Ok guys, I'm not going to start a bashfest; however, I'd like as much critical input as I can get regarding my fight with Vista x64.
I tried so very hard to like Vista. I gave it so many chances, so much time, and divulged plenty of resources (time) to try to get it to work. It just won't do it. For whatever reason, it crashes randomly, and devices just don't want to work. Regardless of what device drivers I choose, OS settings I choose, or what method I use to install them, there is some massive quirk somewhere at RANDOM which is preventing me from liking this OS.
Believe me, there are so many pros to it. For one, I love the speed, and the ability to use all my 6GB of RAM. But what's the point if it crashes randomly on me?
No, my rig is NOT unstable. It's been proven solid at its OC for over a year. None of my devices are defective; I checked all this before I even started installing Vista. It's been working with the same WinXP Pro install for about the same time now (almost a year).
Some of the things I tried:
1. Installing about 20 different Forceware drivers over the span of the installations I did (not in one, and each install was properly conducted, using Driver Cleaner Pro and CCleaner to clean registry prior to installing driver.
2. Installing 3 different sound card drivers.
3. Installing 4 different TV card drivers.
4. Installing Service Pack before/after chipset drivers.
5. Unplugging net so nothing updates before Service Pack gets installed.
6. Clean installs of Vista.
I literally did about 7 clean installs of Vista x64. That's right, CLEAN installs. Built from the ground up. And somewhere along the line, it always manages to screw up. From nVidia purposely crippling drivers (color correction profiling) to my TV card not working at all, the bullshit is endless. It happens all purely randomly. Luckily for me, I am dual booting, so I simply boot right back up into XP, and everything is fine and dandy.
To make sure, I even did a clean install, successfully installed SP1, and then proceeded to do the remainder of the updates online, when, smack in the middle of the online installation, BAM!!! BSOD, and then constantly cycling reboot with the error message "Updates were not configured correctly. Reverting...." WTF am I supposed to make of that? Clean install was the only option then.
For the record, my rig was tested 72 hours using Orthos at full load. CPU temp max @ 58C with ambient temp close to 90F + humidity. Memtest on RAM for 72 hours pass with no errors. Video card stress tested with ATI Tool for 72 hours with ambient temps 90F + humidity. Then after all that, I tested them all at once. Orthos+ATI Tool+Windows Memtest for 72 hours again, with temps about 94F + humidity. The system passed with flying colors, so I know for sure the issue is not my rig. As I pointed out, I can switch right back to XP, and everything works perfectly.
I do have a copy of XP Pro 64, and now, more than ever, I think I'm just going to use that instead of Vista x64. What a waste of money, I'm seeing now.
Thanks for any constructive input you can offer.
I tried so very hard to like Vista. I gave it so many chances, so much time, and divulged plenty of resources (time) to try to get it to work. It just won't do it. For whatever reason, it crashes randomly, and devices just don't want to work. Regardless of what device drivers I choose, OS settings I choose, or what method I use to install them, there is some massive quirk somewhere at RANDOM which is preventing me from liking this OS.
Believe me, there are so many pros to it. For one, I love the speed, and the ability to use all my 6GB of RAM. But what's the point if it crashes randomly on me?
No, my rig is NOT unstable. It's been proven solid at its OC for over a year. None of my devices are defective; I checked all this before I even started installing Vista. It's been working with the same WinXP Pro install for about the same time now (almost a year).
Some of the things I tried:
1. Installing about 20 different Forceware drivers over the span of the installations I did (not in one, and each install was properly conducted, using Driver Cleaner Pro and CCleaner to clean registry prior to installing driver.
2. Installing 3 different sound card drivers.
3. Installing 4 different TV card drivers.
4. Installing Service Pack before/after chipset drivers.
5. Unplugging net so nothing updates before Service Pack gets installed.
6. Clean installs of Vista.
I literally did about 7 clean installs of Vista x64. That's right, CLEAN installs. Built from the ground up. And somewhere along the line, it always manages to screw up. From nVidia purposely crippling drivers (color correction profiling) to my TV card not working at all, the bullshit is endless. It happens all purely randomly. Luckily for me, I am dual booting, so I simply boot right back up into XP, and everything is fine and dandy.
To make sure, I even did a clean install, successfully installed SP1, and then proceeded to do the remainder of the updates online, when, smack in the middle of the online installation, BAM!!! BSOD, and then constantly cycling reboot with the error message "Updates were not configured correctly. Reverting...." WTF am I supposed to make of that? Clean install was the only option then.
For the record, my rig was tested 72 hours using Orthos at full load. CPU temp max @ 58C with ambient temp close to 90F + humidity. Memtest on RAM for 72 hours pass with no errors. Video card stress tested with ATI Tool for 72 hours with ambient temps 90F + humidity. Then after all that, I tested them all at once. Orthos+ATI Tool+Windows Memtest for 72 hours again, with temps about 94F + humidity. The system passed with flying colors, so I know for sure the issue is not my rig. As I pointed out, I can switch right back to XP, and everything works perfectly.
I do have a copy of XP Pro 64, and now, more than ever, I think I'm just going to use that instead of Vista x64. What a waste of money, I'm seeing now.
Thanks for any constructive input you can offer.