New HPdv3z Issue: Blue Screen of Death After Updates

Greetings:

My new HP DV3 1075 is only 2 weeks old:

Windows Vista Home Premium w/SP1(64bit)
13.3" WXGA LED Brightview Widescreen Display(1280x800)
AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core ZM-84(2.3Ghz)
4GB DDR2(2 dimm)
500GB 5400RPM Sata hard Drive
ATI Radeon 3200 Graphics w/64MB Display Cache Memory

It's been working fine and updating automatically periodically - until last night's Java 6 #13 followed by the windows update (on 5/13). Got the blue screen and oxo code (a general stop error ending in A which gave no clues) and subsequent hp repair files option. This worked the first time, then java updated again and I restarted it. But after the windows update it happened another half dozen times and the hp notebook could never repair itself.

So, with an hp tech on the phone (for 6 hours) - we rolled it back to a prior date repeatedly - and once the same updates were downloaded, the circle started over. A couple of time I got the 'could not locate driver' hp popup after the rollback stating that the unnamed hardware would not work without said driver.

The issue appears to be the windows update and not java, as I was able to install the java update and then turn off the windows auto-update and keep the computer up. Now, both check-updates options are turned off entirely.

HP's 'solution' is wipe it all out and do a system recovery from scratch. This would mean many, many hours lost only to be reinvested on a gamble. In March 08 I bought an HP Vista desktop that very shortly began the blue screen behavior and had to continually be wiped off and started from scratch about a half dozen times before I gave up and the computer had to go back. I dread that this is again happening, after I swore I would never buy another hp (but fell in love with this model, it's really nice).

HP says that after temporarily keeping it alive by turning off the updates, I must plan for a new reinstall, because of course a new computer should be able to 'withstand' updates. I concur completely but want to know what wiser heads think. Never updating is not an option for me.

*Has anyone else run into this and has a solution?

*Does this appear to be an hp problem or a vista problem?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance from Catherine.

Yes, it looks inevitable - but do you have any thoughts on the cause?

As suggested, I just had my computer communicate with the hp website and was told there are no new drivers available. Did you mean every instance of software and hardware on the machine? Man, what a time-consuming project that would be. It is 'only' after yesterday's windows update that this problem is occurring. All the software and hardware was 'just fine' until then. And, I had not installed any new hardware to trigger that driver error. The last thing was my printer, and that was a week ago and it's been fine, with no error messages.

I just had another look at the offending set of 3 windows updates that caused my problem to offer more info in case one pops out as the bad guy:

IE8 for vista 64 (5/7)
Windows malicious software removal tool 64 KB890830 (5/12)
Windows defender definitions KB915597 (5/14)

What I don't get is - apparently nobody else had these problems?

Yes - it's only 2 weeks old! Actually, the warranty is the last of my concerns. It's all the many hours of wasted time undoing and redoing for the many programs, extensions, registrations, backups, etc.

AND I wonder if it's hp - or vista that's the culprit?? How can you tell which, because if it's hp, that does it for me as far as hp goes. I didn't want vista either, but there was no point in hanging on any longer to good old reliable, loveable xp when upgrading to a super new (or so I thought?) laptop.

Matt -

I have news since I first wrote. I decided to try again before going back to factory settings, which seemed like the chicken way out. I was suspicious of the IE8 download. I backed up *everything again, fresh* - which took hours, preparing for a total reinstall, if that's what it was going to take to stop having errors.

*Matt: Did you download IE8 ever? IE8 is wreaking havoc. See my links posted below.

So last night I first allowed the download of the mal software tool, everything was ok, then I restarted. Then I allowed IE8 to download. It appeared to load, and the installation went through. BUT upon restarting, I got the same blue screen. The restoring did work. So I 'hid' the IE8 update after my research. Then somewhere in there it acted up again, kicking out one of the realtek updates so going through the restore point process again and hid that one so it wouldn't bother me again. Then I reset the settings to allow download notificatoins before installing on windows, hp and java again. Then I restarted a few more times for good measure. It took hours.

Everything is going ok today. I am beginning to think it is not hp, it is those downloads. Far wiser heads than mine are saying there's no reason to download the new IE8, and just go read all the problems people have had with it.

I love my hp dv3z 1075 - particularly because it has an led backlit screen (so sharp!) and the backlit keyboard is a rare feature and wonderful; it has everything I could wish for except lightscribe.

I AM gong to follow the adivce in those articles and get that Acronis disk image home software (around $50) which will supposedly make less work of the hours & hours & hours it takes getting something back to square one using data backups instead. Then I'll wait and see what happens with the next batch of downloads.

http://ask-leo.com/should_i_install_...xplorer_8.html

http://blogs.computerworld.com/why_y...net_explorer_8

Like the folks in these articles say, if you use your computer for business (I'm a web designer) - then you cannot afford to mess around with IE8.

Through all this I've learned to get disk imaging software so I won't be so worried about the nuisance and huge time loss of restoring from simple data backups. Apparently then you don't have to redo all your registrations, and it is supposed to be rather painless. It would be great if a disk image kept you from having to deactivate the whole suite and then reactivate it again - which also takes hours.

Keep me posted - and I'll do likewise.

I'll just encourage you to jump in and try everything while you can still return it as a last resort.

You're right - there's no rhyme or reason to any of this!! I think it's just luck for the most part - or lack of it.

Hi Matthew - Same here; computer running great. Of course, I have left off the IE8! Other updates have gone just fine. I did avoid another realtek because it was optional. Of course I still hold my breath during updates. I've decided to use the Comodo system free, highly rated software for antivirus and antispam, because aI like their disk cleanups so well. Have used Norton forever, but it gets such bad press. Could you call your printer's manufacturer? I had to do that and they directed me to a current driver that would work with Vista. Happy Holiday!

Catherine

It looks like that is an older printer, correct? Perhaps the technology is just too outdated, sadly. (I saw reviews on amazon from the year 2000.)