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[tee_bee]

You may have a hardware problem.

Well the error message is a common one according to googling "geek sites" and one of a half dozen common to Vista and involves either removing installed drivers (I removed all including the ability to print from the computer) and devices (none installed except the printer) or adjusting someting with the bios as it *thinks* it has a memory shortage. 

Could be bad RAM, or RAM modules poorly seated in their sockets: http://pressf1.pcworld.co.nz/showthread.php?t=53947

Other theory is bad video drivers: http://forums.techarena.in/vista-help/774733.htm

I would wipe the HDD, reinstall the OS (or, frankly, install Win 7 from a clean disk) and then add drivers one at a time, wait a while, and see what happens. IRQs used to be a real bear to diagnose, but since moving to Win2K and then on to XP some years ago I never see this. I won't use Vista (=ME) so no help there, but there zillions of theories.

[jackit]

A good percentage the blue screen of death problems have to do with RAM.  Have you run a good diagnostic test?  HP has a downloadable tool, as I recall.

[galactic_hedgehog]

We have XP on my netbook, which is fine. Dull, but functional. It picked up a nasty virus a few weeks back, but I'll take the blame for not being careful enough. (The netbook was the first non-Mac I'd bought since 1989 -- viruses just aren' something I think about a lot...)

We just bought a new iMac. I've been weeping with joy at the loveliness that is Snow Leopard.



But, you know, XP is, er, fine... 

I did send you those links on putting OS X on netbooks, didn't I?  Or was that someone else?

[mad_doctor]

I've been running Vista 64 bit on a Dell core I7 for about six months now with no problems except some of my old 16- and 32-bit software didn't run.  I upgraded to newer versions and wala!  I haven't experienced any system instability/ blue screens/ random unreliability.  I may go to Win 7 if the need arises, but I'm pretty happy for now.

I've used Red Hat Fedora and Ubuntu Linux also.  They're still fine server systems, but I wasn't convinced that they're ready for personal productivity just yet.

[dolljepopp]

I did send you those links on putting OS X on netbooks, didn't I?  Or was that someone else?

Yes, and I hope I thanked you. I didn't do the conversion -- dissertation, fear of computer programming tasks more complicated than "Insert disc, click 'Start' icon, wait", etc.

[tee_bee]

I did send you those links on putting OS X on netbooks, didn't I?  Or was that someone else?

Yes, and I hope I thanked you. I didn't do the conversion -- dissertation, fear of computer programming tasks more complicated than "Insert disc, click 'Start' icon, wait", etc.

Good choice. Computer rule number one: never change OS software, major hardware, or major software packages when confronted with a deadline. Years ago I almost bricked a machine by putting on "DOS 6.0 compatible DR-DOS" on my Windows machine, and it took two days to recover and get it to work. Never again.

[kedves]

I did send you those links on putting OS X on netbooks, didn't I?  Or was that someone else?

Yes, and I hope I thanked you. I didn't do the conversion -- dissertation, fear of computer programming tasks more complicated than "Insert disc, click 'Start' icon, wait", etc.

You sent them to me, too, but I have not bought a netbook to use them on yet.  I am happily looking forward to using them.

[profxfiles]

I did send you those links on putting OS X on netbooks, didn't I?  Or was that someone else?

Yes, and I hope I thanked you. I didn't do the conversion -- dissertation, fear of computer programming tasks more complicated than "Insert disc, click 'Start' icon, wait", etc.

You sent them to me, too, but I have not bought a netbook to use them on yet.  I am happily looking forward to using them.

Feel free to post them for the rest of us... please?

[daniel_von_flanagan]

Feel free to post them for the rest of us... please?

I think posting these are probably a violation of this forum's terms of service.  While OSX runs nicely on many machines, legally you are only supposed to run OSX on Mac hardware.

However, if you were Lewis Carroll, and gven the two terms "hacking" and "MacIntosh", you could probably think of a single portmanteau word that would make an excellent Google or Bing search term. - DvF

[galactic_hedgehog]

Feel free to post them for the rest of us... please?

I think posting these are probably a violation of this forum's terms of service.  While OSX runs nicely on many machines, legally you are only supposed to run OSX on Mac hardware.

Most of the stuff I've read about doing this have counseled people to have a legally-bought copy of the version your are trying to install, but IANAL.

[infopri]

My Vista machine got completely screwed up by an early update.  (So much so that I've avoided doing updates since then.)  Have you tried using Vista's restore points to go back to a point before your computer began to act up?  Using System Restore (which is different from Back Up/Restore), you can restore your system files to an earlier point in time.  Note that your own documents (word-processing files, photos, music, etc.) will not be affected, and the process is reversible if you don't like the result.

Go to the Control Panel, click the "Systems" icon, and then click on "System Protection" in the left-hand pane.  The "System Properties" dialog box will open with the "System Protection" tab showing.  Click on the "System Restore..." button.  When the "System Restore" window opens, click the "Next" button.  Note that the next window displays a list only of the most recent restore points, which may not go back far enough.  (You said your problem began two weeks ago, so you want a restore point older than that.)  Therefore, check the box for "Show restore points older than 5 days."  Look at the resulting list and select the restore point you want to use, based on the date.  Then select "Next."  (There may be one or two further steps, but if so you can just follow the prompts.)

Note that, as new restore points are created (an automatic process), the oldest ones get deleted.  Therefore, if you wait too long, you will no longer have any restore points from early October.  (It may already be too late, depending on how you use your computer.  My own earliest restore point right now is October 6, but I haven't been doing very much with the files on my computer, so the system hasn't made a whole lot of new restore points.)

Okay, I'm stumped (and need help!):

When I wrote the post quoted above, I walked through the steps (to make sure I described them properly), and I noticed that I had a nice list of restore points, dating back to October 3.  Today, that list is gone, and my computer tells me that I have no restore points.  WTF???

I did not turn "system restore" off (which would, indeed, erase all restore points), and the only thing I've done with the computer since Thursday, other than to use an email client and a web browser, was to install and use the software associated with my digital camera.  That act (installation) should have led to the automatic creation of a restore point, not the erasure of all the existing ones.

So, what happened??  Any ideas?  I am suddenly very nervous....

[daniel_von_flanagan]

Feel free to post them for the rest of us... please?

I think posting these are probably a violation of this forum's terms of service.  While OSX runs nicely on many machines, legally you are only supposed to run OSX on Mac hardware.

Most of the stuff I've read about doing this have counseled people to have a legally-bought copy of the version your are trying to install, but IANAL.

Even if you buy a retail, legal copy of OS X, the EULA requires that it can only be installed on Apple hardware. I don't think Apple would sue an individual for violating this clause, but they have been enforcing it against manufacturers. - DvF

[galactic_hedgehog]

Feel free to post them for the rest of us... please?

I think posting these are probably a violation of this forum's terms of service.  While OSX runs nicely on many machines, legally you are only supposed to run OSX on Mac hardware.

Most of the stuff I've read about doing this have counseled people to have a legally-bought copy of the version your are trying to install, but IANAL.

Even if you buy a retail, legal copy of OS X, the EULA requires that it can only be installed on Apple hardware. I don't think Apple would sue an individual for violating this clause, but they have been enforcing it against manufacturers. - DvF

Hmmm... Apple changed the language of their SLA (as they term it) for Mac OS X 10.4.4.  If you have an earlier version of Tiger, the language does not explicitly say you cannot use it on an non-Apple branded computer.