unfortunately I have been running into the same problem. It is beyond aggravating. I have had my mini 110c for just over a year, and I have lost track of how many times I have needed to perform a factory restore, and actually just completed my fourth restore in the two weeks since HP sent the recovery disc's.
Claire, here are a few things that seemed to work for me, albeit, not for very long:
- unplug the power, remove the battery, and hold the power key for at least 15 seconds to drain any remaining power
- try holding down one of the shift keys while starting up, and wait.....
- also try pressing repeatedly / holding the F8 or F11 key at the Compaq screen
- (one of my least favorite options) wait a seemingly endless amount of time while your computer does nothing at the startup screen....and pray something happens.
- (my second least favorite option) avoid installing third party programs. *sigh*....this option sucks, especially when I mean every third party program you can think of....yup, even Chrome and Firefox.
This may be an assumption based on my experiences with one (consistently) faulty computer, but I think Microsoft has just decided to not play nice on these little machines. (I'm typing this response from IE9 and grinding my teeth the entire time....what do you mean i have download a third-party spell checker? ***, Microsoft?!?!)
- (my very least favorite option, although I guarantee it "works") send $16 to HP for recovery disc's and get yourself an external DVD reader, then have fun performing YET ANOTHER factory restore!
here's the link for the DVD reader I got for only $20 after rebate and free shipping:
Newegg.com - ASUS 8X DVD-ROM 24X CD-ROM USB 2.0 Slim External DVD-ROM Model SDR-08B1-U
After factory restore, get rid of the bloatware. things like AOL Homepage Protection (***...), Microsoft Works, Office Trials, and all that other useless stuff, ESPECIALLY Norton. In fact, the very first thing you should do after a restore is use the IE browser to download Microsoft Security Essentials. I'm partially assuming you already have this installed, more on that later.
-I also went ahead and upgraded my RAM to 2GB and use an 8GB SDHC for ReadyBoost, does it make a difference? I have no freakin clue.
As for the actual cause of this highly disturbing problem....I have no idea, and nor do I think Microsoft cares. HP just released a new Support Assistant, be sure to download that and get all possible updates from it, and of course, everything you can download from Windows Update. From my experience, it will take about 5-7 hours to restore and fully update. Real Fun stuff, especially when it's a bi-weekly task.
Two theories, one is quite simple: Intel Atom's suck. Plain and Simple. during the times that I have been forced to stare at a frozen screen, either starting up, or already logged in, the processor's fan has already been off, or I'll hear it shut down myself. In short, there wasn't a damn thing goin' on inside.
My other theory, which was just founded earlier while looking into the very same problem, that being a terribly operating, yet brand new computer, I came across a discussion about Microsoft's Antimalware Executable (MsMpEng.exe) using up more than half of the PC's memory while the computer was sitting idle. A suggestion was made that Microsoft Security Essentials was "chasing it's own tail." Meaning every time the program started to run, it would also check itself for infection. Considering this is a Microsoft product, this make complete and total sense. SO....
If you ever do get back to your desktop open up Security Essentials, click the "Settings" tab, click "Excluded Processes", then click "Browse..."
the file you're looking for should be located here: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Client\Antimalware\MsMpEng.exe"
Which, of course, adds the program to it's own exception list....Epic Win.
*sigh*...I'm very sorry for such a long winded response, but as I've stated, this is a problem that plagues me constantly as well. I hope my suggestions, pessimistic or not, could be of some help to you Claire, and I encourage anybody with truly constructive advice to PLEASE offer some input.
