I have an HP laptop which I bought last August and am pretty happy with. However, of late, every once in a while, the entire Vista interface gets jumbled and totally unaccessible. Hard to explain but all the running applications become unviewable and you can't rectify the problem without manually restarting the computer. From my limited tech knowledge, it seemed obvious to me that Vista's aero was what was causing the problem, so I turned that off. Still happened on vista basic. Then i switched it to the classic interface and it still happened. So now I'm wondering what the problem is. Is it Vista acting up or is there something wrong with my video card or some other hardware issue? All my drivers are up to date. FWIW, vista came preloaded on this laptop so I can't just re-install it. Should I install XP or send the laptop back (im still under warranty)? I really don't want to have to be without it for 2 weeks if I send it back.
Sounds like you need to run a virus scan every night after looking at your p*rn -- joke I'd recommend down grading to XP. I used Vista and it's a beautiful operating system but slow as can be. I'd move down to Xp and you'll notice the improved performance speed wise. Reformat.
Before you try to upgrade to XP, make sure that the laptop supports it. Go to their site and check for XP drivers.
I have 2 gigs of RAM on this thing and it feels just as slow as my old 512 with XP. I was deterred from downgrading to XP because I had read that there can be some driver conflicts with newer laptops. How do I check for this?
Downgrade, and let your laptop run the way it's supposed to run. I'm running Vista Basic on mine, and even with 2.5 gigs of ram it runs as fast as my single core desktop on XP. You could try upgrading to 3 or 4 gigs of RAM. That will definitely solve the many applications freezing problem .
Anybody hasnt run into problems with Vista is lucky b*stard. I needed to reload the whole crap a couple of times just to fix the corrupted Windows Media Player 11 (Cant rerun setup becoz of different version numbers. Plain stupid!). It only took me 1 and half days for each time. Now, I am having another weird problem of WMP11 which I dont even want to waste time on it. Back to the OP's problem. Have you ever updated your video driver? If yes, you may want to fall back before the update.
Another user with Vista on a desktop at home and a low-end laptop at work (1GB RAM) and have had no problems. On the laptop, I've turned off the fancy visual stuff so it runs well. I think you have video card problems. You may want to see if you can upgrade to the latest video drives but the card itself may have problems. If you purchased the laptop new and it's still within warranty I'd see what HP can do about it. If they ask you to send the laptop back you will need to make sure you have a backup of all your data and have the ability to re-install all your programs as it's likely to come back "good as new" if you know what I mean. Or see if they will let you keep the hard drive while you send it back.
its a conflict with something else, but definitely video related. I know you said the drivers are up-to-date, but that doesnt mean they are trouble-free try to change your video driver to a generic driver, and re-install the most current driver set. I mention this everytime a Vista thread comes up, Im running Vista on 4 machines, no...let me repeat that...NO problems. It was a little laggy on file transfers especially across the network, but SP1 fixed that.
I also have Vista. Haven't had a problem with it though..(knock on wood) but then.. I have 4 gigs of ram.. So like everyone else has said, maybe that's it..
I have a gateway MT6451, run 1GB of RAM and do everything from PhotoShoppin' to MSWordin' to paying bills... no problems... it could be that something went awry with the display or gaphics adapter. Don't be lazy and try to work out the problems... it is well worth it. You'll be ahead of the game.
When I first got my laptop I thought Vista was great and didn't see what all the hype was about regarding problems. Over the past 6 months my laptop has gone to absolute crap and the performance sucks. I don't know if it's Vista or not, but my performance is terrible. I've got 2 gigs of ram.
