XP you are out of my computer! (1 Viewer)

[Grant B]

Around xmas time I bought a new computer, sony w cd/dvd burner

2ghz...pretty much top of the line, loaded with windows xp.

4 months later basically I bought a sony web tv. nothing works but the web and email. applications die. cds don't burn; hell I haven't even tried to burn a dvd.It's a total boat anchor, I can't even get the thing to print.

One thing I noticed the moment you turn it on is it tries connecting to my IP. Cancel it...tries again...no matter what I do ...Internet here I come!

So yesterday I am talking to a fellow engineer at work and I tell him and he informs me that XP has nice little unknown features like reporting back to microsoft (hence dialing my IP all the time) and checking for licensing etc after I try and burn a cd (just a backup with text for my mega changer so I won't have to type it in)

Now for the last 4 months of me wasting time trying to download drivers etc to make things work (they still don't), I am going to wipe XP out and put in Windows 98 or 2000.

Anyone think I am doing the wrong thing or have any advice?

Right now the damn thing is useless in doing anything

 

[Carlo_M]

The reporting "feature" has been documented (and vilified) in the press and computer circles. But this is the first I've heard of it actually interfering (potentially) with someone's ability to use XP. I've had nothing but good luck w/ XP (to my great surprise). Unforunately (for you, fortunate for me) I have a corporate edition since I work from home, and that "feature" is disabled.

Maybe others w/ retail versions can be of more help, but I've truly not heard of anyone w/ your problem (given that you have a new, state-of-the-art machine). The only probs I'd heard from friends were people who had older machines, like P3 400s w/ 128MB RAM, trying to run it on their boxes.

 

[Todd Hochard]

I'm confused. You have a top-of-the-line PC and a WebTV product? Is that what you mean by Sony WebTV?

If your computer is dialing up all the time, it's not likely that it's XP's fault. Something's up with your system, but a fresh install of XP would likely clear up any problems as well.

Do you have the ISP dialup in the Startup group, or something like that?

That licensing line (as a reason to dialup) sounds like typical propaganda to me. I've been running XP since it came out, and I've burned many CDs, and I've never seen any "Phone Home" activity during burning (I have cable modem with ZoneAlarm).

Todd

 

[CRyan]

If the computer was purchased new, I would call Sony before the warranty runs out. Sounds more like a problem with your PC than with XP. I mean people have had problems with XP, but your computer hardware should have been tested and run perfectly with it.

Todd, I think he meant that all his computer turned out to be was a glorified Web TV.

C. Ryan

 

[Kevin P]

If it's trying to dial up after starting XP, you could have a virus or worm. Some viruses attempt to email themselves out on startup, and if you use a dial-up ISP, you'll be prompted to connect to the internet after you boot up.

If you're concerned about "phoning home", install a firewall (don't use the one that comes with XP). Get Norton Internet Security or Zone Alarm. Also get an anti-virus program (I prefer Norton).

KJP

 

[Thom B]

Could also be MSN Messenger. Little POS tries to dial out everytime I start my box. Kill it a couple of times and it finally gives up. Also, turn off auto update.

T

 

[Grant B]

Todd, I think he meant that all his computer turned out to be was a glorified Web TV.

Yes exactly

I noticed it started trying to 'phone home' once I started trying to burn cds....which has nothing to do with the internet(well it shouldn't).

The 1st program Sonic stage(??) I never got to work even after downloading the fixes etc and wasting many blank cds

Another one came preloaded and that never worked either

You are right about the warrante before throwing more money away

So how many people have been able to burn cds on a non-pro version of xp?

What application?

I will give whatever a shot and see if it is my computer

Much Thanks to everyone!

It's been driving me crazy

 

[Scooter]

SAME thing happened to me regards burning CD's!!!! Read this thread:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...threadid=55177

 

[Grant B]

so what did you do or are you in the same boat as I am?

me thinks that xp goes together with burning discs like repairing nuclear warheads and a bad case of the hic cups

 

[Todd Hochard]

I've got the Home Edition of XP. I use MusicMatch to burn CDs. No issues.

Again, though, I don't have dialup- I have cable modem. Maybe it's "sneaking through" the Zone Alarm.

 

[Scooter]

I have DSL and I wondered the same thing...connecting in spite of any wishes I may have against it.

I haven't burned in a while..I have Nero and been using that mostly for SVCD and such. Tried to do the MP3-WAV burn but Nero froze up.

Isn't there a way to defeat the phone home stuff...as well as upgrade to XP Pro for free?

 

[Dave F]

The issue of Media Player making a connection to the server has nothing to do with the burning aspect. It is making a connection to identify an unidentified CD/DVD to download information like track listings, etc...
As others have mentioned, a firewall can kill this quite easily.
Before you ditch the computer, grab a free copy of ZoneAlarm firewall and try a demo of Nero CD burning software. I've never heard of the Sonic software (other than the Hedgehog ), but Nero is great. I've burned probably 300 cd's with Nero and XP Home Edition.
-Dave

 

[brentl]

"If it's trying to dial up after starting XP, you could have a virus or worm. Some viruses attempt to email themselves out on startup "

or worse.. the virus is trying to update itself!

 

[Todd Stout]

I am still having problems burning audio CD's since upgrading to Windows XP from ME. In the past few months I have tried just about everything to fix the problem and nothing seems to work for me.

Initially, I installed XP over ME. I was running Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum so I installed the 5.02d upgrade and the Easy CD patch for XP. That didn't fix the problem. I installed the patch that Microsoft has for those with XP that are having issues burning CD's with XP. That didn't help. I bought different brands of CD-R media. No dice. I downloaded a demo of Nero Burning Rom 5.5 and that seemed to fix the problem so went out and I bought a copy. Unfortunatly, I noticed the skipping problem was actually still there soon after that.

I contacted Dell customer service and told them the whole story. The technician there said it sounded like the drive was fine but it appeared that the data flow was being interrupted during the burning process and the discs were not finalizing properly. He suggested I uninstall all software that I was not 100% sure was XP compatible and reinstall the XP upgrade.

I went ahead and performed a clean install of XP the second time around after formatting the hard drive (running fdisk and fdisk /mbr). I reinstalled several pieces of software that I use that all claim 100% XP compatibility. All appeared to be fine for a couple of weeks until last week when the most recent CD I burned started skipping in my truck. Another CD that I gave to my aunt is skipping in her PC's CD-rom drive as well.

I am so tempted to just go back to Windows ME right now since I never had this problem before.

PC:

Dell Dimension 8100

1.8ghz P4

256MB RAM

80GB hard drive

LG 8080B CD-RW

Sylvania DVD-Rom

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I did an fdisk on my 'C' drive a few weeks back after it started to do some strange things. I don't remember which one it was but I am sure that one of the MS updates did it, as I had done nothing else.

A little over a year ago I got the latest Norton AV update, and it stopped updating after that. Over a month went by before I realized it, (but I still didn't catch anything), and I finally had to remove it completly, reinstall and when I got the latest updates, it was ok after that.

Just some strange news - there is no reason why it couldn't happen to anyone else.

And I know that this whole idea is insane but when I looked at the system requirements for XP Pro, it did not mention that a modem/dial up/whatever connection was required. You could pull or turn off your internet connection and see what happens. It might be interesting.

Glenn

 

[Brad_V]

If someone hasn't had any trouble with XP's checking the licensing yet, maybe they will after they modify their computer some and it locks up and makes you call Microsoft because it thinks you are using it on a different computer which you are supposed to be another licensing fee to do.

As XP was coming out, my brother (network administrator guy) said Windows 2000 will be the last great user-friendly operating system from Microsoft. I think he's right.

That auto-dialup problem... I just ran into a similar thing when reinstalling ME on a friend's computer. I reinstalled everything, it seemed fine, and then later that night she calls up that the whole thing is freaking out on her and popping all these windows up that re-open when she tries to close them. Turned out to be the stupid built-in software auto-updater. It kept trying to bring up webpages to update her older ICQ and everything else. What a pita.

 

[Randy_T]

I've had no problems burning any cd's using XP Home Ed. I was also having some trouble with EZ CD Creator burning audio discs, so I installed Nero 5.5, and haven't had any problems since. There is a way to turn off Messenger so it won't dial in at start-up. When I find it, I'll post it here.

My Home-Built PC:

Soyo Dragon+ Mainboard

Athlon XP 1800+

60GB WD Hard Drive

256Mb PC2100 DDR Ram

Plextor 12X CD-RW (with burn-proof)

Pioneer 116 DVD

Visiontek G-Force3 Ti200 Graphics

1.5Mb Broadband thru Charter Pipeline

 

[Jeffrey_Jones]

There is a "Run this Program at Start-up" option for Windows Messenger under the Tools/Options/Preferences Tab.

- Jeff

 

[Todd Stout]

I forgot to mention that when I clean installed XP after the initial upgrade over ME, I had to call Microsoft to get a new product activation code. That was about a 10 minute phone call to Washington on a Saturday afternoon (the 800 number that XP lists kept ringing somebody's NexTel voicemail).

XP product activation is a big pain in the rear.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

This is an absolutely hillarious thread. It seems to me
everyone has this "Big brother is watching" mentality toward
Win XP just because MS decided to put some nice little
hidden features in
If you are "concerned" about your PC dialing anywhere without
your express prior authorization then you need to familiarize
yourself with how networking and dialup and ports work.
Download ZoneAlarm and you can block anything on your system
from dialing anything without your permission. And you can
see "exactly" what it is, that is trying to connect. Don't
want Media Player to dial MS? Easy.. Set Media Player as a
Client only in Zone Alarm and problem solved.
As for burning CD's I use Nero and I have absolutely NO
problems. Nor have I had problems with anything else working.
Download ZoneAlarm at www.download.com and while you are at
it get Ad Aware also.