Anyone have issues with older HP software causing freeze ups?

[Mandi]

I am rebuilding a Win98 machine for a client. Chief among his complaints was lots of freezeups on the splash screen, right before you boot to the desktop. He was also getting some worrisome "your hard drive is going to DIE - back up NOW!" type messages.

I did some hardware upgrades, which was uneventful. (And OMG, do NOT tell me I was once tickled with a 4x CD-ROM . . . sooooooooo pokey.)

I zero-filled (low-level format) his HDD, and then used the manufacturer's own partition/format utility, which worked great . . . no more scary messages about imminant hard drive failure.

I reinstalled Win98, and all the usual apps we all love: winzip, firefox, firewall, ad-aware, spybot, etc. It was working great - I gave it a good Reg-Vac and defragged, and was ready to declare it ready to go back to its owner. I noticed he'd supplied his HP printer disk, so I thought I'd be nice and install that too . . . my own HP printer lets you install the software without the printer being attached, so I figured it was worth a try.

Well, this is an older model and it wasn't thusly inclined. So I just did an "uninstall" of what software DID get installed before I hit the "excuse me, where is this mythical printer I cannot detect?" issue. It wanted me to reboot, so I did . . . and promptly experienced freezing exactly like the initial problem. NOTHING could get me past that splash screen :wah: I began considering restricting my client referrals to, say, Palm OS . . . but I took a big deep breath, called the client, and started over. So far, so good. I won't be installing the printer software, but I did go to hp.com and get whatever they said was the most recent for that model, and burned it to CD for the client.

Anyway, it's an HP Deskjet 5550 . . . has anyone had issues like this before? Am I deluding myself that I fixed the cranky hard drive, and it's just coincidental to the HP software attempt/aborted install?

Bleh.

[Randall]

The software for HP's all-in-ones can be downright evil, but the regular printer software generally behaves itself -- as long as you have the printer hooked up. :rasberry:

One freeze in Win9x looks pretty much like any other, so I wouldn't stress about the printer just yet. But I'd back up the system before you give it back. Just in case...

Randall

[TVB]

I've got a nifty HP all in one---that I only wish I could make full use of but the software...

I tried uninstalling everything and putting it back in..no luck, there is still something lingering that tells the installer it's already got the software.

I'm ready to throw the thing out the window, but am afraid it will land on Wasser's head as he stumbles by due to a shrunken brain after his four ounces of pinot noir.

Betsy

[Randall]

For some programs you have to dig around in the Registry to really uninstall them. But before you attempt to kill Wasser, look for anything left behind in Program Files or the Application Data folder. Sometimes they just check for the existence of a .dll file or two -- and blithely assume that the other 1,536 files are in there with them. I'm ready to throw the thing out the window, but am afraid it will land on Wasser's head as he stumbles by due to a shrunken brain after his four ounces of pinot noir. A shrunken head would make it a smaller target. Chances are you'd miss.

But you'll score extra points if you don't. :EG:

Randall

[kitchin]

msconfig
To experiment with what software loads on startup.

[louyovin]

msconfig
To experiment with what software loads on startup.

You might also want to have a look at autoruns from sysinternals, freeware. They have some other pretty useful freeware as well (understatement).

Lou

[Mandi]

I really like this program for checking out boot programs, and seeing what's active at any given time (I think it's safer than msconfig for the Less than Alpha Geek) - CodeStuff Starter (http://codestuff.tripod.com/download.shtml) - get the top version with the full installer, it's nicer IMO. (Don't be put off by the tripod site - it's a nifty little app.) It is a ton better than Task List for displaying *everything* that's running, for sure.

Betsy, you might also try a registry cleaner like RegVac (http://www.superwin.com/regvac.htm), which I've been super happy with. (I know someone here recently posted a bad experience with it on a fritzy system, though.) It has a 30 day free/fully functional trial, just a nag screen. And it, um, continues to work past that date but of course my official position is to pony up the $30 for a license. Don't be surprised to find several hundred hits the first time you run it. I run it several times a week myself (I frequently install/uninstall programs to test) and still found (for example) 35 hits last night.

[TVB]

Ugh...I'm thinking I would rather go to the dentist than look at/fix my registry. I've been been trying to remember how I did it last time but seem to having some short term memory problems.

I downloaded the start-up widget (thanks for that reminder, Mandi---it's on my laptop but not my PC for whatever reason due to a previous recommendation for it from you) and will download RegVac.

There was surprisingly little running on startup for the PC which is good, but I think I know what is causing the proble---that same darn DLL it wouldn't let me uninstall when I tried to last week with the rest of the software. The coincidence was amazing :eeww:

I wish I could afford to have someone else deal with these things...but that's not there and thus, I trudge along.

Betsy

[Randall]

Or if you really want to know what's happening when you run the HP installer, Sysinternals' FileMon (http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Filemon.html) will show you more than you ever wanted to know. Might pinpoint that DLL for you -- if you can find it amidst all the other stuff going on. It's amazing how much file activity one stupid email checker can generate...

I can't pretend to understand any of it, but every now and then I find a smoking gun.

Randall

# Follow the file I/O

[louyovin]

It's amazing how much file activity one stupid email checker can generate..
Yes, the same can be said for regmon and how much some applications access the registry. I have also been running ethereal and the supposed idle network is also "busy". It is also a little scary to see all the email activity in plain text, including passwords. I guess the good news is that ethereal does not seem to work well with Windows and wireless. For secure mail from outside locations, we use a mail server on our local server and connect to it via a VPN tunnel. Of course, that servers email interface is clear text... I have been experimenting with ssh via putty but it does not seem to be supportive of automatic operation. Anyone got a better way to do secure email to Futurequest servers?

Lou

[TVB]

I'm seriously thinking this HP printer really needs to accidently fall out the window. I've done regvac, I've done code starter (thanks, Mandi---both found lots of garbage too) and I simply can't get the thing to reinstall the software.

I may just do a back up of everything (and this time, making sure the email is backed up too) and reformat. It's probably time anyways. It seems to have come to that or buy a new printer which I hate to do as this one works fine and it's only the scanner function that caused all the problems to begin with.

[Randall]

I may just do a back up of everything (and this time, making sure the email is backed up too) and reformat. It's probably time anyways. It seems to have come to that or buy a new printer which I hate to do as this one works fine and it's only the scanner function that caused all the problems to begin with. Eeeeevil. :ytold:

Randall

[TVB]

Will you come over and kick it some to make it behave?

I cant bring myself to kick anything but am convinced something needs it here.

[Randall]

Will you come over and kick it some to make it behave? I think that would void the warranty.

But if you get desperate, I am willing to shoot it for you.

Randall :bang:

[Mandi]

Have you two NOT see the film Office Space? There is but one way to deal with obstinate office peripherals.

Leaving stripped PC case carcasses at the curb on pickup day notwithstanding, of course.

<--{{{is unsure what the neighbors must think of her apparent computer-case disposing habit}}}

[Randall]

Have you two NOT see the film Office Space? Umm ... no?

Randall

[Mandi]

Oh, well . . . you must rent it. It's required viewing for anyone who ever had dippy co-workers, a questionable work ethic (even if you hide it well), or hates the "rat race."

Anyway, one of the smaller story lines involves a fax machine that never, ever works properly. It spits the originals back out unscanned, jams the printouts, says it's out of ink all the time, chews things up, etc. The characters experience a lot of frustration over it. Near the end of the movie, they steal the fax machine, take it to an empty field, and beat the living ($(% out it. Two of the characters have to physically pull the third away from it, just as if they were involved in a fight involving a human target. It's one of the highlights of the movie, actually :D.

[Randall]

Near the end of the movie, they steal the fax machine, take it to an empty field, and beat the living ($(% out it. That would have more entertainment value than dropping stuff in the dumpster. But I don't think any of my co-workers have the right mindset for Violence Against Office Equipment.

And doing it all by myself in some empty field would be ... pitiful.

Randall

[Mandi]

Anyway, to revisit my original post . . . the hard drive was apparently toast. I put way, way too much effort into troubleshooting different aspects of my setups first, though :rolleyes.

New 80gig HDD for the client - the original was only 8.4, and he lots of space on that, too!

Can I just say that hard drive pricing is CRAZY? It was a buck cheaper to get him an 80 gig than a 40 gig, and that was New Egg pricing. I could barely find a 60 gig locally (never mind 40, which is what I recommended to the client when I gave him the bad news about the old HDD.)

Oh, well, everything runs spiffy now. I found a dusty stick of RAM that fit the machine (and I'll *never* use, but doubled what the machine had) as well as a 32x CD-ROM I pulled from another client . . . beats the heck out of the 4x one that thing was still sporting.

I get a weird pleasure out of shoreing up the creaky old machines . . . moreso than working on the Newest Bestest Fastest end of things - which isn't to say I don't appreciate them on my own machine :EG: .

[Randall]

Can I just say that hard drive pricing is CRAZY? It was a buck cheaper to get him an 80 gig than a 40 gig, and that was New Egg pricing. I could barely find a 60 gig locally (never mind 40, which is what I recommended to the client when I gave him the bad news about the old HDD.) Yeah, it's a curious thing. I guess there's a limit to how cheap they can get because of the mechanical components, so as data densities go up they stop making 20GB drives because they can't sell them any cheaper than the 40 giggers. And each year the bar gets higher.

Then you look at laptop hard drives and it feels like 2003 all over again -- 100GB is state of the art and a 40GB drive costs $70. You can get a 120GB desktop HD for that price now...

And speaking of NewEgg, I like their new site design. Easier to get around in than the old one, though the site still feels slow to me. I get a weird pleasure out of shoreing up the creaky old machines . . . I still have a trunk full of parts scavanged from old computers. Eventually I'll clean most of it out, since I'm not doing that for a living anymore. Just hold onto enough stuff to build me a creaky old machine or two for experimental purposes. :winky:

Randall