Vista Problems, maybe?

[Amy.Klooz]

Hi...

I got Vista on a new computer last year, and mostly it's worked fine
up until recently, with a few MAJOR problems. I'm not sure that it's
actually vista, but am hoping someone can help.

The first big problem, which has actually gotten worse, is that the
computer fails to resume from "sleep" mode. I also cannot restart it.
I can send it into "hibernate" and it will resume ok (usually) and I
can shut it off totally, but cannot get any response from either
attempting a "restart" or "sleep." The screen goes black and all the
laptop LEDs stay on, as if the PC were on, but no response from any
keys, and I have to turn it off hard, by pressing the power button.

The other problem is that it does this on it's own--automatically goes
into that mode, sometimes while I'm even using it (so it's not because
of going idle necessarily.) So I'll have to turn it off and then turn
it on again.

Another interesting problem is that sometimes while trying to boot the
computer (after having to shut it off), it won't. It sort of lights
up, but never gives me the "HP" screen which it gives when it is
booting properly. And sometimes it fails to boot after giving me that
sign, it just stops midway, the screen going black but all other
lights staying on.

And if that's not weird, check this out. Sometimes, if I have turned
off the computer, I can re-insert the power cable, and it turns back
on!! Usually it fails to boot properly when I do that, but goes into
the aforementioned unresponsive mode.

I'm not sure if this is just a problem with Vista, if it's a problem
with the drivers (I do occasionally get a message that the display
drivers failed and then were recovered.) Lately I've had some problems
with the display on the screen "shaking" around, and don't know why.

I would appreciate any help or tips.

The computer is an HP Pavilion dv2000 and for the record I've had
automatic updates on for vista so it should be updated. I bought the
computer in February 2007, and it has NVIDIA graphics.

Thanks everyone for reading, even if you can't help.

-Amy

 

[gerryf]

There were about 50 different dv2000 laptops with assorted letters
following the dv2000 (tu, tx, xx, cto, etc)

Knowing the exact one may point to an answer.

For example, I was looking at the dv2000 cto and there was a bios fix for
notebooks spontaneously turning on....that's an odd one, but it sounds
somewhat related to your last issue.

How about your exhaust vents? Are the clear? Are the intake vents clear?

Really, though, it sounds more like bad power than a driver or bios fix.
Perhaps a bad power brick, or a bad dcdc module on the motherboard itself.

I'd probably try the bios update just to see, but you might be better off
trying to find someone with a different power supply and testing it there.
The video issue could be related to bad power, or it couldbe the entire
motherboard is on the fritz.