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kismet
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southsea uk
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07-05-2015, 12:06 AM
21

Re: Does anyone have a HP .......

Originally Posted by Moyra ->
It's windows 8, I have had it a year and only used it twice! Not for me unless this machine packs up!
ive had it about 10 months, set it all up but didn't like the system, so this poor old laptop im using has windows 7, but its past it, don't work half time.
this past week ive almost stripped the hp to bare bones, as its more or less stoped working, it will do some things, but I cant even restore it back to factory settings. it wont let me, a lot of the help sections wont work tells me there is a problem. of course there is that's why I need help. even tried to open it in safe mode wont let me. cant even get ilnto the registry. so im hoping some forms may have found solution, googled it lots have problems, but it wont load the pages. so got this old one to work again
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Losos
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07-05-2015, 10:51 AM
22

Re: Does anyone have a HP .......

Originally Posted by Patsy ->
Laptop - if so, how do you get on with it - any problems ?
Yes Patsy I have had an HP Laptop for 5 years and have had no problems with it. I use it mainly in the motorhome but it currently sits on my desk and acts as an alternative if SWMBO is using the PC. I run Windows 7 Home Premium and don't want to change that either. HTH
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wishbone
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07-05-2015, 11:14 AM
23

Re: Does anyone have a HP .......

I have used HP laptops for years and the only fault I can find with them is the batteries don't hold the charge for long, maybe it's a thing with HP it seems very much like it,but I wouldn't swap for any other make, so you'r not on your own Patsy.
clumsy
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07-05-2015, 12:42 PM
24

Re: Does anyone have a HP .......

Sorry about your problems Patsy. As you no doubt saw on a thread I did re my new HP Envy, which is Windows 8 but also has Windows 8.1. I find that 8.1 is almost like using Windows 7. However I had some real problems when the Envy arrived and I quite simply couldn't get hold of HP in England. I ended up going on HP's Facebook page, I left a message and was contacted by an HP support worker, who happened to be in the USA. I can't praise him highly enough, everything was dealt with by private message and he really went all out for me. He organised for an English speaking Spanish technician to call me. The Spanish technician called me, he was so nice and patient, he took remote control of the laptop and he literally put everything right. Now he rings me every week to check that what he did is still working correctly, he says he will do this every week for one month. I call that service. It took some getting there but HP support in USA and Spain have really done their very best for me.

Just as an afterthought for wishbone, this HP Envy has a good 6 hours battery life and a message pops up now and then to tell me how long I have left on the battery.
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07-05-2015, 01:10 PM
25

Re: Does anyone have a HP .......

Yes I'm still having problems even though it has windows 8.1
The battery does not hold its charge that's true
Its things disappearing that irks me, I'm forever putting icons back in
Shame as I like the keyboard, its cream, very hard to find, the laptops are mainly black keys........
Realist
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07-05-2015, 07:02 PM
26

Re: Does anyone have a HP .......

It's hard to determine whether your issues are hardware or software TBH.

Windows 7 is far more stable, imo, than Windows 8. I'm running Windows 7 Pro quite happily on all my laptops. I have no desire or intention of going to version 8 at this point.
Consider going down to version 7 if you can.

It would be useful to know the specification of your machine. Take a look in Control Panel - System and tell us what it lists. Does it say 64bit and do you have at least 4GB RAM?

Slow performance can be caused by a whole host of things.
I'm doubting very much it's affected by your battery. You can of course run a laptop without a battery installed, running just from the mains adapter. If your symptoms persist without a battery installed then we can rule out the battery.

Overheating can be another problem. It causes the CPU or graphics chips to stall/freeze until they cool down. That can appear to be slow performance esp in computer games. Does you machine have plenty of ventilation or is it sitting on something that is blocking the vent holes at the bottom or sides? Is the air blowing out of the vents hot?
If so, your heat sink assembly on the chips is probably not up to scratch and needs reseating with fresh heat paste.

Was your machine pre-loaded with lots of what people call "Bloatware"? i.e. lots of applications and utilities that were pre-installed on the machine and which you will probably never use? The first thing to do with any new machine is to uninstall all that bloatware.

Another thing to check is the "update settings" of EVERY piece of software you have installed, and I mean everything. Personally I DISABLE auto-updates of every piece of software installed including Windows itself. Thus I CHOOSE if I want to install a later version of anything. If you don't do this rigorously, then typically all software has settings to auto-update so every time you switch on the machine and it connects to the internet, all those apps go off looking for later versions and downloading updates. There may be no visible sign that this is happening unless you check Task Manager routinely. The best way to create an unwieldy and unstable machine, is to give all your software apps the ability to auto-update. You end up with lots of updates that may not yet be stable and may not integrate well with your machine or Windows version. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Turn all the updating off !

What Anti-Virus are you running. Anti-Virus software is typically one of the biggest drains on system performance both in terms of updating itself with the latest program version or virus database, and also in auto scanning all files that you move about or download. Over the years I have HAD to move from one AV program to another because I find that one is good for a while, and then a new version appears which is far far slower to the extent that you would be better off having an actual virus than suffering such a slow system response. Avast used to be like this, was quick, then became so slow as to be useless. AV programs seem to go in cycles.

You may also find you have competing AV programs and security software in place. e.g. You might be running say Bit Defender but also Windows Defender, and Windows Security and more than one firewall etc. You need to be clear what you have and uninstall / deactivate the programs that are redundant.

You could of course have a long standing virus or malware that is causing bad performance. Download and run the free copy of MalwareBytes once. It will tell you if you have malware and fix it for you. Before running the scan though, go into it's settings option and select "Warn only" for PUP detection (Potentially Unwanted Programs). It may not recognise some of your software properly and you don't want it quarantining good programs. You're really only interested in actual Malware.

You should pop up task manager frequently and in the Processes tab, sequence the CPU column so the highest number is at the top. Then you will see if there is any specific process running which is chewing up the CPU. Often this is where you will see the Anti-virus program exe process constantly battering the CPU. If there's anything else dominating the CPU usage then let us know.

You mentioned that you can't get into Safe Mode which is somewhat worrying. You should be able to obviously. On my machines you keep pressing Function Key 8 furiously during boot up. I think that's pretty standard on most PCs, tho not sure about HPs. A complete Windows re-install might be on the cards if this isn't working . . . which would be a good time to go to Windows 7


Hope we can get you working.

ATB

Realist
kismet
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07-05-2015, 11:47 PM
27

Re: Does anyone have a HP .......

this is great reply just what I needed, picked it up earlier on tablet, had a quick look, then a hour or so later wouldn't let me log in wasted about an hour had to get this poor old pc out to get it sorted. will see if I can copy it and past it somewhere, so I can study it in depth. I have done quite a lot of the things you have mentioned, looks like a few more I can try. it stoped letting me into the registry which is a bit of a drag, cant seem to get in safe mode ive been using f8 but im sure there is another key ive heard f. it looks as if it has made a copy of 8.1 on drive d I didn't partion it so must have been done in factory. this old one im using I had portioned for xp nad windows 7 as I used to do a lot of writing music scores and 7 didn't like it, but no support for xp now so all windows 7. I will have another go at 8.1 on hp before I give up and instal 7. off to see if I can copy your lovely hints
kismet
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07-05-2015, 11:52 PM
28

Re: Does anyone have a HP .......

great news it allowed me to copy and I droped it straight in email sent it to my 2 other address, so ill be able to study it and work at leisure by keeping the table on with details. you've beee a great help
Realist
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08-05-2015, 07:34 PM
29

Re: Does anyone have a HP .......

Taken from another website - might be useful


How to Force Safe Mode Startup - Windows 8
============================

1.Open Advanced Startup Options in Windows 8,

2.Open Command Prompt
(Options, Troubleshoot, Advanced options, and finally Command Prompt).

3.With Command Prompt open, execute the correct bcdedit command as shown below based on which Safe Mode option you'd like to start:

For Safe Mode - type in the following:
bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal

For Safe Mode with Networking - type in the following:
bcdedit /set {default} safeboot network

Be sure to type whatever command you choose exactly as shown and then execute it using the Enter key. Spaces are very important! The { and } brackets are the ones above the [ and ] keys on your keyboard.

4.A properly executed bcdedit command should return a "The operation completed successfully" message.

If you see "The parameter is incorrect", or "The set command specified is not valid", or "...is not recognized as an internal or external command...", or a similar message, check Step 3 again and make sure you executed the command properly.

5.Close the Command Prompt window.

6.In Windows 8, tap or click on Continue.

7.Wait while your computer or device restarts.
kismet
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kismet is offline
southsea uk
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Posts: 87
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08-05-2015, 11:55 PM
30

Re: Does anyone have a HP .......

Originally Posted by Realist ->
Taken from another website - might be useful


How to Force Safe Mode Startup - Windows 8
============================

1.Open Advanced Startup Options in Windows 8,

2.Open Command Prompt
(Options, Troubleshoot, Advanced options, and finally Command Prompt).

3.With Command Prompt open, execute the correct bcdedit command as shown below based on which Safe Mode option you'd like to start:

For Safe Mode - type in the following:
bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal

For Safe Mode with Networking - type in the following:
bcdedit /set {default} safeboot network

Be sure to type whatever command you choose exactly as shown and then execute it using the Enter key. Spaces are very important! The { and } brackets are the ones above the [ and ] keys on your keyboard.

4.A properly executed bcdedit command should return a "The operation completed successfully" message.

If you see "The parameter is incorrect", or "The set command specified is not valid", or "...is not recognized as an internal or external command...", or a similar message, check Step 3 again and make sure you executed the command properly.

5.Close the Command Prompt window.

6.In Windows 8, tap or click on Continue.

7.Wait while your computer or device restarts.
thanks just picked up.I hAve spent over 2 hours zgain withe the wretched thing. double checked all you sAid, found it had put my firewall back on plus another 75 updates spent ages got 6 off stoped me doing anymore, checked again marked not to updzte and instal.checked firewall again its back on. vot rid of a few apps and also some things I would never use, hopefully they havd gone but decided id close down fed up by then and j left it happily installing another 25 updates no wzy could I stop it. the hp support assistant stoped working ages sgo said it would fix it hasn't, so went into uninstall question mark on it but cant get any information on it.I will try what you have sent tomorrow. its a right mess, I think apaft from software the support system has gone I will try and contact athe hp on line if I can find product number usually on the bottom with sticky label. its not.must be somewhere
 
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