[nondaj]

Thought by buying new computer would lose some of the problems was having. But they are now cropping up on the new PC.

1 - Have XP400S SP2
Media Center Edition

2 - Desk top settings do not hold; continues to jump to default settings
Have set the themes, screen saver and appearance settings and saved all with shortcut to desktop
of My Themes. As PC continues to jump to default, have to click on that icon to reset the PC. Have
yet to find out why this problem continues.

3 - disk games that I play will cause game to jump to desktop and minimize to the task bar, though it is no problem clicking item on task bar to re-enter the game, it is disruptive; have not found anywhere to set something to adjust this.

4 - icons on desktop will change pictures; when I first notice them have not been aware of when it happened to know what I was doing that might cause such; so have to find program and set another desktop short cut with proper picture.

can anyone advise re these issues?

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Well, i couldnt find a XP400 S but i did find a XPS400. This computer should not be doing this. One computer that i installed windows XP on was doing this and it turned out that the OS had some corruption in some files. I ended up wiping the drive and reinstalling again. I would take this puter back to dell and either get them to fix it or replace the computer. Something is really corrupted bad in the OS to be doing this from the get go.

SRX660

[SRX660]

Well, i couldnt find a XP400 S but i did find a XPS400. This computer should not be doing this. One computer that i installed windows XP on was doing this and it turned out that the OS had some corruption in some files. I ended up wiping the drive and reinstalling again. I would take this puter back to dell and either get them to fix it or replace the computer. Something is really corrupted bad in the OS to be doing this from the get go.

SRX660

[nondaj]

Thank you so much SRX 660; I do have the XPS. One Dell tech has already done what he called a Dell Restore which in essence was a format of the OS. The problems persist. And before the Dell Restore I did get a warning message that some OS files were corrupted and that I should put in the OS disk to restore these files. When I went to do so, the Media Center Edition disk, I got a message that said it was the wrong disk - I needed XP Pro disk. Now I have been fighting Dell ever since that about this issue but have not received much info re the matter. All techs are in India now; can't half understand them, some do not even know what I am talking about (I can tell), and so far have not been able to reach an American that can resolve this issue. Any advice you might have for this dilemma? I will be persisting as I have a 2 year warranty.

[nondaj]

PS Taking the puter back to Dell would be a monumental undertaking as I ordered it online and they shipped. As a lone senior citizen packing up and sending back would be out of the question right now. There must be an easier way to resolve these issues.

And I do thank you for your reply, time to answer and idea.

[SRX660]

I do know the hassle of shipping the puter back to them. On a customer puter i was troubleshooting i ended up calling Dell and told them that this server could not be down for more than a day but they would not help me much. I kept calling and asking for a local tech help and finally ended up getting a Dell rep that lived in this state. He was nice enough to send me a new server from miami to setup and i shipped the other straight to him instead of dell. I got lucky on this one but still spent many dollars calling until i got someone that could help.

On some other home puters i never got anywhere and ended up shipping the puters back to dell. One customer got real mad when dell sent them a refurbished unit to replace their brand new one. Dell finally sent them a 17" flat panel monitor to appease them after their attorney sent dell a letter. I'm afraid you will have to be a bulldog with dell to get them to do anything. They will eventually respond.

SRX660

[Burton1]

Usually when i have a problem just seriously threatn them on the phone then they will do anything for you. The last thing they want to do is get sued. Just talk to this in a really pissed tone and you will get somewhere with them.

Edited by Burton1, 27 February 2006 - 08:25 AM.

[nondaj]

Thanks guys (gals?) for emotional support. Will begin to get testy, then nasty. My long suit is persistence - so will eventually wear them out.

[gerryf]

2
http://www.kellys-ko...m/xp_tweaks.htm
download line 54, right column
SAVE SETTINGS ON EXIT
Set desktop as desired, double click the download file
reboot

#3
What games? what keys are used in game? Any chance that either the TAB or ALT key are stuck?

#4 what icons?

[Vaillant]

I find that Dell support is a bit lackluster...

first they are all in India now, so like nondaj said, you can't understand what they say, and some dont know what ur talking about...

And then, their first answer to everything is a reformat, which I find ridiculous.

They're good for helping joe-nobody who doesn't know anything on computers, and doesnt know any better than reformats.. But I'm never going to be calling them again, even if I still have a year on the warranty.

[nondaj]

gerryf - #2 will give your tip a try and let you know how I made out.

#3 Has happened with games - Voyager, Grim Fandango, NiBiRu, Myst V, the Legend; all of which are mouse click except for Grim Fandango which uses keys - enter, U, P, Shift, F1, Y, R, Q, D
alt and tab keys seem not to be stuck; keyboard is brand new.

#4 it has been the disk clean up icon that jumped to email icon.

Thanks for all your question endeavoring to help me resolve these issues.
has only done it once but in past have had same problem on other computers and found once it started, it persisted.

[nondaj]

Valliant - I totally agree with what you are saying and would add that some of them are rude, igorant re good customer relations and their logic is certainly not ours when it comes to communications. Have had some acutally hang up on me, which I reported for whatever good that did, others walk off to oblivion to find information. For all I know they may still be wandering around in the ether hunting answers:lol:

[nondaj]

Sorry - the word is ignorant:)

[gerryf]

if you could attach a hijackthis log to your next post so I could take a look for the game issue

for the icon jumping....is cleanup jumping to email or vice versa

[nondaj]

Disk Cleanup jumped to email icon and would try to attach a highjack log but have forgotten how to do it. Will look around however to see if I can find instructions.

Really appreciate your following through on these issues.

[gerryf]

after you create a hijack log by saving it, just hit the ADD REPLY button and browse to the log (save it has hijack.txt)

If you right click the email icon, choose properties, and CHANGE icon button, can you get it to stick or does it revert back to cleanup icon?