new hp desktop

[ezkim0x]

my parents just got a new computer (hp pavilion a6400f PC) .. 2.20ghz and 3gb ram.

I hooked it up and turned it on for them, and it sit on the hp 'bios' or whatever screen saying I could press esc to choose boot device f10 for setup and 2 other things.. I let it sit there for like 40 minutes and then pressed esc and booted from the hdd. it showed the vista loading bar and then went black. eventually it loaded a hp wallpaper and stayed there for awhile. then the monitor went off and said it couldn't detect a signal.. i tried unplugging/replugging, and then got another monitor and plugged it in.. it turns off after 15 seconds of not detecting anything but for those 15 seconds I could see the vista setup so I ran through that by turning my monitor off and back on after each 15 seconds to see the screen again.

then eventually it wouldn't show a signal on that monitor so I turned the computer off waited a few minutes and turned it back, then went and took a shower.. by the time I got back up here the screen was black but within less then a minute of sitting back down it showed the windows vista splash logo and loaded vista. I uninstalled a bunch of bundled software that came on the computer, and then restarted... it still won't detect my parents monitor once windows vista loads.. only mine for some reason. also have to wait 20-30 minutes without pressing any buttons when you startup for the computer to actually load.. it probably sits on the hp bios screen for about 20 minutes and then starts to load vista.. which takes about 5 more minutes.

do you know what's going on? .. If I press f10 to go into setup it just freezes, I haven't tried waiting 20 minutes but I guess I could to see if eventually loads setup like it does windows.

EDIT:

just tested this.. waited about 20 minutes and it did indeed finally load setup.

I changed the boot order and made the HDD boot first instead of cdrom/floppy. restarted.. been waiting about 5 minutes now.. so that didn't fix it.

any ideas what to do before I have my dad take it back?

 

[robisbell]

have you add anything to the system that it did not come with from HP?

 

[ezkim0x]

nope straight out of the box.. just got it this morning.

 

[robisbell]

hmm, looking online alot of people are complaining about all the crapware that HP preloaded it with, most are wiping the drive and loading Vista fresh.

 

[ezkim0x]

I think its something else though.. because the 20 minute hang is during the hp start screen. for instance even if I press F10 to run setup, I have to wait around 20 minutes for it to load the bios. if it was with the vista and hp crapware.. wouldn't it only hang when trying to load vista?

EDIT:

I changed something in the bios to make it show the post screen.. to see if it was hanging on something.. and figured this out..

first it shows the installed memory.. initializes the usb controllers.. then shows 6 drives

1st drive: hdd
2nd drive: cddvdrom
3rd-6th: none

and this is where it hangs.. after the 10-20 minutes it shows something like:

03 usb mass storage devices found and configured.

for a second and then starts to load vista.. however I have nothing plugged into the usb ports at all.

I read something about trying to disable "Legacy USB devices" in bios to see if that helps.. but I don't have that option in bios.

 

[robisbell]

go into bios and disable the 4th - 6th devices, and see if that fixes it. well, you disable "Legacy USB devices", and if the keyboard and mouse are USB, you'll lose the use of them till windows boots up. remove the 3rd device from the boot option menu, or at least disable it as being a option to boot from.

 

[ezkim0x]

the bios is really strange, it won't let me disable the boot options in bios.. I can just reorder them.. the 3rd/4th boot option is something like "floppy group" and "network group" .. and you can only reorder them.. so I put the HDD for 1st boot dvdrom for 2nd.. and then floppy/network

then under that you can change whats in the group.. when you click on hdd group I can either choose my hdd or sdmmc slots.. for cdrom group only the dvdrom shows.. and the other too it just shows none available.. but no options to disable.

my mouse/keyboard are the ps/2 ports.. no usb whatsoever

I have a mouse, keyboard, monitor, and sound jack plugged in (sound is built into monitor). but regardless there's no legacy usb device option in bios to disable/enable.

 

[RebateMonger]

Just take it back.

Generally, long delays in startup are caused by hard drive issues.

The most useful boot order is generally:
Floppy
CD/DVD
Hard Drive

But that's not your problem.

 

[ezkim0x]

yeah.. my dad stopped by where he got it and talked to a manager (office max)

they told my dad vista systems normally take 45m-1hr for them to load, and tried to shrug it off.. my dad probably said something wrong, and he was talking about the initial setup.. because it does take around that to install a new OS. but that's not the case at all. I had him call them back when he got home, and explain that it was after the OS had been installed. so we are taking it back later today, and he's going to get it exchanged.

 

[Slowlearner]

A new computer has to work right straight out of box, and Vista does not take 45 minutes to load the first time. Return it immediately, do not leave the store without a new pc.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Slowlearner
A new computer has to work right straight out of box, and Vista does not take 45 minutes to load the first time. Return it immediately, do not leave the store without a new pc.

Interestingly, a brand-new HP Windows Home Server (MediaSmart) DOES take about 45 minutes to start up. I was surpised. It takes about as long as it takes to install WHS from scratch on a home-built PC.

But, no, I wouldn't expect an HP Vista laptop to take 45 minutes to startup. That'd kinda' kill the "Microsoft Out-of-Box-Experience" that Bill Gates is looking for.

 

[daveybrat]

Originally posted by: ezkim0x
yeah.. my dad stopped by where he got it and talked to a manager (office max)

they told my dad vista systems normally take 45m-1hr for them to load, and tried to shrug it off.. my dad probably said something wrong, and he was talking about the initial setup.. because it does take around that to install a new OS. but that's not the case at all. I had him call them back when he got home, and explain that it was after the OS had been installed. so we are taking it back later today, and he's going to get it exchanged.

Wow...that manager is a tool. Who in there right mind would wait 45m-1hr for ANY operating system to load? Vista should load in less than a minute on any newer system.

There is definitely a hardware problem with that pc and it needs to be exchanged. Sounds like a lemon.