System Restore and Other Sundries

[Guest]

I am having a nightmare with installation and the stability of Windows XP Pro on a recently built AMD 2500+/Asus A7N8X system. AMD 2500+; Asus A7N8X deluxe 2.0, 10/2003 latest bios; Radeon 64MB AGP card; WD 100GB hard drive; 250MB IDE Zip; Samsung 48/24/48 RW CD-ROM; 512MB Samsung PC2700 RAM

Motherboard completes POST and memory checks. Windows 98 SE runs flawlessly so I don't think it there are any hardware problems. One 2002 version of XP Pro couldn't get past the install phase. The second, newer, with included up-to-date service packs gets the machine running, but now, the dreaded critical error messages and "blue screens of death" are beginning after about 48h.

Nonetheless, when I try to do a system restore, after clicking next, nothing happens. I don't get the date/calendar as before. After a journey into control panel/system/performance/system restore etc. etc., the system restore option is on (I obviously gave myself administrator privileges). I just can't get past this option and launch the system restore application. Also, several MS services are listed as stopped or not running after running msconfig.

Finally, after installing McAfee antivirus software, WMPlayer 9 has gone bonkers and takes itself and/or the sytem down. It would be suicide to be on the net especially with broadband without antivirus protection so McAfee has to stay.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Greg

 

[Matthew Shaw]

Firstly, system restore is unlikely to fix the problem.
Secondly it is normal for some ms services not to be running (each does a
different task so if it's not needed it won't run).

98 and XP are quite different hardware wise, XP could be having a conflict
with your hardware (especially the blue screens)...but it is most likely the
drivers. You will need to update to all the latest XP drivers (your hardware
doesn't seem likely to be unsupported by XP).

What might fix it (apart from latest drivers) would be a clean install
(search support.microsoft.com for clean install) which wipes out everything
and starts from afresh. You also need to update McAfee with the latest
_application_ (not just virus reference/sig. files) updates, it should not
be causing problems (I believe antivirus apps can also cause blue
screens/resets as well). It might also not be mcafee itself, but mcafee and
a driver or wmp9.

Have you been to windowsupdate.microsoft.com for any patches ect.?

I am having a nightmare with installation and the stability of Windows XP

Pro on a recently built AMD 2500+/Asus A7N8X system. AMD 2500+; Asus A7N8X
deluxe 2.0, 10/2003 latest bios; Radeon 64MB AGP card; WD 100GB hard drive;
250MB IDE Zip; Samsung 48/24/48 RW CD-ROM; 512MB Samsung PC2700 RAM

Motherboard completes POST and memory checks. Windows 98 SE runs

flawlessly so I don't think it there are any hardware problems. One 2002
version of XP Pro couldn't get past the install phase. The second, newer,
with included up-to-date service packs gets the machine running, but now,
the dreaded critical error messages and "blue screens of death" are
beginning after about 48h.

Nonetheless, when I try to do a system restore, after clicking next,

nothing happens. I don't get the date/calendar as before. After a journey
into control panel/system/performance/system restore etc. etc., the system
restore option is on (I obviously gave myself administrator privileges). I
just can't get past this option and launch the system restore application.
Also, several MS services are listed as stopped or not running after
running msconfig.

Finally, after installing McAfee antivirus software, WMPlayer 9 has gone

bonkers and takes itself and/or the sytem down. It would be suicide to be
on the net especially with broadband without antivirus protection so McAfee
has to stay.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Matthew.
Actually, one of the updates for more secure networking, which was downloaded from microsoft, seems to have been causing the 3-5 min run then crash problem. I uninstalled it last night and so far, the system has not gone down spontaneously yet. According to my notes, random stops increased after clean XP installs and then installing windows media updates. So, not installing WMedia 9 and, new direct X and new codecs this time seems to have aided stability.

McAfee's updater (latest) takes the sytem down, although not consistenly. ZDnet has written a great review about Norton Sytemworks 2004 in terms of system restoration, correcting registry errors and mending general windows conflicts. It is also hailed as being stably compatible with Win XP. Hence, I'll give it a try. Still, no luck on getting 'System Restore' to proceed beyond the 'next' button.

Fortunately, since this is only a machine from cannibalized parts, I can afford to keep troubleshooting it for a while before I give up.

Thanks Again,
Greg