[bell559]

Hi

Ive just bought a PC off Ebay with Vista installed on it.

At first glance all seems to be working fine and i have no problems with Vista, but it didnt recognize the intergrated graphics card (which i have no idea how to get it to do this) So i stuck in my old radeon x600 series GFX ...

Now .. I go on to try and istall World of warcraft on the PC and it gets stuck with a different error emssage each time.
So i thought maybe its just THAT game ... I went to try and install counterstrike , this works about 1 out of 10 tries and when it does just gives up.

I then went to install NERO burning ROM from a Dload .. This cant even extract the files to start installing.
Same with photoshop.

Some windows updates wont even install properly. When i switch the PC on im never %100 what will happen, sometimes it'll take forever to load up .. sometimes quickly.. sometimes with glitches everywhere.


Im totally baffled with this, is this a problem with Vista or do you reckon Ive been sold a totally ****e PC ?
I'd love any help as the peoples i bought the PC off have a £1 per minute help line which ir really dont want to spend MORE money on

Thankyou so much for any help

[spdabbs]

My first concern would be whether or not you had a legal version of Vista installed - did it come with either an official Microsoft COA stuck to the case or an official Windows Vista DVD-ROM? The PC itself is likely fine, but if Vista is less than legal that could explain some of the issues you're experiencing.

[bell559]

It came with a Vista CDKEY and i have activated the Vista version so it must be genuine ?

Maybe going to XP would be an idea? But i have no idea where to get all my drivers from as i dont know wots in the PC tbh

[Triple6]

Sounds like the hardware might be faulty, possibly the RAM. You could also have a faulty CD\DVD drive, what errors did you get with the games?

You could try testing the memory as described here: http://www.vista4beginners.com/Windo...agnostics-Tool

The Radeon X600 is better then any integrated graphics, I would never recommend using the integrated graphics over a dedicated video card for gaming.

I'd never buy a PC off eBay.

[Elvandil]

Microsoft Memory Test (floppy or CD ISO image)
Memtest86

[bell559]

Ive tried the memory tool and it says there are no errors detected..

Any other ideas ?
Thanks for the replies btw!

[spdabbs]

I would go for ensuring ALL drivers are current - go to ATI site for graphics, relevant site for sound, mobo manufacturers for chipset and BIOS updates. If you're using an AGP graphics card, it could also be worth checking in your BIOS that the AGP aperture is set to max.

[DaveA]

maybe this is why it was sold on Ebay?

[bell559]

Its not second hand.. The company makes the PC when you buy the package off ebay.

I uninstalled vista today and tried to install XP instead, but it just doesn't work.

Now im back to Vista with the same old problems with things not Dloading

How do i check the BIOS etc ?

Thanks again for help

[Triple6]

Did they give you a warranty?

[bell559]

7 day warranty

[Triple6]

Wow, thats the shortest warranty I've heard of, possibly for a good reason.

[spdabbs]

Accessing the BIOS is usually via [Del] or [F2] at powerup. Given you've added a graphics card, while you're in the BIOS disable the onboard graphics.

[Rich-M]

With 7 day returen, I would do it, there is too much wrong for new pc with 7 days to try it is clearly not enough.