new computer locking up

Ophelia

New Member
Hello,

My friend bought a new computer a few months ago that came with Vista installed. It also came with a bunch of other programs (bloatware) installed. I uninstalled all the stuff she didn't want, which included Norton AV, and replaced that particular program with AntiVir, which I have used and liked for years.

She doesn't use the computer for much except playing pre-installed card games and reading email, and she didn't install anything except her Kodak printer. I installed the Comodo firewall, but that didn't work well for her, so when Zone Alarm released a Vista-compatible version, I uninstalled Comodo and installed ZA.

She began telling me the computer was freezing up from time to time. Then it began freezing up regularly. Now it is freezing up so badly that she can't even play her games.

I reviewed the event log and found errors involving Windows Error Reporting service, and warnings about the printer. I turned off the error reporting and unplugged the printer. The problem persisted.

I'm not a Vista user myself (XP), so don't know exactly how I found this, but I *think* AntiVir popped up a bubble that said it was out of date. I clicked on it, and Vista said there were *multiple* AV programs that were out of date! So I clicked on show me what's installed (or whatever the link was called). That dang Norton still showed up as being installed, even after I uninstalled it! I double checked just in case I had a brain fart, and it is definitely gone from the programs list.

So I shut down AntiVir so as to not have the two conflicting with each other while I was working. Then I searched the registry to see what came up for Norton (a lot, of course). The computer froze while I was in mid-export of a registry backup prior to making changes.

At this point, because we were having to reboot practically every few keystrokes, I decided to ask for help. When I first found the multiple AV installations I thought "! I've found the problem!" But after it froze with no "installed" AV program actively running, I'm not so sure any more.

So where do I go from here?
 

My Computer

Use the program that rajinisback posted. Norton is a terrible AV because it shows you false positives and refuses to accept you as the master :). Either way, you can't remove Norton by normal methods as part of a security feature.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Dual Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 @ 3.0 GHz
    Motherboard
    ACPI x86
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GeForce 8800 GT
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SyncMaster 2493HM Digital 24" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200
    Hard Drives
    Dual Western Digital 500GB Disk Drives
    Keyboard
    Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech G5 Gaming Mouse
    Internet Speed
    6k KB/s DL, 700 KB/s UP
The Norton uninstall tool seemed to work great when I ran it last Thursday. My friend was able to use her computer trouble free for a few hours.

However, the next time she turned it on, a couple of days later, it froze at the login screen.

Yesterday, I took a look, and not only did it start freezing up on me again, but I wasn't able to go online. Even after shutting down ZoneAlarm, I still could not go online (there was not an interruption of service). The modem had been working properly at the last use.

I got a brief opportunity to look in the admin event log between freeze-ups, and found ACPI errors (ID 6) and Service Control Manager Event Log Provider errors (ID 7000) before it froze again and I gave up.

So I'm thinking that since the computer is still pretty new, the owner hasn't used it very much, the freezing up originally started when I was cleaning up the bloatware out of the box (see this thread: computer freezes while uninstalling resident games - Vista Forums), and I have limited time to continue troubleshooting this problem, perhaps the best route is to do a restore to factory settings and start from scratch?

I don't know. What do you think? Any other ideas?
 

My Computer

Hello Ophelia, welcome to Vista forums!

I have done the "factory" thing many times and it is pretty painless.
First. give this tutorial a whirl, at the link below.
Use a restore point dated before the problems started.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76905-system-restore-how.html

Also after you get it running, have a look at the A/V program at this link.

FREE avast! antivirus 4.x Home Edition, anti-spyware & anti-rootkit for Windows

It's free and compatible with Vista!

Keep us informed!


Later :shock: Ted
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    * BFK Customs *
    CPU
    Intel C2Q 9550 Yorkfield
    Motherboard
    ASUS P5Q Pro
    Memory
    8GB Dominator 8500C5D
    Graphics Card(s)
    XFX ATI 1GB 4870 XXX
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD 7-1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1x 47" LCD HDMI & 2x 26" LCD HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080P & 1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    2x 500GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache WD Caviar Black
    PSU
    Corsair 620HX
    Case
    CM Cosmos RC-1000
    Cooling
    Tuniq Tower 120, 2x 140mm and 3x 120mm case fans
    Keyboard
    HP Enhansed Multimedia
    Mouse
    Razer Diamondback 3G
    Internet Speed
    18.6Mb/s
    Other Info
    My First Build ;)
I ended up restoring the factory settings since the locking up started just a few days after the computer was purchased. The restoration went off without a hitch.

After the restoration was complete, the very first thing I did was to reinstall ZoneAlarm... and the install was riddled with errors, necessitating an uninstall. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to try to figure out why the install botched.

Oddly enough, Firefox 3 refused to install as well - the message I got was that the file was corrupt, but the file is *not* corrupt, as I tested it this morning on my own computer. :confused:

On the positive side, I was able to uninstall the bloatware with no problem, and installed AntiVir with no problem as well. :D

Any ideas on these installation problems? :huh:
 

My Computer

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