Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Science and Technology > Computers
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 11-16-2012, 06:34 PM
 
1,790 posts, read 6,504,370 times
Reputation: 1003

Advertisements

I am restoring my brother's computer, an HP 304w back to its original state. Because he did not have the restore disk I used F10 (per the HP website) and it restored just fine. (So far I have done it 2x to try to remedy the following issue). The problem lies in when I launch IE which is the original IE 6. It will load ok and then once I go to google and type a few letters it will crash. I used the report the error link but I get back no technical info. A couple of times I made it through to windows update page but I receive script errors. If it does load it doesn't load correctly so I couldn't select a link. When I go to windows update link from the control panel it opens a page that at the top says Can't access Windows update from Windows XP, Windows server 2003 or Windows 2000. I have even booted up in safe mode and it does the same. I finally got Opera downloaded and it works ok though when I tried to download a plugin for flash I received the error, The procedure entry point DecoderPointer could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll. I have seen these type of errors quite a few times that include the DecoderPointer and dynamic link library so not sure what that means. I went to the control panel and ensured the settings are to download the newest updates but the computer never updates. Any help is much appreciated!

Last edited by citydweller; 11-16-2012 at 06:49 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 11-16-2012, 08:25 PM
 
1,790 posts, read 6,504,370 times
Reputation: 1003
I also went to the HP support site and have updated a lot of the drivers and bios updates but none of that seemed to help.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-16-2012, 08:45 PM
 
11,715 posts, read 40,387,561 times
Reputation: 7585
What Service Pack level is on that PC? If its old enough to have come with IE6, I'm guessing your Windows is so far from being current that lots of software won't run on it. If it has SP1, then I believe you can install SP3 directly. If not, you'll need to get it up to SP1 or SP2 level before installing SP3. You can download the entire service pack on another PC and transfer it to this PC via flash drive. Once you have SP3, go to the Windows Update site and download the 100+ post SP3 updates. Then try installing whatever software you need.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-16-2012, 08:51 PM
 
Location: Las Flores, Orange County, CA
26,338 posts, read 93,601,376 times
Reputation: 17830
Quote:
Originally Posted by citydweller View Post
I am restoring my brother's computer, an HP 304w back to its original state. Because he did not have the restore disk I used F10 (per the HP website) and it restored just fine. (So far I have done it 2x to try to remedy the following issue). The problem lies in when I launch IE which is the original IE 6. It will load ok and then once I go to google and type a few letters it will crash. I used the report the error link but I get back no technical info. A couple of times I made it through to windows update page but I receive script errors. If it does load it doesn't load correctly so I couldn't select a link. When I go to windows update link from the control panel it opens a page that at the top says Can't access Windows update from Windows XP, Windows server 2003 or Windows 2000. I have even booted up in safe mode and it does the same. I finally got Opera downloaded and it works ok though when I tried to download a plugin for flash I received the error, The procedure entry point DecoderPointer could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll. I have seen these type of errors quite a few times that include the DecoderPointer and dynamic link library so not sure what that means. I went to the control panel and ensured the settings are to download the newest updates but the computer never updates. Any help is much appreciated!
Sometimes (and this may be one of them) it might just be easier to simply re-install the OS. Just make sure you can get your valuable stuff like photos off the PC before you format. It may take just as long or longer but you can just kick back and hit RETURN and then install your applications like Office and virus protection.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-16-2012, 09:07 PM
 
1,790 posts, read 6,504,370 times
Reputation: 1003
How can I tell which service pack I have? When I look under the Add or Remove Programs menu the only windows programs I see are Windows XP Hotfix sp2. Does that mean SP 2 is installed. Also, I am wondering if part of the problem is the graphics driver. Right now only the HP center and the volume control are showing in the start up on the bottom right of the computer. I did download the update to the driver and it shows its working correctly but its not showing up in the task bar at the bottom
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-16-2012, 09:10 PM
 
Location: Las Flores, Orange County, CA
26,338 posts, read 93,601,376 times
Reputation: 17830
Quote:
Originally Posted by citydweller View Post
How can I tell which service pack I have? When I look under the Add or Remove Programs menu the only windows programs I see are Windows XP Hotfix sp2. Does that mean SP 2 is installed. Also, I am wondering if part of the problem is the graphics driver. Right now only the HP center and the volume control are showing in the start up on the bottom right of the computer. I did download the update to the driver and it shows its working correctly but its not showing up in the task bar at the bottom
You could have reinstalled windows by now.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-16-2012, 09:11 PM
 
1,790 posts, read 6,504,370 times
Reputation: 1003
How can I do so without having a restore cd?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-16-2012, 09:37 PM
 
28,803 posts, read 47,593,875 times
Reputation: 37905
In XP I believe it's Control Panel/system. The general tab should show the service pack.

And Charles didn't read the OP that's why he's recommending things you can't do.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-16-2012, 10:28 PM
 
1,790 posts, read 6,504,370 times
Reputation: 1003
Thanks Tek Freek. It shows I have SP 1.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-16-2012, 10:35 PM
 
11,715 posts, read 40,387,561 times
Reputation: 7585
Quote:
Originally Posted by citydweller View Post
Thanks Tek Freek. It shows I have SP 1.
Well there's your problem. SP1 is ancient. Get it up to SP3, then download all the updates.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Science and Technology > Computers
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:25 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top