Need Help/Advice re New Dell inspiron Vista home Laptop...

dog1

Hi,
Just took delivery of a Dell inspiron 1501 vista home laptop a couple of hours ago and have problems.

I uninstalled Orange and Tiscali broadband software and the McAfee which was pre loaded.

I then put my McAfee 2007 security suite disc, which I bought in Jan'07, and attempted to load it. I got a message saying that parts of it were uncompatible with vista and that it may not work properly.

I was then told to restart the machine, which I did.

Now I have a message at the bottom stating that windows has blocked some startup programs.
I then get to the Vista Welcome Centre.

I then get message... explorer.exe. Application error.
The instruction at oxc4ea15d5 referenced memory at oxc4ea15d5. The memory could not be read. Click ok to terminate program.

I then get a message Failed to initialize properly.

Then.... ! You are about to be logged off. Windows has encountered a crirical problem and will restart automaticaly in one minute.

Then a Runtime error message. RE Requested the runtime to terminate in an unusual way.

I have also tried to uninstall the McAfee which tried to install but don't have time as the laptop closes down and then re starts the loop again.

I have never connected the modem or been on the internet.

If anyone can help that will be great and please could you use laymans terms as I'm not too good at this sort of thing.

The McAfee was loaded onto my desktop in January and has worked fine for me on xp since then.

Thanks.

albertross_2

You have vista now, not XP, why didn't you use the mcafee that came with it.?

Suggest a restore to factory settings, and start again.

dog1

Thanks, I thought having already paid for my McAfee that I could use it on a second machine free. As the McAfee on the laptop would only be free for a limited period??.

Could you please tell me how to restore to factory settings as that sounds great to me....

retepetsir

You'll need to put the boot disc that came with the laptop into the DVD drive, then boot to this disc when you start the laptop. You should be able to do it all from there. Should also say how to do it in the manual!

murphy61

Have another look at the spec- the mcafee program might last a year. I got a pc from dell yesterday with a full 12 month mcafee disk. Incidentally I uninstalled it anyway - hate mcafee - and got a blue screen of death in the process!

bigup7

you need to do what retepetsir has said to above

reinstall windows that way, the dell should have a partition on the hard drive for recovery so it shouldn't take long to do

malamute

And after you resurrect Vista check that any programme you are thinking of installing is compatible with Vista or you'll end up back at square one.

zzzLazyDaisy

Phone Dell. Their tech support are very good, and you have special support in the first 30 days.

You can restore factory settings by pressing two keys on a dell machine, but for the life of me I can't remember which ones (Dell techies talked me through it)

Good luck

dog1

Thank you all.............. I put in the reinstalling disc and then pressed the F12 button which led me to the system restore which I needed.

I feel a lot better now, the pressure was on for a while though, thought I'd ruined it good and proper.

Take a bow, and thanks once again.

malamute

dog1 wrote: »

Thank you all.............. I put in the reinstalling disc and then pressed the F12 button which led me to the system restore which I needed.

I'm pleased you have sorted it out. I can just imagine how you felt.
You will not be the first and certainly not the last to experience this problem as dell latest bargains hit the doorsteps.

Have a look at the following before adding any applications could save you a lot of time and trouble.

Windows Vista - Application Compatibility Issues

http://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.php?id=5175

Millionare

becarful before you upload stuff onto vista. check to make sure its compaitable first.

You should be able to upgrade your current subscription to a Vista compatiable one at http://uk.mcafee.com/root/package.asp?pkgid=272 as they support vista.

just enter your details and download the latest update.