Vista Ultimate 64 Bit big mistake now back to XP Pro

ademcg

ademcg

ademcg

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Not sure if its Abit who are to blame or nVidia Vista drivers, but in any event, I have had nothing but trouble with my Vista "experience" so I am going back to XP Pro.

Is there anything I have to do in advance of the XP Pro install to the Samsung Spinpoint T166 500GB drive (currently has Vista on it) in preparation ?

Or do I just throw the XP Pro install disk in and away we go ?

Advice apriciated.;)
 
Whats exactly the problem or issues?

Haven't had one single problem touch wood :) made the jump from 32 to 64 beginning of the week and wish I used 64 from the outset, everything feels much smoother.
 
Hello ademcg, you can either inset your Windows XP disc, delete the partition that Windows Vista is already installed on and then create a new one for Windows XP and then continue the installation process from their. You could also insert your Windows Vista disc, "Format" and then delete the partition that Windows Vista is already installed on. Then reboot the machine and insert your Windows XP disc, create a new partition and then just carry on from their.

Just out of interest, what sort of problems are you experiencing? Maybe one of us will be able to help you out. :)
 
ademcg said:
Not sure if its Abit who are to blame or nVidia Vista drivers, but in any event, I have had nothing but trouble with my Vista "experience" so I am going back to XP Pro.

Is there anything I have to do in advance of the XP Pro install to the Samsung Spinpoint T166 500GB drive (currently has Vista on it) in preparation ?

Or do I just throw the XP Pro install disk in and away we go ?

Advice apriciated.;)
Click to expand...

I have been running x64 for close to a year now with my rig below built last december

I dont want to be funny but most X64 problems arise from people who do not know what they are really doing, What are the problems you are having? Nvidia drivers are near perfect now compared to what we had in the summer. And even creative are statring to get a grip

IMO XP is a step back, a major step, and you would be better off trying to resolve your vista issues, especially if you have paid good money for it
 
gizmoy2k said:
...snip...And even creative are statring to get a grip...snip...
Click to expand...
I ordered the Vista X-Fi driver/software cd from the creative shop and now my Fatal1ty works like it did under XP. Been running Vista X64 since launchand can honestly say I've had next to no problems with it.

I think you should try and dual boot XP and vista. Perhaps a clean install would solve some of the problems you're experiencing?
 
Hey guys, thanks for the replies...much appreciated.

Ok, where to start :p...I am an early adopter of an Abit IX38 QuadGT, this may have complicated the whole Vista saga but essentially here is my main big issue. Please bear in mind that this is all at Stock not overclocked.

The worst thing its doing is how it interfaces with the graphics card.


If I use the drivers that came with the Gigabyte 8800GT the PCI-Express bus speed shows as 0x in the nvidia control System info panel, everything works, [no crashes or anything like that] but my 3d06 score is 7594 (Way low, should be over 10K) but games actually run which is nice ;).

currentGTbiosandDriverinfo.jpg



30GHz3D06.jpg





If I load the latest nvidia drivers for Vista 64 (including the Beta ones) it shows the X16 PCI-Express bus speed:


nvidiacontrolpanellatestdrivers.jpg



GPUzLatestbadnvidiadrivers.jpg



But I can not run 3Dmark 06 (it hangs on black screen) and if I play a game (Bioshock) I only get as far as the intro plane crash, with slow juttery FPS then it crashes and reboots.

some state I should try an XP Pro install...hence going to XP Pro (used for many years on my previous rig with no issues).
otherwise Imight just RMA the board??

I have changed the Bios of the board, flashed to the most recent beta available (its early days for the board).

I have installed the chipset drivers from the disc supplied with the board, again, I don't think there are newer ones available for the X38 chipset on the intel site.

Furthermore, the overclocking facility on the Abit (uGURU) doesn't like Vista 64 and crashes, to the point I have disabled it from the start up menu.

so I was stuck with a machine that works, but only at 50% potential graphically (not what I want with Crysis or COD4) :( or I have a machine that simply doesn't work graphically, with the latest nvidia drivers.

so, what do you guys think ?? XP Pro my answer ?
Wait until Vista Ultimate 64 has the SP1 and nvidia sort out thier drivers ?
 
Hey ademcg, looking at them screenshots of your desktop, I can't help noticing that the Aero interface is disabled. Now is this because you have disabled it yourself or has it always been like that? If the case is that it has always been like that, then it does sound more like a driver issue more than anything.

Now I don’t normally refer to the Windows Experience Index but in such cases as these it can be very helpful. If you open the Windows Experience Index up, what score are you getting under "Graphics" (Desktop performance and Windows Aero) and the "Gamming Graphics" (3D Business and gamming graphics performance) sections?

Referring to your other problem with the overclocking utility, the Abit uGuru. Have you tried right clicking on the Abit uGuru and then navigating to the "Run as administrator" option?

Though i will say, if you are looking to overclock your system then look at changing the settings in the BIOS instead of using a program inside the windows environment. :)
 
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ademcg said:
Ok, where to start :p...I am an early adopter of an Abit IX38 QuadGT
Click to expand...


Hmm seems you have a nvidia driver issue rather than a vista one.
do you know if the same problem occurs in 32bit vista?

The biggest issue you will have is someone accepting responsibility for the problem, be it Abit or nvidia, and actually working on a quick fix

I would dual boot XP because you are going to need an X64install to test as fixes for your problem are released
 
Bioshock is not your best benchmark test as it is buggy as hell at the moment and crashes left right and centre for a lot of peeps with different set ups (great game though). I am not familiar with your mobo, but are both PCI-E slots x16 speed, is your card in a single slot that gives PCI-E x16 for sure? To run Bioshock you have to have all sys tray items closed down, including Anti-Virus software. Also you have to go to: control panel--programmes--programmes and features--Turn Windows Features On or Off--Tablet PC Optional Components<-------Uncheck this. (You will lose Snip it tool functionality if you do this).I can now run the game for an hour or so without it crashing, if it does crash I can ctrl--alt--del back to desktop and close it down.

Ps Have you tried a clean Nvidia driver install using Driver Cleaner/Driver Sweeper to clear up any conflicting leftovers? Oh and try uGuru in Windows XP SP2 compatibility mode.
 
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ok, thanks for all the replies guys, lets talk about them:

Fire Wizard:

My Vista Aero interface has always been like that , this was a virgin install on a new HDD, it states that my Vista experience rating has not been updated, I click update and it crashes, it has a score of 1 against the graphics, which would concur with the screen shots of not being run at PCI-E x 16 ?

The uGURU was to be used for monitoring temps and voltages only, but its way, way off, by upto 10-15 Degrees [too cool] and the voltages are way off too, it kept crashing / freezing, hence I disabled it.

Gizmoy2K:
I have no idea if it happens in 32 bit Vista, I only have 64 Bit Ultimate.

As for dual boot, sounds like a nice idea, if anyone can guide me though that, it would be great, then later on I could just boot the Vista 64 and install the later (probably more compatable drivers) whilst getting by on XP Pro for the time being...sounds a good solution.

Bony Maloney

I wasn't using Bioshock as a benchmark, I was using Futuremark 3D06 to benchmark, but it hangs and crashed, reboots the system.
At the moment I have no anti virus stuff on, just the Vista install and associated drivers and overclocking progs.

The graphics card is a Gigabyte 8800 GT 512 MB single slot card which is PCI-E 2.0 compatable and yes both of my PCI-Express slots are X16, its an X38 chipset and that is the major advantage over P35.
however if I were to put my only GFx card in the second (lower) PCI-E slot it will only operate at x4 (says this in the manual)

I haven't tried driver clear / sweeper as it was a virgin install and I have only installed the three different nVidia drivers, the ones that came with the card, the latest official nVidia drivers and the latest Beta nVidia drivers.

The system works and is stable (can run 3d Mark and Bioshock) with the drivers that came with the Card only, it doesn't work with the later versions from the nVidia site.

And finally, RC21::)

Yes I realise I won't be able to run 4Gig of RAM with XP Pro...:( but I could cope with only having 2 Gig (good for Overclocking anyway ;)) and have a fully operating system unning how it should, until I can go back to Vista 64 with all its updated drivers and enjoy my full compliment of 4 Gig and DX10.
 
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OK ademcg, I worded it wrongly. What I meant to say was that Bioshsock is not a good game to run to give you an idea of stability, because until patched it is very unstable :)
It is well worth giving Driver Cleaner a go, very odd that the manufacturers drivers work yet Nvidia's don't. If you do get any probs with Bioshock, that unchecking Tablet PC tip is a good one ;) Hope you get it sorted soon.
Are you using the latest chipset drivers and Motherboard bios? (may have missed it in the above).
 
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Hey,
the motherboard was only launched last week, I am running the chipset drivers from the box.

The system works very well with the Gigabyte 8800GT manufacturer's drivers, but only at about 50% of what the PCI-Express bus should be running at, so still not hunkey dorey !
This I suppose explains the picture above with the PCI-E bus displayed as x0 ??

I have installed all the hotfixes for nVidia drivers and the hotfix for the 4gb of RAM and still no joy. :(
 
no changes with XP Pro....still the "not sufficient power" message for the Gfx card and 3dmark06 blank screen.

I am back with my Vista install....looks nicer at least....still 3dmark06 refuses to work, but no more insufficient power for graphics card messages following the latest Nvidia drivers.

Still something isn't right but I am going around in circles here !!

I ran Windows Experience index just and it crashed "running the Direct 3D Texture Load Assessment" then system reboot and look at these scores !! :O

066.jpg


067.jpg


:(
 
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