First, sorry for the long post. (I could have literally written a novel on this.)
I made this comment on another thread:
To which I received this reply:
OK. I am giving some examples here.
I also apologize for the above comment. However, Vista has proven to be a nightmarish migraine from 7734. Read on.
I work for the State of New Mexico as a GITS (Geographic Information Technology Specialist). Yes, we are called GITS. I am also in college to further my GIT education. The department I work in did upgrade to Windows Vista. However, the problems caused by Vista forced our network administrator to uninstall Vista and return to XPProSP2. (Which is what I am thinking I will have to do with my Vista notebook.)
Partial Software Listing (but happens most often in these and listed in order of prevalence)
ArcGIS 9.3
AutoDesk Civil 3D Suite (and another about twelve such as Vault, Navis, Revit, Hydroflow, et. al.)
Office 2007
Photoshop CS4
Paint Shop Pro 8
Corel Painter X
Daz 3D Studio
Bryce
Maya
Here are all the problems I am having.
With all of the above software, I can suffer lock ups so severe that I have no alternative but to hold the power button down until my Vista notebook shuts off. As for any error codes, I do not know because the shut off prohibits my ability of obtaining any error codes. Every time one of these severe lock ups occur, the program will be in the middle of performing an action or command, the screens flickers, then the program greys out with "(Not Responding)" in the title bar. At this time, I know the program has been locked up to the point I have to do a power shut off. Yes, there were several times I let the notebook sit for up to 45 minutes with nothing happening. I had no alternative but to do a power shut off. The notebook would be locked up so bad that I cannot even bring up the Task Manager. Even after waiting for TM to pop up after up to 30 minutes.
The above occurs one out of two times I run ArcGIS and/or C3D Suite. Of the other half, half of those (once out of four), the screen flickers and a window pops up with the following:
<program> has failed to respond. Please wait while Windows searches for a solution to the problem.
This goes for about one to four minutes and everything closes. Even Windows Explorer closes and has to restart. Error Codes? I don't ever see any. All I know is that all the work I have been doing in the software is lost and I have to reopen the program and start all over again.
All other times ( the other one out of four) a lock up occurs, I am able to bring up the Task Manager and do an End Task. Again, no error codes pop up. I just get a window that pops up with the following (I only remember the choices):
<program> is not responding. Do you want to ?
Close Program
Wait for Response
(The above is all I can remember.)
I have since quit using my Vista notebook and have returned to using my XPPro notebook, especially for the ArcGIS and C3D Suite programs.
Below is the listing of my two notebooks
Model Dell Inspiron HP Pavillion
Processor Intel Celeron AMD Athlon X2 (dual core)
Speed 1.2 GHz 1.8 GHz (×2)
Bits 32 64
RAM 1MB 2MB
OS/GUI XPProSP2 Vista Home Premium
Going on the above, the HP notebook ought to smoke the Dell. However, the Dell notebook will run ArcGIS and C3D Suite twice as fast. And I do not understand why this is so. The difference is that the Dell notebook will tend to overheat to point of shut off unless I run only one program at a time. Also, the Dell notebook never (and I mean NEVER) locks up or seizes on any program I run.
The only thing the HP notebook runs without any problems whatsoever is games and DVD movies. Even DOS based games run without any problems (except there is no sound unless I run them inside DOS Box). The HP will run OpenOffice without any kind of problems, but it will hang Office 2007 constantly. I can also run WordPerfect Suite 12 without any kind of problems. Office 2000 runs without problems. (Don't ask me why.)
With Bryce, Daz 3D Studio, and Maya, the seize ups are occassional to rare, but can happen without notice.
Here is something interesting I did find. Using File Explorer (now called Windows Explorer, but I will forever call it File Explorer), I found these directories:
C:/Program Data/Microsoft/Windows/WER/ReportFiles/
C:/Program Data/Microsoft/Windows/WER/ReportQueue/
Both of these have numerous sub-directories with each of these containing *.wer files. I am fairly certain that "wer" stands for Windows Error Reporting, or similar. I am also fairly certain that the ReportQueue directory stores the wer files yet to be reported/uploaded. And I think the ReportFiles directory stores the wer files that have been reported/uploaded.
Just out of curiousity, have many listings are under your ReportFiles? Mine has over 600. That means on average, my Vista notebook has suffered two major problems a day. And I don't think that includes the severe seizures that require a power shut off. Although it might. I just know that if I use some of those power programs, I will always suffer a severe seizure.
Well that is the best I can think of for describing the problems. As said, unfortunately, I don't ever get any error codes. All I can say is that the screen flickers, the Vista notebook seizes so badly that I have no alternative but to do a power shut off.
Just today, just after writing up this document, I may have found what the problem is with my Vista notebook. I saw a fellow student with an HP Pavillion dv6605us notebook. The EXACT same model as mine. He bought it new with XPProSP2 on it. When asked, he said he has had absolutely no problems with his notebook running the same software (ArcGIS and AutoCAD and C3D Suite). This is telling me that my notebook was actually built specifically for XPPro and not Vista. Thus, the problems with my notebook may actually be that it is not built specifically for Vista and my problems may be solved if I FFR the Vista notebook and upgrade to XPProSP2. What's y'all's opinions on this?
rmfr
I made this comment on another thread:
To which I received this reply:
OK. I am giving some examples here.
I also apologize for the above comment. However, Vista has proven to be a nightmarish migraine from 7734. Read on.
I work for the State of New Mexico as a GITS (Geographic Information Technology Specialist). Yes, we are called GITS. I am also in college to further my GIT education. The department I work in did upgrade to Windows Vista. However, the problems caused by Vista forced our network administrator to uninstall Vista and return to XPProSP2. (Which is what I am thinking I will have to do with my Vista notebook.)
Partial Software Listing (but happens most often in these and listed in order of prevalence)
ArcGIS 9.3
AutoDesk Civil 3D Suite (and another about twelve such as Vault, Navis, Revit, Hydroflow, et. al.)
Office 2007
Photoshop CS4
Paint Shop Pro 8
Corel Painter X
Daz 3D Studio
Bryce
Maya
Here are all the problems I am having.
With all of the above software, I can suffer lock ups so severe that I have no alternative but to hold the power button down until my Vista notebook shuts off. As for any error codes, I do not know because the shut off prohibits my ability of obtaining any error codes. Every time one of these severe lock ups occur, the program will be in the middle of performing an action or command, the screens flickers, then the program greys out with "(Not Responding)" in the title bar. At this time, I know the program has been locked up to the point I have to do a power shut off. Yes, there were several times I let the notebook sit for up to 45 minutes with nothing happening. I had no alternative but to do a power shut off. The notebook would be locked up so bad that I cannot even bring up the Task Manager. Even after waiting for TM to pop up after up to 30 minutes.
The above occurs one out of two times I run ArcGIS and/or C3D Suite. Of the other half, half of those (once out of four), the screen flickers and a window pops up with the following:
<program> has failed to respond. Please wait while Windows searches for a solution to the problem.
This goes for about one to four minutes and everything closes. Even Windows Explorer closes and has to restart. Error Codes? I don't ever see any. All I know is that all the work I have been doing in the software is lost and I have to reopen the program and start all over again.
All other times ( the other one out of four) a lock up occurs, I am able to bring up the Task Manager and do an End Task. Again, no error codes pop up. I just get a window that pops up with the following (I only remember the choices):
<program> is not responding. Do you want to ?
Close Program
Wait for Response
(The above is all I can remember.)
I have since quit using my Vista notebook and have returned to using my XPPro notebook, especially for the ArcGIS and C3D Suite programs.
Below is the listing of my two notebooks
Model Dell Inspiron HP Pavillion
Processor Intel Celeron AMD Athlon X2 (dual core)
Speed 1.2 GHz 1.8 GHz (×2)
Bits 32 64
RAM 1MB 2MB
OS/GUI XPProSP2 Vista Home Premium
Going on the above, the HP notebook ought to smoke the Dell. However, the Dell notebook will run ArcGIS and C3D Suite twice as fast. And I do not understand why this is so. The difference is that the Dell notebook will tend to overheat to point of shut off unless I run only one program at a time. Also, the Dell notebook never (and I mean NEVER) locks up or seizes on any program I run.
The only thing the HP notebook runs without any problems whatsoever is games and DVD movies. Even DOS based games run without any problems (except there is no sound unless I run them inside DOS Box). The HP will run OpenOffice without any kind of problems, but it will hang Office 2007 constantly. I can also run WordPerfect Suite 12 without any kind of problems. Office 2000 runs without problems. (Don't ask me why.)
With Bryce, Daz 3D Studio, and Maya, the seize ups are occassional to rare, but can happen without notice.
Here is something interesting I did find. Using File Explorer (now called Windows Explorer, but I will forever call it File Explorer), I found these directories:
C:/Program Data/Microsoft/Windows/WER/ReportFiles/
C:/Program Data/Microsoft/Windows/WER/ReportQueue/
Both of these have numerous sub-directories with each of these containing *.wer files. I am fairly certain that "wer" stands for Windows Error Reporting, or similar. I am also fairly certain that the ReportQueue directory stores the wer files yet to be reported/uploaded. And I think the ReportFiles directory stores the wer files that have been reported/uploaded.
Just out of curiousity, have many listings are under your ReportFiles? Mine has over 600. That means on average, my Vista notebook has suffered two major problems a day. And I don't think that includes the severe seizures that require a power shut off. Although it might. I just know that if I use some of those power programs, I will always suffer a severe seizure.
Well that is the best I can think of for describing the problems. As said, unfortunately, I don't ever get any error codes. All I can say is that the screen flickers, the Vista notebook seizes so badly that I have no alternative but to do a power shut off.
Just today, just after writing up this document, I may have found what the problem is with my Vista notebook. I saw a fellow student with an HP Pavillion dv6605us notebook. The EXACT same model as mine. He bought it new with XPProSP2 on it. When asked, he said he has had absolutely no problems with his notebook running the same software (ArcGIS and AutoCAD and C3D Suite). This is telling me that my notebook was actually built specifically for XPPro and not Vista. Thus, the problems with my notebook may actually be that it is not built specifically for Vista and my problems may be solved if I FFR the Vista notebook and upgrade to XPProSP2. What's y'all's opinions on this?
rmfr
