Dell Vostro 1500 / Vista Boot Problems

Whiskey Devil

Hey folks,

Me again. We (family members) bought 2 Dell Vostro 1500 laptops about 12 months ago and have had nothing but problems with both of them! Everytime Vista updates itself the laptop will not boot afterwards. The standard screen appears 'Windows cannot start.. Check recent updates etc..' This has happened about 5 times each so far and up until last night the startup repair cd fixed the problem without having to reinstall Vista. Is this a common problem with Vista or is down to the laptop itself? I'm quite sure I switched off automatic update on both a number of times, but the updates seem to have changed back to automatic on both. Both family members are computer illiterate so this is obviously pissing them off! :pac:

I'm looking at buying a new laptop tomorrow so I'd like to know if I should completely avoid Vista, no matter how good the deal is.

Thanks!!

Alanstrainor

Windows 7 is out now, so i'd most definitely be buying a laptop with Windows 7 preinstalled. There's a lot of old stock out there at the minute with vista installed, although they'll come with free* upgrades(They say they're free, but there's usually a handling charge of ~€20), i'd say it'd be worth your while getting one with windows 7 preinstalled.
I've never heard of that happening with vista, it could be a hardware issue, although it seems unlikely. If it were me i'd do i clean install of vista, and get all the updates.

Whiskey Devil

Thanks for the reply, Alan.

I reinstalled Vista last night for the first time so I'll try installing updates and see how that goes.

Because of budgetary concerns , I was keeping an open mind on a cheaper laptop with Vista installed (not sure if they all come with 7 upgrades??), but I think I'll avoid the hassle and pay the extra for pre-installed Windows 7.

Thanks for your help,

WD

Alanstrainor

Whiskey Devil wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, Alan.

I reinstalled Vista last night for the first time so I'll try installing updates and see how that goes.

Because of budgetary concerns , I was keeping an open mind on a cheaper laptop with Vista installed (not sure if they all come with 7 upgrades??), but I think I'll avoid the hassle and pay the extra for pre-installed Windows 7.

Thanks for your help,

WD

Well if it was significantly cheaper with vista i'd go with that, most laptops should come with a Windows 7 upgrade at this stage though, but do make sure before buying! Sure if you have laptops in mind pop them up here and we can give advice on it.

kaizersoze

Whiskey Devil wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, Alan.

I reinstalled Vista last night for the first time so I'll try installing updates and see how that goes.

Because of budgetary concerns , I was keeping an open mind on a cheaper laptop with Vista installed (not sure if they all come with 7 upgrades??), but I think I'll avoid the hassle and pay the extra for pre-installed Windows 7.

Thanks for your help,

WD

As long as you buy one with Vista Home Premium or higher you'll get the Win7 upgrade. Home Basic isn't included in the upgrade program.