New Computer... crashing and program errors.

Question

I wasn't sure which forum this belongs in, so if this is the wrong one, I apologize.   I got my new Dell Inspirion E1705 (9400) yesterday. I began the set-up and customization, and had it crash 3 times within the first couple hours. McAffee seems to crash if you try to look for updates, the NVIDA control panel crashed for no apparent reason, and it appeared to be impossible to install Quicktime 6 (but 7 installed just fine. Go figure.)   My question is this: Are these crashes likely to continue? Is it due to all the junk that comes loaded on a new computer? I seem to have 65 processes running after I uninstalled the most obvious junk, where my older laptop had 45. I know new means more stuff, but 20? Also, if I were to reinstall the OS with the CD that came with the computer, will the driver cd reload all the miscellanious junk, or will it just stick to necessary drivers?   I appreciate any help. I don't want to reinstall the OS unless I really have to. I would rather spend my free time playing the games that look totally awesome with this new videocard.

RoHe · Answer

The Dell XP CD won't reinstall all the bloatware they put on the system. But if you reformat and reinstall XP, you'll lose the PC Restore partition which resets the HD to exactly the way Dell shipped it, bloatware included, and you'll lose the hardware diagnostics partition which can be useful. If you haven't installed much, you might want to use PC Restore and start over from the beginning.

It sounds like you have some software conflicts. You can use (free) Dell De-Crapifier to remove the bloatware which might be a good start, or you can uncheck a lot of the stuff on Startup tab in msconfig. Just don't uncheck anything related to antiviral, firewall, video, mouse in msconfig.

http://www.yorkspace.com/2006/04/38

Ron

Mary G · Answer

I would contact Dell using Chat and report this problem before you try to fix anything. This should not be happening, no matter what is on the computer.

LatinMcG · Answer

F12 on first dell screen then choose system diagnostics.. sounds like a ram stick is bad.

broderp1 · Answer

I have this same system, but with the ATI x1400 video.  I too am experiencing not so random crashing, and thru the MICROSOFT 'send error report' utility that pops up after the system has recovered from a serious crash, it has said I have a DELL VIDEO DRIVER problem.   My issue is with putting most media in the DVD+RW drive.  Locks up the whole thing when it's trying to display it.   Maybe part of your issue is the same as mine?  If you get the report option, I suggest you try it, if MICROSOFT has heard of or knows of the isue, they will let you know instantly.   I saved the web page of my error reports and will be sending them to DELL for support.  wish me luck, as if they cant fix this within the next 15 days, I'm considering sending it back.  As a media center PC, it's USELESS if it cant play DVD, or DVD's I made from my cam corder of our family vaction.  (wich play on EVERY other DVD player in the house (I have 5, including a PICKY SONY unit)

bibble · Answer

Well, I think I solved my problem. Diagnostics (full) showed no problem by the way.

What I did was disable from startup the "Dell" programs that appeared in the tray. While these do look useful, I can run them from the start menu should I need them.
I also uninstalled the Office 2003 preview thing, with the SQL server. I don't need small business software, and my own copy of Office 2003 should be arriving soon.

I haven't had anything crash since I did all this, so I don't know if they were the problem, or if I just got lucky. The computer also runs smoother after disabling these even though they did not appear to be using much system resources.

I don't have any problems with my CD drive, so I am not sure that your problem is the same as mine. The Microsoft reporting never brought up any solutions to my crashes. *shrug*

Windows General

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