AGHHHHHHHH! Computer HELP needed!

[MillyFan]

Do you know why a PC would reboot when you open WordPerfect 10 from a desktop shortcut? Then, why it would hopelessly lose the shortcut to it where you had to make a NEW shortcut when you got back into it? And why WP10 (OEM edition bought) freezes with a hung app error one out of every five times I open it?

I bought a refurbished computer back in February to use for my writing work (a Compaq Presario 6000 which I don't have online yet because I don't have a phone connection in my room where it is) and I've had this problem with it for the last two months. At first I fixed it by fixing some ActiveX controls with Norton WinDoctor, but now WinDoctor lists no problems despite this OBVIOUS problem, so therefore I can't fix it that way-and I'm sick of these crashes.

My sister and I have tried everything-uninstalling and reinstalling WordPerfect 10, defragging the drives, running Error Detection, WinDoctor, System Doctor, and almost anything else.

Please help. I can't write when it's like this, and if you tell me what is wrong with it and a way to solve this, I'll give you an honorable mention in the next chapter of my fanfics.

[Retten]

i cant tell you exactly how to fix it since i don’t know what the error says
but i would right it down then look it up on a search engine you can usually find a site that tells you how to fix it other wise i would take it in to a pc specialist and have them take a look at it then for a last resort if you have the operating software i would save all the files you want on to a disk the erase the hard drive and reinstall you operating software oh or you could just delete WordPerfect and reinstall it that might work to

[Straylight]

What OS are you using? (eg. win98/winXP etc).
What computer have you got (ie. MB RAM, hard disk size, processor type etc.)

I know a lot of stuff crashes when you run it on a particularly new or old version of Windows. Also, if you're running Windows ME, that known to cause terrible problems.

[MillyFan]

I'm using WinXP.

As for the computer specs, I think it has anywhere from 256 to 500 MB of RAM, the hard disk is 70 GB, and the processor is the last Athlon one (LOL, can't remember the number).

[Alex_Dragon]

You might try disableing the special effects through control panel/system you know all though various fading effects take up a bunch of memory and processing speed.Stuff like restarting used to happen Alot before i disabled those effects of course you may just have some sort of software conflict did you uninstall it and then reinstall it?Are any other programs running when this problem happens if so turn off those programs and try again.if that isn't it I have no idea Turning off the special effects worked for my computer . might as well try it you can always turn them back on.

[inkhana]

If you're having a lot of problems like this, (not just its rebooting when you try to start WordPerfect) you might try reinstalling the OS, like WhiteBlaze said, or in an extreme circumstance, reformatting *shudders involuntarily*. It sounds like the problem's at the system level to me. (But then again, maybe I'm just used to everything being at the system level on my comp, he he! )

[Straylight]

Inkhana's suggestion would be my instinctive course of action, however it is one that can be likened to spilling ketchup on the kitchen floor and replacing all the tiles instead of cleaning it up with a mop, hehe

Often it's the best thing to do though. If you're still out of luck, burn all your data onto cdr (or transfer it to another hard disk) and reformat the drive. Do be aware than reformatting will probably throw up fresh problems during the install, for example driver issues.

[Retten]

and with reformating you have to reinstall any software that isnt part of you OS

[LorentzForce]

i've got a feeling that reinstallation of Windows isn't quite necessary.

did it work just fine before, of did this just come out of nowhere? if it was like that from the start, it's the Windows fault or bad installation. if not, then it's the registry problems, which i cannot directly do since it's quite big. and every computer is different...

meanwhile, use notepad to write up things. you can save the txt and transfer it later to WordPerfect 10.

[inkhana]

Have you tried going into Windows Explorer to access WordPerfect instead, through its exe? You mentioned shortcuts; maybe there's something to that.

[MillyFan]

Yeah, the menu option seems to work fine so far.

[Mithrandir]

Not sure if you fixed this or not, but...

If you bought the computer refirbed, chances are probably pretty good that you don't have the install CDs for the OS anyway. In that case, I think dj is right. The format/OS install is more of a last case fix. Though in my opinon the better analogy is catsup on otherwise gleaming white carpet. If you can't directly identify the problem, you may only be able to get so much catsup out of the fibers. Otherwise, you may need new carpet. Anyway, if you can, pinpoint the time that this started happening. Was there something you downloaded and installed? Have you ran any virus (detection) software? Does accessing WP through explore (not the web browser, the file system browser) seem to generate the same errors?

Sorry if this is resolved already...

[MillyFan]

That's right. I don't have the OS install CDs, and if it gets to that point, I can't afford to buy WinXP.

The desktop shortcut seemed to be the problem: accessing WP from the menu doesn't cause the reboots, although it still hangs on occasion. So I now use the menu to open it, and I have Norton System Doctor running in the background continuously-which has helped cut down the number of general problems.