Laptop Upgrade Notes
Mar. 5th, 2011 02:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deaneMy new laptop is an HP EliteBook 8540w, running 64-bit Windows 7 Enterprise. What follows are various issues and their resolutions which I've run into while setting it up. I'm just putting it here in case anyone goes Googling for similar issues.
When I look at this list, I wonder why so many people seem to think that Windows is easy to use...
Problem: When the laptop comes out of hibernation mode the screen is corrupted and the system eventually hangs.
Cause: Turns out that the nvidia driver that HP shipped with the notebook isn't actually supported on Windows 7. (Just how the heck did that happen?)
Solution: Download and install an updated driver.
Problem: When I run a 64-bit executable built with Windows Visual C++ 2008, in debug mode, it fails with an error saying that its "side-by-side configuration is incorrect".
Cause: Looking in the event log shows that the debug version of the Microsoft Visual C++ runtime library cannot be found. This is apparently due to a bug in the Visual Studio 2008 (VS2008) installer. When I installed VS2008 I neglected to tell it to install the 64-bit compiler (which, bizarrely, is disabled by default, even on 64-bit systems). So I re-ran the setup and told it to add the 64-bit compiler. It did so but failed to also install the 64-bit debug runtime libraries.
Solution: Completely uninstall Visual Studio 2008, then reinstall it, this time enabling 64-bit compiler installation from the very start.
Problem: When I re-run the Visual Studio 2008 setup program, either to change the installed packages or to uninstall it, it dies during initialization with the message "A problem has been encountered while loading the setup components."
Cause: A Microsoft hotfix for VS2008 breaks their own installer.
Solution: Uninstall all of the Visual Studio 2008 hotfixes and service packs. After that the installer should work fine again.
Problem: When I drag a window around the screen, if I let go of it too close to the edge of the screen it automatically maximizes, taking over my entire desktop.
Cause: This is a new feature of Windows 7. I find it incredibly annoying. If I'd wanted the window to maximize I'd have clicked on the maximize button, I wouldn't be dragging it around. Does anyone actually like this feature?
Solution: From the Start Menu go to [Control Panel -> Ease of Access Center -> Make the mouse easier to use] Turn on the 'Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen' checkbox.
Problem: When I try to run sxstrace to get more info on missing DLLs, I get an 'Access denied' error.
Cause: You need admin privs to run sxstrace.
Solution: From the Start Menu go to [All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt] and right-click on it. Select 'Run as administrator' from the popup menu. Run sxstrace from the command prompt.
Problem: Windows Explorer suddenly gets really slow, taking several seconds to expand a directory which only contains a handful of files.
Cause: No idea.
Solution: Close the Windows Explorer window and reopen it.
When I look at this list, I wonder why so many people seem to think that Windows is easy to use...
Problem: When the laptop comes out of hibernation mode the screen is corrupted and the system eventually hangs.
Cause: Turns out that the nvidia driver that HP shipped with the notebook isn't actually supported on Windows 7. (Just how the heck did that happen?)
Solution: Download and install an updated driver.
Problem: When I run a 64-bit executable built with Windows Visual C++ 2008, in debug mode, it fails with an error saying that its "side-by-side configuration is incorrect".
Cause: Looking in the event log shows that the debug version of the Microsoft Visual C++ runtime library cannot be found. This is apparently due to a bug in the Visual Studio 2008 (VS2008) installer. When I installed VS2008 I neglected to tell it to install the 64-bit compiler (which, bizarrely, is disabled by default, even on 64-bit systems). So I re-ran the setup and told it to add the 64-bit compiler. It did so but failed to also install the 64-bit debug runtime libraries.
Solution: Completely uninstall Visual Studio 2008, then reinstall it, this time enabling 64-bit compiler installation from the very start.
Problem: When I re-run the Visual Studio 2008 setup program, either to change the installed packages or to uninstall it, it dies during initialization with the message "A problem has been encountered while loading the setup components."
Cause: A Microsoft hotfix for VS2008 breaks their own installer.
Solution: Uninstall all of the Visual Studio 2008 hotfixes and service packs. After that the installer should work fine again.
Problem: When I drag a window around the screen, if I let go of it too close to the edge of the screen it automatically maximizes, taking over my entire desktop.
Cause: This is a new feature of Windows 7. I find it incredibly annoying. If I'd wanted the window to maximize I'd have clicked on the maximize button, I wouldn't be dragging it around. Does anyone actually like this feature?
Solution: From the Start Menu go to [Control Panel -> Ease of Access Center -> Make the mouse easier to use] Turn on the 'Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen' checkbox.
Problem: When I try to run sxstrace to get more info on missing DLLs, I get an 'Access denied' error.
Cause: You need admin privs to run sxstrace.
Solution: From the Start Menu go to [All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt] and right-click on it. Select 'Run as administrator' from the popup menu. Run sxstrace from the command prompt.
Problem: Windows Explorer suddenly gets really slow, taking several seconds to expand a directory which only contains a handful of files.
Cause: No idea.
Solution: Close the Windows Explorer window and reopen it.
