Vista Ultimate 64 Bit big mistake now back to XP Pro

[ademcg]

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.

 

[ademcg]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies...much appreciated.

Ok, where to start ...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 .

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

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 ?

 

[ademcg]

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.

 

[ademcg]

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.

 

[ademcg]

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

 

[ademcg]

I seem to remember, or not, a previous post of a similar nature and the solution was a setting in the bios relating to the Pci-e speeds, can't quite remember, I hate getting old
LOL

Perhaps you are thinking of the increase in PCI-e frequency upto 101..some Gigabyte boards respond to that, mine doesn't .

I have removed the 8800Gt and tried it in my old rig FX55 and Seasonic S12 (from 2005) the performance was astounding ...so it looks like the GT is working correctly, its either the Motherboard or the PSU, or something in Vista.

I am running the latest nvidia driver release [released Friday] and there is no more of the "card receiving insufficient power" Warning from the nVidia Sentinel, but it still won't run 3d06 benchie and the Vista experience index still crashes....and the grphics have a rating of 1.0

 

[ademcg]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929777 < is that installed?

I had installed this to work with my 4Gig of RAM.
When I had all the problems, I went back to 2 Gig of RAM and that is where I am at now.

 

[ademcg]

Hey ademcg, have you tried running an older Graphics Driver release, to see if you get the same problems that you are getting now? Is this the only problem that you are experiencing?

Hey Fire Wizard,

I have indeed tried running older graphics drivers, they are more stable, however, they still throttle the GPU [roughly around 40-50% of what it should be] and everything is still not running as it should, Vista index crashes still with that.

 

[ademcg]

Hey ademcg, very strange. Do you get similar problems in Windows XP or is this just occurring in Windows Vista? If you haven’t already done so, it may also help by upping the PCI-Express Clock to 101 and nudging the South Bridge VCore up a tad as well.

Tried all of the above...

Win XP Pro, I got the old nvidia Sentenal warning "Graphics card not receiving sufficient power" !!! and the throttling, worse with the new nvidia drivers, it just hung on black screen with 3Dmark06, just like in Vista.

The sentinel warning goes when you install the very latest Vista 64 nvidia drivers, but the results are are posted above, Vista experience crashes and so does 3Dmark06

Tried the PCI-Express Clock thing too, tried, 101, 105, 110 no joy, I also upped the ICHIO & ICH which are closet things to being SB.

I am RMA'ing my PSU tomorrow, to see if that is the route cause, more in hope than anything else.

Oh, I tried the 8800GT in my old rig:

DFI LP nF4 SLI-Dr
AMD OPty @2.6 GHz
Seasonic S12 (2005 model) 600W
Win XP Pro

and the graphics card flew, reaching almost the same 3d06 Mark score as my Quad core (albeit obviousy not working correctly).

So the Graphics card is fully functioning..Mobo or PSU...or OS ?
spin the wheel gents !!

 

[ademcg]

Hey ademcg, have you tried swapping your Enermax Galaxy Power Supply for the Seasonic Power supply? If you are then still experiencing problems, you could then try running the 8800GT and the Enermax Galaxy Power Supply in your other system. If everything then works ok and you are not experiencing any problems, it could well be your Abit IX38 QuadGT motherboard that is faulty.

Hey fire Wizard,

no, I haven't tried the Seasonic with the new rig, I have agreed to sell it as is and I don't really want to mess with it too much..I have ordered a Corsair HX 620 unit should be here any day, so will test with that..and if it is still not working then I concur with your prognosis, the mobo could be faulty..its all good fun !!