XP Yearly Reinstall? Dell Docking Station Can't Connect to Interne

J

John Bakas

Should I periodically reinstall of XP as good computer hygiene? I have XP
Build 2600 SP 3 which is kept updated automatically.

My 4-year-old Dell M65 notebook’s docking station (the second one in three
weeks) can’t connect to the Internet although everything has worked fine for
4 years.

When the problem developed about a month ago, Dell sent out a new docking
station which worked fine until last night when once again when the notebook
is connected to the docking station, it won’t connect to the Internet. Off
dock it connects to Internet OK. We have deleted the docked profile, done
System Restore, updated chipset and BIOS, all without solving the problem.
The computer gives a “network cable unplugged†message.

The very helpful Dell folks said that I should periodically reinstall XP and
because I had not reinstalled XP in four years (since getting the computer
out of the box — new) it was a good idea (and is a possible docking station
fix) to do a clean XP reinstall because there are so many layers and patches
on windows that it causes problems which are fixed by reinstalling. Is that
true? Do I need to every year or so reinstall XP?

Thanks for any advice and suggestions.

*****************
John Bakas
Riverview, Florida, USA
 
D

David H. Lipman

From: "John Bakas" <[email protected]>

| Should I periodically reinstall of XP as good computer hygiene? I have XP
| Build 2600 SP 3 which is kept updated automatically.

| My 4-year-old Dell M65 notebook’s docking station (the second one in three
| weeks) can’t connect to the Internet although everything has worked fine for
| 4 years.

| When the problem developed about a month ago, Dell sent out a new docking
| station which worked fine until last night when once again when the notebook
| is connected to the docking station, it won’t connect to the Internet. Off
| dock it connects to Internet OK. We have deleted the docked profile, done
| System Restore, updated chipset and BIOS, all without solving the problem.
| The computer gives a “network cable unplugged” message.

| The very helpful Dell folks said that I should periodically reinstall XP and
| because I had not reinstalled XP in four years (since getting the computer
| out of the box — new) it was a good idea (and is a possible docking station
| fix) to do a clean XP reinstall because there are so many layers and patches
| on windows that it causes problems which are fixed by reinstalling. Is that
| true? Do I need to every year or so reinstall XP?

| Thanks for any advice and suggestions.

| *****************
| John Bakas
| Riverview, Florida, USA


The concept of reinstalling XP every year is BS.

You need to look at the coupling between the docking station and the notebook. All the
other stuff you have been doing is a red herring.
 
P

(PeteCresswell)

Per John Bakas:
The very helpful Dell folks said that I should periodically reinstall XP and
because I had not reinstalled XP in four years (since getting the computer
out of the box — new) it was a good idea (and is a possible docking station
fix) to do a clean XP reinstall because there are so many layers and patches
on windows that it causes problems which are fixed by reinstalling. Is that
true? Do I need to every year or so reinstall XP?

Don't know from Dell, but with a teenager pounding on my boxes
several hours every day, I've become quite familiar with the
concept of periodically re-imaging a PC.

Before I build a system, I re-partition the drive to about 40
megs for C: (the system) and the rest for D: (data).

What I do after building a box is run a disk imaging utility
(Terabyte "Image" in my case, but there are a lot of them out
there) and image the system to an external hard drive that is
normally kept turned off and disconnected.

After the original image, I keep an MS Word document detailing
any additional installs/uninstalls that I've made to that image.

Every so often I re-image with that original image, re-install
whatever additional new apps are in the MS Word doc, and then
make another image.

I maintain that pattern so that I always have a recent clean
image of my working system - or pretty close to it.

Then, whenever I even suspect things are getting flaky; I simply
re-image from the latest good system image. Takes no more than
30 minutes, and once one has done it a few times, it's second
nature. I don't even think twice about it any more.

Works for me....
 
J

John Bakas

Pete, thank you. Yes, I can see that would be helpful.

*****************
John Bakas
Riverview, Florida, USA
 
J

John Bakas

David, thank you very much. I am not an expert and have heard that "periodic
reinstall XP for good measure" advice through the years often enough that it
caused me to wonder when I heard it again today — and of course it sent
shudders through my body, and I broke out in a cold sweat! I also agree
that your "check the connection" advice is the most direct approach.

But again, thanks for the XP info — it is much appreciated, I can start
breathing again.

*****************
John Bakas
Riverview, Florida, USA
 
J

John Bakas

The Real Truth, thanks for the information.

I am unclear on whether you were answering my question about the wisdom of a
yearly/periodic reinstall of XP as a preventative measure to avoid XP windows
problems from developing — is such a periodic reinstall good practice?

I have tried to find such a recommendation in Microsoft’s published
materials, but was not able to locate it. Do you know where there is a
Microsoft article about such a practice?

Thanks again for the response, as you can see I am not an expert and
appreciate the experience you offer.


*****************
John Bakas
Riverview, Florida, USA





The Real Truth said:
http://pcbutts1.com/downloads/ngtrolls.htm

--
The Real Truth http://pcbutts1-therealtruth.blogspot.com/
*WARNING* Do NOT follow any advice given by the people listed below.
They do NOT have the expertise or knowledge to fix your issue. Do not waste
your time.
David H Lipman, Malke, PA Bear, Beauregard T. Shagnasty, Leythos.
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

Should I periodically reinstall of XP as good computer hygiene?


No! Although there *are* people who feel you should, I strenuously
disagree. In my experience, those who do so are people who simply are
extremely sloppy at maintaining their computers.

With a modicum of care, it should never be necessary to reinstall
Windows (XP or any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG
3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows
Vista, each for the period of time before the next version came out,
and each on two or three machines here. I never reinstalled any of
them, and I have never had anything more than an occasional minor
problem.
 
T

The Real Truth [MS MVP]

A periodic reinstall really depends on the users surfing habit. For some
people it may be necessary because they constantly download things that are
not good to the computer like malware and viruses. My son downloads any and
everything and even though his system is protected the shear number of crap
that is on there slows it down so I clean it up about once a year. Mine I
never have had any reason to do a reinstall.


--
The Real Truth http://pcbutts1-therealtruth.blogspot.com/
*WARNING* Do NOT follow any advice given by the people listed below.
They do NOT have the expertise or knowledge to fix your issue. Do not waste
your time.
David H Lipman, Malke, PA Bear, Beauregard T. Shagnasty, Leythos.




John Bakas said:
The Real Truth, thanks for the information.

I am unclear on whether you were answering my question about the wisdom of
a
yearly/periodic reinstall of XP as a preventative measure to avoid XP
windows
problems from developing — is such a periodic reinstall good practice?

I have tried to find such a recommendation in Microsoft’s published
materials, but was not able to locate it. Do you know where there is a
Microsoft article about such a practice?

Thanks again for the response, as you can see I am not an expert and
appreciate the experience you offer.


*****************
John Bakas
Riverview, Florida, USA





The Real Truth said:
http://pcbutts1.com/downloads/ngtrolls.htm

--
The Real Truth http://pcbutts1-therealtruth.blogspot.com/
*WARNING* Do NOT follow any advice given by the people listed below.
They do NOT have the expertise or knowledge to fix your issue. Do not
waste
your time.
David H Lipman, Malke, PA Bear, Beauregard T. Shagnasty, Leythos.




MAP said:
PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:
No you need to format your hard drive and reinstall windows.





David, thank you very much. I am not an expert and have heard that
"periodic
reinstall XP for good measure" advice through the years often enough
that it
caused me to wonder when I heard it again today - and of course it
sent shudders through my body, and I broke out in a cold sweat! I
also agree that your "check the connection" advice is the most
direct approach. But again, thanks for the XP info - it is much
appreciated, I can
start breathing again.

*****************
John Bakas
Riverview, Florida, USA


PCButthead?
 
J

John Bakas

Ken,

Thank you.

My experience as a computer user is the same as yours as an expert. But
when I heard the suggestion again recently to reinstall windows periodically
just a matter of preventative maintenance — I thought I would come here and
post the question about whether such practice is good to do.

I have always followed the practice you suggest and will continue to do so.

Thanks again.

*****************
John Bakas
Riverview, Florida, USA
 
J

John Bakas

David,

Thanks again for your excellent advice about XP software. I will not be
periodically reinstalling XP.

And I thought I would let you know the rest of the story regarding my
docking station that will not connect to the Internet.

I had thought that the problem was the connection rather than a software
issue — but I focused on the docking station because this is the second one I
have had in the last three weeks with the same problem.

But when I read your comment about the connection, something clicked in my
head and I thought the computer itself could be causing the connection
problem.

So, I undocked and then docked the computer very slowly to make the
connection with the dock as softly as I could (a light comes on when it is
docked).

When the light came on showing that the computer was docked, I then lifted
the computer as if trying to undock it — thinking that this put pressure on
the computer’s connection in reverse to what typically happens when it is
docked. As I lifted the computer very slowly as if trying to undock it, I
watched the computer monitor showing the network connection status.

Well, as I was very, very slowly lifting the computer while it was still
docked, the info box on the computer monitor showing the connection status
blinked “searching for network†and then “connected.â€

I called Dell to ask them if they wanted to check the computer while it was
connected to the Internet through the docking station to see if they could
tell what might be happening — but after I explained what I had done, the
very helpful Dell tech said, we will send a new motherboard (a tech will come
and install it).

Your advice answered my main question about periodic reinstalling XP just
for good measure — I will not be doing that.

And your “it’s a connection problem†caused me to think about the computer’s
connection rather than the docking station's. In other words, you solved my
problem.

Without your advice, I would have spent a huge amount of time that — as I
know now — would still not have solved the problem.

Thank you.

*****************
John Bakas
Riverview, Florida, USA

David H. Lipman said:
From: "John Bakas" <[email protected]>
 
L

Leythos

No! Although there *are* people who feel you should, I strenuously
disagree. In my experience, those who do so are people who simply are
extremely sloppy at maintaining their computers.

With a modicum of care, it should never be necessary to reinstall
Windows (XP or any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG
3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows
Vista, each for the period of time before the next version came out,
and each on two or three machines here. I never reinstalled any of
them, and I have never had anything more than an occasional minor
problem.

Ken, I disagree for the case of Software Developers.

In most cases developers go through many updates and changes as well as
modifications to custom DLL and Active-X controls. My experience has
been that many serious developers are going to need to wipe/reinstall
their systems at least once a year to maintain a clean workable system.

I personally reinstall my system once a year, from scratch, and I find
that it performs much better after doing it.

I maintain my systems very well, having been a programmer and network
engineer for almost 30 years.

So, for the typical home user or light office user, you are completely
correct, but for the serious developer, you would find benefit in not
only performance, but in quality of applications you develop, by having
a clean system.

One other example, I make a ghost image of a new install, and when we
install apps for testing we restore that image and then test, before we
test another time we restore the image - always making sure we have a
clean XP machine (or other OS) in case the installer misses something or
there is a problem with a missing or corrupted DLL. We do this across
many service pack levels and many patches, but the QA process is always
the same.
 
L

Leythos

*WARNING* Do NOT follow any advice given by the people listed below.
They do NOT have the expertise or knowledge to fix your issue. Do not waste
your time.

Stalking is a crime, you are still stalking myself and others via your
posts.
 
P

PA Bear [MS MVP]

Ignore that MVP Imposter, John.

John said:
The Real Truth, thanks for the information.

I am unclear on whether you were answering my question about the wisdom of
a
yearly/periodic reinstall of XP as a preventative measure to avoid XP
windows problems from developing — is such a periodic reinstall good
practice?

I have tried to find such a recommendation in Microsoft’s published
materials, but was not able to locate it. Do you know where there is a
Microsoft article about such a practice?

Thanks again for the response, as you can see I am not an expert and
appreciate the experience you offer.


*****************
John Bakas
Riverview, Florida, USA





The Real Truth said:
http://pcbutts1.com/downloads/ngtrolls.htm

--
The Real Truth http://pcbutts1-therealtruth.blogspot.com/
*WARNING* Do NOT follow any advice given by the people listed below.
They do NOT have the expertise or knowledge to fix your issue. Do not
waste
your time.
David H Lipman, Malke, PA Bear, Beauregard T. Shagnasty, Leythos.




MAP said:
PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:
No you need to format your hard drive and reinstall windows.





David, thank you very much. I am not an expert and have heard that
"periodic
reinstall XP for good measure" advice through the years often enough
that it
caused me to wonder when I heard it again today - and of course it
sent shudders through my body, and I broke out in a cold sweat! I
also agree that your "check the connection" advice is the most
direct approach. But again, thanks for the XP info - it is much
appreciated, I can
start breathing again.

*****************
John Bakas
Riverview, Florida, USA


PCButthead?
 
D

David H. Lipman

From: "John Bakas" <[email protected]>

| David,

| Thanks again for your excellent advice about XP software. I will not be
| periodically reinstalling XP.

| And I thought I would let you know the rest of the story regarding my
| docking station that will not connect to the Internet.

| I had thought that the problem was the connection rather than a software
| issue — but I focused on the docking station because this is the second one I
| have had in the last three weeks with the same problem.

| But when I read your comment about the connection, something clicked in my
| head and I thought the computer itself could be causing the connection
| problem.

| So, I undocked and then docked the computer very slowly to make the
| connection with the dock as softly as I could (a light comes on when it is
| docked).

| When the light came on showing that the computer was docked, I then lifted
| the computer as if trying to undock it — thinking that this put pressure on
| the computer’s connection in reverse to what typically happens when it is
| docked. As I lifted the computer very slowly as if trying to undock it, I
| watched the computer monitor showing the network connection status.

| Well, as I was very, very slowly lifting the computer while it was still
| docked, the info box on the computer monitor showing the connection status
| blinked “searching for network” and then “connected.”

| I called Dell to ask them if they wanted to check the computer while it was
| connected to the Internet through the docking station to see if they could
| tell what might be happening — but after I explained what I had done, the
| very helpful Dell tech said, we will send a new motherboard (a tech will come
| and install it).

| Your advice answered my main question about periodic reinstalling XP just
| for good measure — I will not be doing that.

| And your “it’s a connection problem” caused me to think about the computer’s
| connection rather than the docking station's. In other words, you solved my
| problem.

| Without your advice, I would have spent a huge amount of time that — as I
| know now — would still not have solved the problem.

| Thank you.

| *****************
| John Bakas
| Riverview, Florida, USA

YW John.

Joints and interconnects are the weakest links in any system. It is too easy to blame the
OS.
 
D

David H. Lipman

From: "Leythos" <[email protected]>



| Ken, I disagree for the case of Software Developers.

| In most cases developers go through many updates and changes as well as
| modifications to custom DLL and Active-X controls. My experience has
| been that many serious developers are going to need to wipe/reinstall
| their systems at least once a year to maintain a clean workable system.

| I personally reinstall my system once a year, from scratch, and I find
| that it performs much better after doing it.

| I maintain my systems very well, having been a programmer and network
| engineer for almost 30 years.

| So, for the typical home user or light office user, you are completely
| correct, but for the serious developer, you would find benefit in not
| only performance, but in quality of applications you develop, by having
| a clean system.

| One other example, I make a ghost image of a new install, and when we
| install apps for testing we restore that image and then test, before we
| test another time we restore the image - always making sure we have a
| clean XP machine (or other OS) in case the installer misses something or
| there is a problem with a missing or corrupted DLL. We do this across
| many service pack levels and many patches, but the QA process is always
| the same.

I can agree with uou there on the bassis of the law of chaos and complex systems in a
computing platform. Developers modify the system extremely and thus move from plin jane
to off to way left or way right of norm. Thus they introduce interactions and that can
cause chaos in the system.

However, I presume that John is not such a user and most here aren't as well and thus for
the vast majority, a periodcal reinstall of the OS in not warranted.

But I will agree with you that there ARE USERS that fall into a category where having a
system image, baseline, and priodically going to that baseline image is indeed warranted.
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

Ken,

Thank you.

My experience as a computer user is the same as yours as an expert. But
when I heard the suggestion again recently to reinstall windows periodically
just a matter of preventative maintenance — I thought I would come here and
post the question about whether such practice is good to do.

I have always followed the practice you suggest and will continue to do so.

Thanks again.


You're welcome. Glad to help.
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

From: "Leythos" <[email protected]>



| Ken, I disagree for the case of Software Developers.

| In most cases developers go through many updates and changes as well as
| modifications to custom DLL and Active-X controls. My experience has
| been that many serious developers are going to need to wipe/reinstall
| their systems at least once a year to maintain a clean workable system.

| I personally reinstall my system once a year, from scratch, and I find
| that it performs much better after doing it.

| I maintain my systems very well, having been a programmer and network
| engineer for almost 30 years.

| So, for the typical home user or light office user, you are completely
| correct, but for the serious developer, you would find benefit in not
| only performance, but in quality of applications you develop, by having
| a clean system.

| One other example, I make a ghost image of a new install, and when we
| install apps for testing we restore that image and then test, before we
| test another time we restore the image - always making sure we have a
| clean XP machine (or other OS) in case the installer misses something or
| there is a problem with a missing or corrupted DLL. We do this across
| many service pack levels and many patches, but the QA process is always
| the same.

I can agree with uou there on the bassis of the law of chaos and complex systems in a
computing platform. Developers modify the system extremely and thus move from plin jane
to off to way left or way right of norm. Thus they introduce interactions and that can
cause chaos in the system.

However, I presume that John is not such a user and most here aren't as well and thus for
the vast majority, a periodcal reinstall of the OS in not warranted.

But I will agree with you that there ARE USERS that fall into a category where having a
system image, baseline, and priodically going to that baseline image is indeed warranted.



I agree with both of you that there are people whose use is so
atypical that it makes sense to do as you suggest. But I also agree
that the presumption that John is not such a user was almost certainly
correct. If he were, he wouldn't have asked the question here.
 

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