Vista x64 unusable on decent rig

TBirdUK

TBirdUK

TBirdUK

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Joined
9 Jul 2005
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High Wycombe
I have an x2 3800 with 2 GB of RAM and Vista x64 seems to be so sluggish. Cant use the media center as it stutters and pauses all the time and the whole system appears to keep stopping.

I have an ATI X1600 GPU and its on an Asus A8R32 Premium. Have run Vista on a lower spec machine with better results. Anyone any ideas what this could be?

Cheers

edit - I have stuck with most of the VIsta origional drivers and updated through windows update except the Realtek HD audio which needed a seperate download
 
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Hmm, i updated all drivers from the specific websites and Vista 64 ultimate is far from sluggish for me even now with a couple of hundred gigs full of crap on the drive.

Try updating chipset and all other drivers through the manufacturers websites before you start looking at your hardware for causes.
 
Just going throught the updates now, see what happens, cn be a pain in the butt as I have had issues finding drivers before, maybe there are more around for Vista x64 now!
 
Seems I also always get "desktop window manager has stopped working and closed" - no explanation, details, thats it!
 
how do I get to event viewer? Doesnt seem to give an option. There is one unknown device in device manager but no idea what it could be, all the usual suspects are there.
 
Right click computer and go manage. Event viewer should be listed there.

That unknown device needs to be sorted, it could quite easily be the root of your issues. Any idea of what it is?

Burnsy
 
Nothing useful in event viewer - just mainly blanks. No idea what the unknown device is, I appear to have everything there so not sure. Everything runs ok, just seems sluggish in normal desktop, and is unusable in media center, temps are good, nothing is overclocked, and the powersave (multi adjust thing) is off in both windows and BIOS.

Edit event viewer does say fault in DWM.exe - any idea what that is?
 
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Its definitely this WDM (windows Desktop Manager) problem, restarted a few times and system runs ok until it encounters this error, then it runs like a pig! Googled and it seems its a common problem, tried all that it says but still get the error - may have to clean install (yet again!) and see if that helps!

Dman thing - turned off aero as suggested elsewhere and it works for about 11 mins then reverts to jerky and un-usable - What could this be?
 
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I have almost identical set up to you. Asus mobo, 2gb. Only difference is it's a 4200+ and 6600GT gfx. It runs so sweet.
I did have to use a few xp 64 drivers for the mobo.

As said check your ram. Vista is very strict on hardware and will pic up dud hardware that xp used fine. Vista certainly has showed how much broken hardware is out there. Especially ram and dvd drives.
 
So you think it could be the RAM (although it did pass memtest on another mobo). I am going to try to install Vista 32bit and see if that makes a difference first!
 
I would try re-installing x64 first.

As it sounds like it's this WDM that is messing everything up.

Then install one driver at a time.
 
i had something like that first time round.

eventually vista popped up and told me my system wasnt dealing with aero properly. turned that off and it felt much better. i also had probs playing back videos etc.

turned out something on the graphics card was hosed. got a new one and probs solved. it was like disabling all hardware acceleration with the old one.
 
Ah cr^p, not the graphics card, got given it and thats why I built the system! Hopefully not that, will know in about 30 mins when I complete this install!
 
Found a really wierd thing, re-installed, and the media center setup is still really sluggish. Windowed it, every selection takes ages unless I move the window slightly after each selection, then its immediate - what could that be?
 
Swapped Ram out - no difference. I am starting to think it might be the Graphics - a shame as I cant see where to buy one with an HDMI output and audio through the HDMI as I have with the X1600 PRO.

Will 3DMark give me an idea if its knackered or not?
 
Seems to run 3dMark06 ok, not great as I wasnt expecting it to be great, but no stops, pauses etc. So it seems only to be with tv/video etc. Will try updating more drivers and seeing what happens - doesnt appear ro be graphics card related as I think 3dMark would show this up.
 
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