Repairing Vista Problems

So this all started about two weeks ago when every time I restarted m
computer (9 month old Dell Inspiron running Vista Home Premium) all o
my network printers were uninstalled. There is nothing wrong with th
printers and all of the drivers were still there and fine, but ever
single time I rebooted Vista would not be able to find them anymore.

Since my computer is still under warranty, I started by calling Dell.
The idiots there refused to help me because they were HP printers.
tried explaining that it was a Vista problem, but they couldn't get pas
the fact the printers were made by HP. I think they were just trying t
get out of having to live up to their warranty. Boo!

After digging on the web, I realized that my computer had neve
installed SP1 and it was likely causing my printer issues, so I set ou
to have it installed. I went through my Windows Update feature, but i
couldn't find SP1 as an update.

Perplexed, I found a place on the web where Microsoft is offering liv
tech support just for SP1. I entered a live chat and spent more than
hours watching their technician mess with files in my registry vi
remote desktop. The guy didn't seem to have a good idea what he wa
doing and often spent 15-20 minutes just reading his "resources."
Eventually, he decided that several of my DLL and registry files wer
corrupt and deleted them from my computer. He then asked me for m
Vista Boot DVD, which I didn't have with me. He said he couldn't hel
me without the DVD and that I'd just have to live with a 1/2 workin
computer until I could find the DVD. I made an appointment for th
Vista Research Team to contact me the next morning.

This morning I get a call from the research team and he remote desktop
to my computer and has a look. He says it's not working because I'
missing some files (duh! the guy yesterday deleted them!). He told m
to insert the DVD and "update Vista." I do this and now my computer i
stuck at "Gathering Files (43%)" for the last 14 hours. The technicia
called me every hour all day "just to check" and he kept telling me t
wait because "it will fix itself." He told me just to leave i
overnight and he's going to do some research because he has no idea ho
to proceed if Vista won't autorepair. He told me if I stop th
installation, I'll likely have a non-booting computer.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to proceed? My guess is that th
guy is just going to tell me to reformat the whole computer, but ma
that sucks. I didn't back up my data because the Microsoft guy told m
it wasn't necessary because this "always works." Yesterday I was jus
having printer issues and 48 hours later and with lots of "help" fro
Microsoft, I have a doorstop.

Thank you for your help

--
vistatrouble
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
vistatroubles's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?u=5288
View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=99934

http://forums.techarena.i

Hi,

There's really no telling how much damage is done at this point, so advising
you on how to proceed is difficult. From what you describe, you have a
situation that has gone from bad to worse, and this is compounded by the
fact that you likely only have Dell's "put it back to factory state"
recovery media.

If the repair is frozen and not progressing (ie: no drive activity, no
changes for hours), then waiting any longer is pointless. Reset the machine
and it should restart the process to see if it completes. If it does not,
you can try the following: Restart the machine and hit F8 at the initial
load point to access the boot options, then try the last known good
configuration. If that fails, repeat and access the command line mode. From
the prompt, run rstrui.exe to load system restore and try a point prior to
all these changes.

If that fails, you may need to chalk it up to a lesson learned and
reinstall. If your recovery media allow for installing without formatting,
do so and your data will likely be preserved in a windows.old folder on the
root of the drive (this is how a retail disk would work, I am not sure if
your recovery media will allow for this). Make sure to disconnect printers
and other peripherals while you do this, add them later.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"vistatroubles" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> So this all started about two weeks ago when every time I restarted my
> computer (9 month old Dell Inspiron running Vista Home Premium) all of
> my network printers were uninstalled. There is nothing wrong with the
> printers and all of the drivers were still there and fine, but every
> single time I rebooted Vista would not be able to find them anymore.
>
> Since my computer is still under warranty, I started by calling Dell.
> The idiots there refused to help me because they were HP printers. I
> tried explaining that it was a Vista problem, but they couldn't get past
> the fact the printers were made by HP. I think they were just trying to
> get out of having to live up to their warranty. Boo!
>
> After digging on the web, I realized that my computer had never
> installed SP1 and it was likely causing my printer issues, so I set out
> to have it installed. I went through my Windows Update feature, but it
> couldn't find SP1 as an update.
>
> Perplexed, I found a place on the web where Microsoft is offering live
> tech support just for SP1. I entered a live chat and spent more than 3
> hours watching their technician mess with files in my registry via
> remote desktop. The guy didn't seem to have a good idea what he was
> doing and often spent 15-20 minutes just reading his "resources."
> Eventually, he decided that several of my DLL and registry files were
> corrupt and deleted them from my computer. He then asked me for my
> Vista Boot DVD, which I didn't have with me. He said he couldn't help
> me without the DVD and that I'd just have to live with a 1/2 working
> computer until I could find the DVD. I made an appointment for the
> Vista Research Team to contact me the next morning.
>
> This morning I get a call from the research team and he remote desktops
> to my computer and has a look. He says it's not working because I'm
> missing some files (duh! the guy yesterday deleted them!). He told me
> to insert the DVD and "update Vista." I do this and now my computer is
> stuck at "Gathering Files (43%)" for the last 14 hours. The technician
> called me every hour all day "just to check" and he kept telling me to
> wait because "it will fix itself." He told me just to leave it
> overnight and he's going to do some research because he has no idea how
> to proceed if Vista won't autorepair. He told me if I stop the
> installation, I'll likely have a non-booting computer.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions how to proceed? My guess is that the
> guy is just going to tell me to reformat the whole computer, but man
> that sucks. I didn't back up my data because the Microsoft guy told me
> it wasn't necessary because this "always works." Yesterday I was just
> having printer issues and 48 hours later and with lots of "help" from
> Microsoft, I have a doorstop.
>
> Thank you for your help!
>
>
> --
> vistatroubles
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> vistatroubles's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?u=52883
> View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=999346
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

Thank you for your suggestions...

I left my computer "repairing" last night when I went to bed hoping fo
a miracle and when I woke up it was back to the login screen. For
moment I actually thought it had worked, but then an error came u
saying that the computer had "blue screened" during the night, so th
repair didn't install. At the moment, Vista seems to run fine excep
that Window's Update doesn't work at all (missing the registry files
and my printers still won't stay installed.

The windows technician wants to do a "system restore" now back to th
point before the first technician deleted those files (which is the sam
as your suggestion). I can do this, but it just puts us back to th
same point I was at 48 hours ago before the last 20 hours of "technica
support." He promised me that with just three more hours on the phone
he was sure he could fix it all.

Do you have any idea what the chances are that my computer can actuall
be fixed without a reinstall? If they're high, I'll spend a few mor
hours on the phone trying to fix this, but if they're not I'll just giv
up and start from a clean slate. I really don't want to waste more tim
on a hopeless cause.

Thank you again

--
vistatrouble
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
vistatroubles's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?u=5288
View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=99934

http://forums.techarena.i

Hello vistatroubles. I'm sorry your having so much vista troubles(sorry
could'nt resist).

If you SR points have been deleted, your probably screwed there.

If it was me I would uninstall every network printer and reinstall
them(remap).

If that dosent work you may be looking at a network rebuild and at
worse reinstalling Vista.

I hope you dont, but it seems you've do the "let tech support fix it"
long enough. I think I could have fixed it long ago if I was there on
site.

But since I cant be my advice in these situations is now, don't waste
any moer of "your" valuble time on tech support that is obviously not
going to help you, just waste your time.

If the networked printers still work at thier remote locations then
remove all sign of them on the Vista machine and re-map them. This
usually works and I have had good results doing this in other
situations.

Every situation is different. You may need to check your router,
network settings and so on.

The fack that some Bozo over the phone started deleting files not
really knowing WTF he was doing should enrage you.

Seek local help if my suggestions dont help. Hands on from a compotent
tech will do miles better then some guy on the phone whos reading a
script or just guessing.

Good luck.


--
joel406

Hi,

As you're up and running, then you should do the system restore to get back
to where you started. Then create a new point before contacting support
again, just in case. Whether or not you do is up to you and your confidence
in the technician.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"vistatroubles" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Thank you for your suggestions...
>
> I left my computer "repairing" last night when I went to bed hoping for
> a miracle and when I woke up it was back to the login screen. For a
> moment I actually thought it had worked, but then an error came up
> saying that the computer had "blue screened" during the night, so the
> repair didn't install. At the moment, Vista seems to run fine except
> that Window's Update doesn't work at all (missing the registry files)
> and my printers still won't stay installed.
>
> The windows technician wants to do a "system restore" now back to the
> point before the first technician deleted those files (which is the same
> as your suggestion). I can do this, but it just puts us back to the
> same point I was at 48 hours ago before the last 20 hours of "technical
> support." He promised me that with just three more hours on the phone,
> he was sure he could fix it all.
>
> Do you have any idea what the chances are that my computer can actually
> be fixed without a reinstall? If they're high, I'll spend a few more
> hours on the phone trying to fix this, but if they're not I'll just give
> up and start from a clean slate. I really don't want to waste more time
> on a hopeless cause.
>
> Thank you again!
>
>
> --
> vistatroubles
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> vistatroubles's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?u=52883
> View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=999349
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

vista is rubbish. Why do you think Intel and many other businesses not adopt
vista? Even after SP1 vista is a dog.

Push vista with many different applications on your PC and watch it crash!!

Didnt it take 7 years to develop vista?

Cheers

Ron


"vistatroubles" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Thank you for your suggestions...
>
> I left my computer "repairing" last night when I went to bed hoping for
> a miracle and when I woke up it was back to the login screen. For a
> moment I actually thought it had worked, but then an error came up
> saying that the computer had "blue screened" during the night, so the
> repair didn't install. At the moment, Vista seems to run fine except
> that Window's Update doesn't work at all (missing the registry files)
> and my printers still won't stay installed.
>
> The windows technician wants to do a "system restore" now back to the
> point before the first technician deleted those files (which is the same
> as your suggestion). I can do this, but it just puts us back to the
> same point I was at 48 hours ago before the last 20 hours of "technical
> support." He promised me that with just three more hours on the phone,
> he was sure he could fix it all.
>
> Do you have any idea what the chances are that my computer can actually
> be fixed without a reinstall? If they're high, I'll spend a few more
> hours on the phone trying to fix this, but if they're not I'll just give
> up and start from a clean slate. I really don't want to waste more time
> on a hopeless cause.
>
> Thank you again!
>
>
> --
> vistatroubles
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> vistatroubles's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?u=52883
> View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=999349
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>
>

No crashes here. Solid as a rock.



--
Vista Home Premium 32 SP1
http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview


"Ron" <> wrote in message
news:2586C494-7CD1-490C-89A5-...
> vista is rubbish. Why do you think Intel and many other businesses not
> adopt vista? Even after SP1 vista is a dog.
>
> Push vista with many different applications on your PC and watch it
> crash!!
>
> Didnt it take 7 years to develop vista?
>
> Cheers
>
> Ron
>
>
> "vistatroubles" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>>
>> Thank you for your suggestions...
>>
>> I left my computer "repairing" last night when I went to bed hoping for
>> a miracle and when I woke up it was back to the login screen. For a
>> moment I actually thought it had worked, but then an error came up
>> saying that the computer had "blue screened" during the night, so the
>> repair didn't install. At the moment, Vista seems to run fine except
>> that Window's Update doesn't work at all (missing the registry files)
>> and my printers still won't stay installed.
>>
>> The windows technician wants to do a "system restore" now back to the
>> point before the first technician deleted those files (which is the same
>> as your suggestion). I can do this, but it just puts us back to the
>> same point I was at 48 hours ago before the last 20 hours of "technical
>> support." He promised me that with just three more hours on the phone,
>> he was sure he could fix it all.
>>
>> Do you have any idea what the chances are that my computer can actually
>> be fixed without a reinstall? If they're high, I'll spend a few more
>> hours on the phone trying to fix this, but if they're not I'll just give
>> up and start from a clean slate. I really don't want to waste more time
>> on a hopeless cause.
>>
>> Thank you again!
>>
>>
>> --
>> vistatroubles
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> vistatroubles's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?u=52883
>> View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=999349
>>
>> http://forums.techarena.in
>>
>>
>