PC help

Ok, I got a PC since my mac died (just couldn't get the scratch together after not working for over a year now) and believe it or not, are you ready? drum roll please...

wait for it......

The PC isn't working right!!!! Yeah I know, you are in a state of shock and awe right now but it is true. A PC based computer running something made by Mr. Gates isn't working right. Anyway, enough of my pissing and moaning since I knew it would happen. Here's the problem: When I watch vids on youtube some of them, I'd say more than 1/2 are choppy and they flash between 1/4 of the available window and full window unless they are in full screen mode, then they just don't start. I tried to play a few DVD's and when I used Power DVD I get "format not supported". Now when I tried to update WMP it took freaking 20 minutes to d'load the info for the update, went through all the steps, then said "update not installed, that's what you get for having a Windows machine" or something like that.
The PC is a HP Pavilion ze4145 and it's used. The PO whiped the thing clean before I got it. I checked, there were no cookies, no history or any other crap like that.
Sorry for all the sarcastic remarks, but I'm sick of the issues I always have with a widon't machine.

In reply to DrBoost:

How much RAM does this machine have? How old is it? When you say that the PO "wiped" it, was the drive re-formatted and the OS reinstalled? If it was simply fixed using the recovery partition you might consider a reinstall from a disk.

Could be vid drivers, or you need a codec for YouTube. I didn't think yt used wmp, but flash video, in which case you can't blame mr. gates

what web browser are you using? Firefox seems to have issues with Adobe Flash.

Format not supported is common with DVDs - it's a copy protection issue.

I use Ubuntu Hardy Heron with Opera as a web browser on my home PC and it does all I need it to do. Since you're used to a Mac anyway, Why not wipe Winblows out and install a nice Linux Distribution?

I don't agree that Firefox has issues with Flash, but I'll second the suggestion to wipe Windows (which you know you hate anyway) and load Linux. Ubuntu would probably be a good bet. It will do more with older hardware, and you won't have to deal with Windows problems--just Linux problems

To fix the DVD playback issue download VLC, it will play just about anything. I would also third the Ubuntu suggestion, that may help with what is going on.

Other than that go to the mfg website and get the newest drivers for the hardware in the machine. That should go a long way to getting things working better.

Tim Baxter wrote: I don't agree that Firefox has issues with Flash,

I had issues with choppy youtube videos in full screen mode with Firefox on my Ubuntu PC.

I switched to Opera and it's perfectly happy with youtube.

I use Firefox on my work laptop (WinXP Pro) and have no issues with Firefox and Flash.

I'll try HPs website for more up-to-date drivers first. Good call. I tried IE, firefox and chrome and the YT vids seem to be no better. And as far as the DVD's, I used to travel for work and I'd rent vids all the time for the plane rides and never had an issue playing a dvd. Could that be a driver issue???

In reply to DrBoost:

DVD encryption is proprietary technology. XP does not include DVD software; you have to have a 3rd-party program to play commercial DVDs. One of the things that made Vista Home Premium more expensive than XP was Microsoft's decision to just include DVD software with the OS.

Your YouTube problem most likely isn't a driver issue, but I agree that you should update to the latest versions available. It doesn't cost anything. Are you running an antivirus? How much RAM? The most likely causes are a poor Internet connection (are you dropping packets?) or a computer that is low on resources.

If you don't switch to Linux, I would just reinstall XP from scratch. I personally wouldn't use a secondhand computer without starting from a known good baseline.

Tim Baxter wrote: I don't agree that Firefox has issues with Flash, but I'll second the suggestion to wipe Windows (which you know you hate anyway) and load Linux. Ubuntu would probably be a good bet. It will do more with older hardware, and you won't have to deal with Windows problems--just Linux problems

Thirded!

Most folks don't know how to really wipe a PC, you could easily have leftover problems on there.

For linux geekiness : wiping a hard drive:
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda bs=1024k

capri73 wrote: XP does not include DVD software; you have to have a 3rd-party program to play commercial DVDs. One of the things that made Vista Home Premium more expensive than XP was Microsoft's decision to just include DVD software with the OS.

Really? Wow, that's lame.

You wanna know what's lame? I show you what's lame

I still don't have an internet connection at home and my computer could kick the OPS computer in the nuts without stretching any resources...

Sad sad little Johnny.

Go here: videolan.org. Download the version for whatever OS you are using and play any DVD, video or audio file there is. I have been using this for years and I have yet to find domething it will not play. Besides its got a motorsport connection, the icon for it is a traffic cone .

I have 480 MB of RAM. I bet I need more, huh?

In reply to DrBoost:

480 is fine. You might also want to poll the SMART data for the hard drive. A failing hard drive will cause all sorts of performance issues.

Re: Tim Baxter

Microsoft has gotten very gun-shy about including "extras" in their operating systems following the Internet Explorer lawsuits. The very idea that an operating system wouldn't come bundled with at least one browser seems preposterous now, but MS corporate culture was significantly altered after that debacle.

capri73 wrote: In reply to DrBoost: 480 is fine. You might also want to poll the SMART data for the hard drive. A failing hard drive will cause all sorts of performance issues. Re: Tim Baxter Microsoft has gotten very gun-shy about including "extras" in their operating systems following the Internet Explorer lawsuits. The very idea that an operating system wouldn't come bundled with at least one browser seems preposterous now, but MS corporate culture was significantly altered after that debacle.

Yeah i heard something a while back about microsoft getting sued for trying to include some virus protection software in windows......

I'll throw in a vote for Ubuntu. I switched my laptop 6 months ago and haven't looked back.

I'll vote for Haiku. But I think I'll be the only one.
I'm going to try it out in a VM today.

DrBoost wrote: I have 480 MB of RAM. I bet I need more, huh?

Your computer is "oldasballz" as a friend of mine would say. With my super whizzy computer I still have slow loading times for certain applications, and I've found that my computer hates youtube (just glitchy here and there).

With a proper wipe and a oem or store bought copy of XP, you'll be fine though.

480MB is a little on the low side...you could probably get away with it but 1GB would be a good minimum.

And HiTempGuy, you should try a 3Ghz quad-core with 12GB RAM and twin 10kRPM HDDs in RAID0. Nothing is slow.

It probably really has 512, but the system is taking some of that RAM and dedicating it for use as video memory. Annoying, but it is a laptop and not really meant for speed or usefullness (they have gotten better since then)

Without reading most of this thread, go with Ubuntu. It does have some issues setting it up, but nothing too bad. I'm running old hardware and it's running Ubuntu like a pro. I'll never go Vista.

OK, I went to HP.com to try to update everything. It didn't really help anything. I have a unused ubuntu disc but I'm not a computer geek. Am I going to get half way through and find out that I now have worthless computer because I can't make the Ubuntu work and the windows is even more berkleyed up than Gates designed it to be?