been idly thinking about buying a Mac, but not as my main machine. Being in publishing as I am, there are times when it would be useful.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

XP hell

Just when you think that it can't get worse

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Windows XP - why bother?

Re: Windows XP - why bother?