I officially hate W7

[BarkingGhostar]

Recently built a new PC using Gigabyte GA-H55-USB3 motherboard, OCZ 8-8-8@1.65V RAM, and Intel Core i3 530 processor. Installed Windows 7 Professional and let it auto-update over a period of about four weeks. Got the notification to activate and moved forward. Another week or two went by and I felt it stable enough to begin customizing.

Last night I downloaded Windows Live Essentials to get the Windows Live Mail. I had backed up the various email accounts and messages from the old PC's Outlook Express 6 and before I knew it new email was already being Synced. I then proceeded to import the bookmarks and cookies.

Tonight, things went poorly. I noticed the attached printer was having a driver problem. This is an older Samsung ML-1740, but I was able to get a W7 driver from the manufacturer. I installed it and now I have two ML1740 icons in the devices folder with no knowledge how to delete the one reporting a driver problem. :thumbsdown:

Ignoring this, I printed a test page without problems and moved onto the HP Scanjet 3970. Well, no Windows 7 driver for this one. I was about to download the manual from HP's website when i realized Adobe Reader wasn't installed (which I now needed).

Go to Adobe and each of the first three attempts led to Windows 7 explorer.exe crashing. I decided to reboot and try again, but this led to the Adobe Installer claiming the data1.cab file was corrupt. I canceled that action, tracked down the cab file and as soon as I clicked-to-highlight Windows 7 locked up hard. :thumbsdown:

I power cycled the PC, tried again, and again the PC locked up. Power cycled again, tracked down the Administrator's Tools, opened Event viewer to look at the critical events. Nothing could be drawn in conclusion from those critical events.

With this, I gave up and rebooted, decided to not bother with trying to download-to-install Adobe Reader and put the Windows 7 disk into the optical drive. I clicked Autorun and the PC locked up. Hah! :thumbsdown:

At this point I decided to not bother installing Adobe Reader, gave up on the HP Scanjet 3970 manual and driver, and just decided to check email. I opened Windows Live Mail and double-clicked ona a new email and the busy graphic just played. Then Windows 7 locked up hard. :thumbsdown:

Power cycled and tried again to the same results. Repeated the power cycling and disconnected the network cable and that very act of breaking the internet pissed W7 off so bad it locked up hard.:thumbsdown:

Conclusions: I've been building personal computers since 1993 with Windows 3. Since then, I've built 18-20 computers, installed a variety of operating systems (include Windows 3, 3.11, WFW, 95, 98, Me, XP, Vista and W7 from M$) and this is the worse experience I have ever had.

Do I blame the hardware, software, a combination of both? At this point I cannot backup the incremental email from the last 96 hours and consider it a complete loss. I could reinstall Windows 7 but I don't trust this computer (hardware and OS) at all. I have a spare XP license I could use (never used before, imagine that), but its entered a no-support phase.

What would you do?

 

[BarkingGhostar]

BTW, I should add that I had considered the RAM as being the problem and to this end I reset the BIOS features to Auto and allowed Gigabyte to determine the best, safest settings therein. And with this it set the RAM to 7-7-7@1.5V.

 

[phait]

For one Adobe Reader blows checkout Foxit or PDF-Xchange both free and lighter weight.

That's all I'm really qualified to advise.

 

[MJinZ]

Recently built a new PC using Gigabyte GA-H55-USB3 motherboard, OCZ 8-8-8@1.65V RAM, and Intel Core i3 530 processor. Installed Windows 7 Professional and let it auto-update over a period of about four weeks. Got the notification to activate and moved forward. Another week or two went by and I felt it stable enough to begin customizing.

Last night I downloaded Windows Live Essentials to get the Windows Live Mail. I had backed up the various email accounts and messages from the old PC's Outlook Express 6 and before I knew it new email was already being Synced. I then proceeded to import the bookmarks and cookies.

Tonight, things went poorly. I noticed the attached printer was having a driver problem. This is an older Samsung ML-1740, but I was able to get a W7 driver from the manufacturer. I installed it and now I have two ML1740 icons in the devices folder with no knowledge how to delete the one reporting a driver problem. :thumbsdown:

Ignoring this, I printed a test page without problems and moved onto the HP Scanjet 3970. Well, no Windows 7 driver for this one. I was about to download the manual from HP's website when i realized Adobe Reader wasn't installed (which I now needed).

Go to Adobe and each of the first three attempts led to Windows 7 explorer.exe crashing. I decided to reboot and try again, but this led to the Adobe Installer claiming the data1.cab file was corrupt. I canceled that action, tracked down the cab file and as soon as I clicked-to-highlight Windows 7 locked up hard. :thumbsdown:

I power cycled the PC, tried again, and again the PC locked up. Power cycled again, tracked down the Administrator's Tools, opened Event viewer to look at the critical events. Nothing could be drawn in conclusion from those critical events.

With this, I gave up and rebooted, decided to not bother with trying to download-to-install Adobe Reader and put the Windows 7 disk into the optical drive. I clicked Autorun and the PC locked up. Hah! :thumbsdown:

At this point I decided to not bother installing Adobe Reader, gave up on the HP Scanjet 3970 manual and driver, and just decided to check email. I opened Windows Live Mail and double-clicked ona a new email and the busy graphic just played. Then Windows 7 locked up hard. :thumbsdown:

Power cycled and tried again to the same results. Repeated the power cycling and disconnected the network cable and that very act of breaking the internet pissed W7 off so bad it locked up hard.:thumbsdown:

Conclusions: I've been building personal computers since 1993 with Windows 3. Since then, I've built 18-20 computers, installed a variety of operating systems (include Windows 3, 3.11, WFW, 95, 98, Me, XP, Vista and W7 from M$) and this is the worse experience I have ever had.

Do I blame the hardware, software, a combination of both? At this point I cannot backup the incremental email from the last 96 hours and consider it a complete loss. I could reinstall Windows 7 but I don't trust this computer (hardware and OS) at all. I have a spare XP license I could use (never used before, imagine that), but its entered a no-support phase.

What would you do?

LMFAO. You've built computers since 1993 and you can't tell this is easily a hardware issue? You fucked up the build or something in your system is a POS. Likely the second issue. Hint Hint OCZ.

 

[dualsmp]

Sounds like a hardware issue. The only time I've locked up Win7 x64 on my i3 530 is when trying to push overclocking. If you don't have latest BIOS, I'd update that as well and use optimized defaults. It's most likely faulty RAM or it's possibly incompatible with your board.

Use PDF-Exchange Viewer instead of Adobe, just from a security standpoint.

 

[jaqie]

LMFAO. You've built computers since 1993 and you can't tell this is easily a hardware issue? You %^$&* up the build or something in your system is a POS. Likely the second issue. Hint Hint OCZ.

This poster is much more rough hewn than I am with language, but I have to completely agree.

After all of that blaming windows for what is *BLATANTLY* obvious is a hardware fault, and then tooting your own horn about your "expertise" do you actually expect people to take you seriously here?

Also, where did you come up with xp being in a "no support" phase? It has support until (IIRC) at least 2013.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

LMFAO. You've built computers since 1993 and you can't tell this is easily a hardware issue? You fucked up the build or something in your system is a POS. Likely the second issue. Hint Hint OCZ.

Then why was the system stable for +4 weeks and only exhibited instabilities last night? In fact, the instabilities only came up after I started to install Adobe Reader.

And thanks for not offering any real help. I'm sure you are the grand oracle of what is good and what is bad. I have OCX memory in other computers and its very stable, as was this new system for the first six weeks of use.

Hint: Try offering something detailed to look at and not knock other people's choices in hardware.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Sounds like a hardware issue. The only time I've locked up Win7 x64 on my i3 530 is when trying to push overclocking. If you don't have latest BIOS, I'd update that as well and use optimized defaults. It's most likely faulty RAM or it's possibly incompatible with your board.

Use PDF-Exchange Viewer instead of Adobe, just from a security standpoint.

I thought this, too, but this doesn't equate to the first six weeks being stable. Problems only started during the Adobe Ready install attempt. Admittedly, this shouldn't have caused problem, Reader never got installed, and I cannot explain the current conditions going on.

BIOS is now set to what it was >48 hours ago to insure the same config settings that it had during the first six weeks of ownership. Of course, that configuration means this is slower than my E5300/2GB RAM running XP.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

This poster is much more rough hewn than I am with language, but I have to completely agree.

After all of that blaming windows for what is *BLATANTLY* obvious is a hardware fault, and then tooting your own horn about your "expertise" do you actually expect people to take you seriously here?

Also, where did you come up with xp being in a "no support" phase? It has support until (IIRC) at least 2013.

I'll put the same question to you as I did him. How is this a hardware issue if the system appeared to be stable for the first six weeks and only after trying to install Adobe Reader the problems resulted.

I am more than happy to attribute the problem as being hardware (even OCZ), but I need evidence as such. I just cannot ignore the stable condition of the first six weeks, nor the fact only when performing a software change (trying to install Adobe Reader) the instability condition arose.

I need logic and rational behind pointing a finger at the hardware. If this is squarely an OCZ issue then I should be able to simply swap out the RAM for another brand and the problem should go away (and maybe after a reinstall).

 

[shortylickens]

Adobe sucks ass. Get Foxit.
Sorry about Windows Live, but that sucks too. Stop using it.
I have many old printers working under Windows 7, I dunno whats up with your system.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Corrupt data - bad hard drive? Hard drives tend to fail in the first 6 months of their lives, or not at all. You might have a bad one.

I really, really, really dont think W7 is the culprit here. Its a hardware issue.

 

[Necrolezbeast]

I'll put the same question to you as I did him. How is this a hardware issue if the system appeared to be stable for the first six weeks and only after trying to install Adobe Reader the problems resulted.

I am more than happy to attribute the problem as being hardware (even OCZ), but I need evidence as such. I just cannot ignore the stable condition of the first six weeks, nor the fact only when performing a software change (trying to install Adobe Reader) the instability condition arose.

I need logic and rational behind pointing a finger at the hardware. If this is squarely an OCZ issue then I should be able to simply swap out the RAM for another brand and the problem should go away (and maybe after a reinstall).

If the system was stable for 6 weeks how is this a W7 issue?? Apparently it worked fine for 6 weeks... so either your hardware has died in 6 weeks or something you installed or did to your computer in this time has caused the instability... maybe you should still check your RAM and as for software issues, start blaming Adobe... ??

 

[Maximilian]

Sounds like a hardware problem or somethings wrong in the BIOS. Back when i was a hardware noob i hated XP when it came out because my comp came with a faulty hard drive, i actually posted here asking how to downgrade to windows ME heh.

 

[lxskllr]

I'd start by testing the memory. It's easy to do, and a likely culprit imo.

 

[stlcardinals]

Was the system used in those first few weeks or did it just sit there?

What kind of errors are showing up in event viewer?

 

[theevilsharpie]

I need logic and rational behind pointing a finger at the hardware.

Software problems result in error messages that are repeatable. They don't result in lockups.

 

[BTA]

Somehow I knew OCZ would be somewhere in this post.

It's most likely hardware (lockups can very rarely be attributed to a software problem).

I've installed all the things you speak of with no issues what so ever many times on Windows7 btw.

 

[Modelworks]

Go to Adobe and each of the first three attempts led to Windows 7 explorer.exe crashing. I decided to reboot and try again, but this led to the Adobe Installer claiming the data1.cab file was corrupt. I canceled that action, tracked down the cab file and as soon as I clicked-to-highlight Windows 7 locked up hard. :thumbsdown:

Right then is when you should have stopped installing anything. If explorer is crashing you got something bad in either the hardware or drivers. Explorer interacts quite a bit with the kernel and normally will not crash unless something is manipulating the kernel in ways it wasn't designed for.


First thing I would do is go to admin tools then event viewer and read the logs.

 

[tommo123]

how about just running memtest for a while and seeing what comes back? i have ocz ram and tis fine but ymmv

at least you can rule that out then.

p.s, i don't think it's software either

 

[jjmIII]

I love Win7 :wub:.

Remove the OCZ junk and you'll love it too!

...or buy a Dell :awe:.

 

[jaqie]

I'll put the same question to you as I did him. How is this a hardware issue if the system appeared to be stable for the first six weeks and only after trying to install Adobe Reader the problems resulted.

I am more than happy to attribute the problem as being hardware (even OCZ), but I need evidence as such. I just cannot ignore the stable condition of the first six weeks, nor the fact only when performing a software change (trying to install Adobe Reader) the instability condition arose.

I need logic and rational behind pointing a finger at the hardware. If this is squarely an OCZ issue then I should be able to simply swap out the RAM for another brand and the problem should go away (and maybe after a reinstall).

There are many points in your post where the red flag of "time to test hardware" should have come up, but I'll just point out the biggest of them all: when a bootable cd (which happened to be a windows install CD) locked during bootup. Hardware failures (or the ugly gremlins from flaky hardware even worse) can show up anytime anywhere for any reason even no perceptible reason, if you had truly worked on computers as long as you said you would know that and it would be second nature when you get lockups to test, at the very least with a memtest86+ as you sleep, and if it were me, I would also run 24 hours of "blend FFTs" prime95 as well to test the system under load, afterward running a full CHKDSK on boot.


My intuition says it may be a PSU or power supply (as in the incoming supply from the power company) issue, but that's just what my feeling is, that's not always correct so I test test test. What brand and model is the PSU and does the system sit on a UPS or line conditioner?

oh. and just so you know: it's spelled rationale

 

[konakona]

I too had some random lockups with my previous OCZ ram, even when it passed memtest and all. It is running fine on another AMD machine though.

In my recent experience with a few DDR3 sticks I have learned not all of them run at the advertised speed even at their advised 1.65v. Ever tried bumping up the vddq a bit? (that is, while remaining within the safe limits of vtt and maintaining <0.5v difference between vddq)

Also, I concur on not using acrobat reader. It is a total junk, a resource hog and becomes unstable with larger files even on perfectly stable machines. Foxitreader FTW.

 

[Homerboy]

awesome thread. Just awesome.

 

[Mem]

Then why was the system stable for +4 weeks and only exhibited instabilities last night? In fact, the instabilities only came up after I started to install Adobe Reader.

And thanks for not offering any real help. I'm sure you are the grand oracle of what is good and what is bad. I have OCX memory in other computers and its very stable, as was this new system for the first six weeks of use.

Hint: Try offering something detailed to look at and not knock other people's choices in hardware.

First there are millions of Win7 users with stable systems(I have two) so blaming 7 is ridiculous,you said this started after you installed Adobe reader well start there and remove it(make sure all files are gone),personally I use Foxit reader like the others here suggested,if you still get problems then its very possible you could have a hardware problem,remember hardware issues can pop up anytime,1 day ,one week ,one year etc...

Btw I had two hardware failures in the last 8 weeks , twitchy Razer Mouse and OCZ PSU.
Basically you have to start ruling out fautly hardware and make sure nothing is overclocked,reinstall of Win7 may help if its a software issue.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Corrupt data - bad hard drive? Hard drives tend to fail in the first 6 months of their lives, or not at all. You might have a bad one.

I really, really, really dont think W7 is the culprit here. Its a hardware issue.

Well, if it were the a single disk going bad I would hope the hardware RAID would have alarmed--I am running RAID 1 mirror.