Severe Vista problem, control panel, sharing and networking dont work + more ,help :(

[Journier]

Ok this is a Dell 530. Quad core 2.4ghz intel, 1gb ram, onboard video, 230 gb hard drive.

I am using Windows Vista Home Basic 32 bit

I have all latest Vista Updates

I got this system, connected it to my network, and after 2 restarts i could no longer use my Network and Sharing Center.

After I found this I started trying some other menu options , which i quickly found were broken and dont work either.

Such as Control panel, which opens and closes very quickly and doesnt let me see anything.

Windows Update, doesnt open. i can click it from the start menu/programs list, and it gives me the working icon, and then doesnt do anything.

Windows Welcome Center isnt working either, has the same characteristics as Windows Update, it acts like its opening then doesnt.
Im not sure what else isnt working but i fear it is all linked.

What gives you the idea that it is all linked you may ask......

well I tried to fix the problem 2 times now, once i put in the Dell Vista reinstall dvd, and tried to repair my Vista install.

This worked, it fixed something, and when i got into Windows, everything worked fine.

However...

after 1 Restart all the problems came right back. Same exact problems listed above. I heard from another guy that uses Vista that if you restart the Control Panel problems go away, well ive tried that many times, and it doesnt, it just keeps doing it.

So then I decided to start from scratch, by Formatting the entire drive

I have Formatted the Drive and completely got rid of the backup partition, and made it all 1 partition and completely reinstalled Vista with the disk that comes from Dell.

This worked, It worked for either 1 or 2 restarts, and then the exact same problem came right back.

That is what is happening right now, I have Googled the problems and symptoms and have found other people with seemingly the same problem, but no solutions.

Does anyone have any guesses as to what this could be?

I have run a CHKDSK on the hard drive, and it found 0 problems, i was thinking maybe the hard drive was just making files go corrupt, but i cant find the issue.

Please no wisecracks about it being a Dell, I am already feeling regret

i need help And information i can provide you to help me is ready and waiting... as long as vista allows me to open the windows :/

Thanks
Gordon

edit-

I have AVG antivirus, and i have run scans for virus's and such and nothing is ever found.

There is a similar problem on the internet related to AIM, but i dont have AIM, unless its automatically installed somewhere without my consent. but that only is related to network and sharing center, not to everything else.

[Q-BZ]

I had the same problem. Here's what I did to "work around" it:

Open a blank notepad and copy and paste this without the quotes:

"net stop readyboost
net stop slsvc
net start slsvc
net start readyboost
@cls "

^^ Save this on your desktop as a .bat file.

Every time you have that problem, which will be frequent, make sure you're logged in as admin and run it. Sit back, watch it run for a few seconds, and all should be well...until the next time. Rinse and repeat.

[Journier]

do i have to restart?

i just ran it and no change. restarting...

[Journier]

I restarted,

It worked.

Oh my god man, Thank you so much.

Is this ever going to be fixed? does microsoft know of it?

Thanks alot :)

[Q-BZ]

I restarted,

It worked.

Oh my god man, Thank you so much.

Is this ever going to be fixed? does microsoft know of it?

Thanks alot :)

They know about this and a bunch of the other little fun bugaboos that still plague this thing nearly a year after it was released. :rolleyes:;)

[CptFalcon]

They know about this and a bunch of the other little fun bugaboos that still plague this thing nearly a year after it was released. :rolleyes:;)

SP1 should be released sometime this month or February.

[Q-BZ]

SP1 should be released sometime this month or February.

I'm looking forward to it. It can't happen soon enough. :)

[CptFalcon]

I'm looking forward to it. It can't happen soon enough. :)

In the mean time, you can run the RC1. It works well enough (for me at least). Maybe the fix is included in the RC.

[heatlesssun]

You might want to check out this hotfix if you see this problem again: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936686/en-us

My guess is that this fix will be rolled into SP1. I know people love to bash Vista, but when you're dealing with the nearly infinite configurations of PC hardware and software, some people are going to have problems. In a year of Vista use on four different machines, I've never seen this problem.

[Q-BZ]

In the mean time, you can run the RC1. It works well enough (for me at least). Maybe the fix is included in the RC.

I'm tempted to do it but I'm a bit leery of running "beta software" especially when it comes to something major like an OS. I have seen mostly positive feedback from that though so I may just do it.

Most of my problems on Vista are all thanks to Crysis anyways, so I'm not really terribly urgent on the whole matter.


You might want to check out this hotfix if you see this problem again: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936686/en-us


Thanks. :)


My guess is that this fix will be rolled into SP1. I know people love to bash Vista, but when you're dealing with the nearly infinite configurations of PC hardware and software, some people are going to have problems. In a year of Vista use on four different machines, I've never seen this problem.

You're right, but there's a whole slew of other problems that all sorts of people are having.

There's going to come a point in the not too distant future where what you said will ring as hollow excuses and just not hold water.

[heatlesssun]

You're right, but there's a whole slew of other problems that all sorts of people are having.

There's going to come a point in the not too distant future where what you said will ring as hollow excuses and just not hold water.

Sure we hear of a lot of problems, but we'll never hear from the people that don't have problems, and while I can't prove it, I think that's most people using Vista. I've had issues with Vista related to bad drivers, but beyond that, I just haven't seen anything that was major or wasn't simple to fix. And there are a lot of people of this forum who've had that same experience.

I'm sorry for you problem, its definately not cool to experience something like that, but really, as technology keeps getting more and more complex, stuff's going to happen unfortunately.

[FirePhoenixctk]

Iv encountered this problem recently. I ran copied the line of texts into a document and made a bat file like QB-Z said and it didnt work. The hotfix says its not compatible with my system. :(

[darkjedi]

I used to have this problem pretty frequently and the solution, other then the one mentioned above (which did work for me for a while) was to find new drivers.

For example, on my 680i, I had to install the video driver BEFORE my motherboard driver or this would happen after rebooting my system after a vid driver update. The 15.08 mobo drivers fixed it for me permanently when they finally came out.

On a customer's PC, his Canon Printer drivers would cause this. After a canon driver update, it stopped happening.

You might want to look for updated drivers, you also might need to uninstall your drivers and reinstall in a different order. Sounds wierd but it did work for me.

Be careful when uninstalling any mobo drivers if you use RAID. If you do and uninstall the actual RAID drivers it could become unbootable since the drivers are not thier to tell what the RAID controller is. So always leave RAID drivers in if you are using it.

Good Luck!

[Q-BZ]

This problem has decided to come back for me as well and my little fix earlier in the thread no longer works.

I'm pretty close to formatting the hard drive and going back to XP Pro because this is just one of many pains in the asses I've had with Vista and I simply don't care to be a glorified beta tester. I'm really running out of patience.


EDIT: Found another new trick:

"It's Microsoft's reduced functionality mode. Vista is locking people out of the control panel, etc to keep people from pirating. Here's how I fixed it.

Go to Start

All programs

Accessories

Right click on Command prompt

Select Run as administrator from pop up list

type cd\

should be at c:

type cd windows\system32

type slmgr.vbs -rearm

Full command should look like this:

c:\Windows\System32>slmgr.vbs -rearm

Hit enter

Get a box that says to restart

click ok and restart computer

when it restarts, reactivate windows and everything should work.



It worked for now. I'm still losing my patience slowly but surely overall. You get a bunch of little things but they all add up after a while and equal annoyance. YMMV

EDIT: Searched for the problem on MS's site and went through the process of having them email me a link to a certain hotfix that is supposed to fix the problem. So far it's worked, but we'll see if it lasts.

[Journier]

hey, uh I got the new rc1 SP, and it fixed all my issues, havent had it occur since I downloaded and installed it.

Your fix got me till then :)