System Restore on Vista

stevenrw · May 30, 2008, 08:01:23

Anybody having any probs with System Restore on Vista HP?
HID (her indoors) had probs with her new(ish) lappy where "the graphics was all wrong" (her phrase, not mine).
It looked like it had started in safe mode where it just had the basic graphics and not picking up the graphics card drivers.
In fact it had just changed the screen res somehow but the first thing I tried was System Restore and everytime I tried it (different restore points) it came back with an error that restore had been unsuccessful due to an unexpected error.
Ideas/similar experience anybody?
All is fine with the graphics now but the restore issue is a tad worrying in case anything serious does happen.

madasahatter · May 30, 2008, 08:48:28

Not had cause to try system restore yet - sorry

Simon · May 30, 2008, 08:55:37

Me neither.

Lance · May 30, 2008, 09:42:19

Nor me I'm afraid

Did it give an error number or anything?

Rik · May 30, 2008, 09:47:26

I'd suggest a virus/malware scan - there's a number about which will screw with system restore.

madasahatter · May 30, 2008, 10:06:03

Wow - us Vista hoobs and peeps are really helpful ain't we?

Simon · May 30, 2008, 10:07:55

Maybe it proves that Vista isn't so bad, if none us have had to use System Restore?

Or, maybe Steven's the one who's found it doesn't work!

stevenrw · May 30, 2008, 10:18:16

I have Norton which ain't the best in the world I grant you but it does a scan every week on top of it's normal protection duties. Also HID isn't the type to go to dodgy sites so I'm fairly confident the machine is clean. Everything else seems to be running normally as far as I can tell Rik.
I'll try manually creating a restore point and then try going back to that one later - I suppose it might be the creation thats falling over so you can't restore to it.

Glenn · May 30, 2008, 10:25:29

Have you tried re-installing the graphics driver from HP?

http://welcome.hp.com/country/uk/en/support.html?pageDisplay=drivers

madasahatter · May 30, 2008, 10:27:26

Quote from: Simon on May 30, 2008, 10:07:55
Maybe it proves that Vista isn't so bad, if none us have had to use System Restore?

Good point Simon

Noreen · May 30, 2008, 10:27:26

I've used System Restore once with Vista and had no problems restoring. In fact I never had any problems using System Restore when I had XP although I know some people did.

I make a manual Restore Point every other day and sometimes use it after I've installed a complicated program that I decide later that I don't really want.

stevenrw · May 30, 2008, 10:47:24

Glenn
I first suspected the card drivers (Nvidia) but it seems really just to have been a resolution problem. How the res got changed remains a mystery.
However it was in the process of establishing/fixing what I thought was a driver rollback problem that I discovered that SR was not working.
So one problem closes and another one opens....

drummer · May 30, 2008, 10:47:46

It might be worth booting into Safe mode and selecting the restore point from there.

There is a known issue with Norton causing this problem on XP, so it could be the same with Vista.

madasahatter · May 30, 2008, 10:48:19

Quote from: stevenrw on May 30, 2008, 10:47:24
So one problem closes and another one opens....

Computers eh - don't you just love em

Noreen · May 30, 2008, 11:08:36

Sorry, deleted.

edit: this is for XP http://bertk.mvps.org/html/error.html
If you run your mouse over Vista on the top menu on the above link you'll get a menu including Vista Error Messages but the only one of these about "unexpected error" is not for System Restore.

Rik · May 30, 2008, 11:10:27

Great link, Noreen.

Noreen · May 30, 2008, 11:12:27

Rik, I've just deleted it because I realised that it's for XP. Should I put it back?

Malc · May 30, 2008, 11:14:39

I have XP

Rik · May 30, 2008, 11:19:42

Quote from: Noreen on May 30, 2008, 11:12:27
Rik, I've just deleted it because I realised that it's for XP. Should I put it back?

I think so.

Glenn · May 30, 2008, 19:43:10

Steve, does the error message contain an error code at all like 0x80040154?

BrianM · May 30, 2008, 20:55:30

Know nothing about Windows Vista but i had a similar problem with XP going through the motions and then the message saying that restoration was unsuccessful. I went into system restore settings and turned off system restore, restarted PC and turned system restore back on again and it's worked fine since. Might be worth a try, if you've not tried it already.

Lance · May 30, 2008, 20:58:42

Does turning off system restore not clear all of the previous restore points? (I guess that would be ok here as a restore doesn't actually have to be made).

Simon · May 30, 2008, 21:01:42

Quote from: Lance on May 30, 2008, 20:58:42
Does turning off system restore not clear all of the previous restore points? (I guess that would be ok here as a restore doesn't actually have to be made).

As far as I know, yes, but there's a folder somewhere, isn't there? Maybe that could be backed up elsewhere, before switching SR off, then restored later?

BrianM · May 30, 2008, 21:06:13

Yes turning off sr does clear all other restore points, i understand that if a restore point is corrupt it stops all the other restore points from wokinkg, in xp anywa.y

Lance · May 30, 2008, 21:09:26

It soulds like it may be a good idea to do as Brian suggests then, Steven, before you actually need to use it!