Lovin' Vista: Vista Ultimate 32bit, Intel D875PBZ 875P

[hellokeith]

Got Vista Ultimate 32bit up and running nicely on my good ole Intel D875PBZ. Here's the process for any Canterwood / Northwood enthusiasts out there who want to give Vista a go.

My hardware:
Intel D875PBZ motheboard, P34 bios date 6/6/2005 installed before upgrade.
Pentium 4 3.2GHz HT Northwood 512kb
Corsair XMS PC3200 2 x 1GB in dual channel, 2-3-3-6 @ 400MHz
2 x Maxtor SATA 80GB drives on motherboard Intel SATA Raid ICH5R

My process (you may want to download all files ahead of time and keep them handy on DVD or USB flash):
1. Download version 5.5.0.1035 of Intel® Matrix Storage Manager Floppy Configuration Utility , extract and run exe to create floppy. Then took all files off the floppy, formatted my USB flash drive, and copied all the files from the floppy to the flash drive.
2. Disconnected all perhiperals from PC except keyboard, mouse, monitor, and network cable. Only drives connected internally are 2 x SATA and 2 x DVD (no other IDE HDD's and NO FLOPPY). This helps avoid confusion and possible conflicts.
3. Went into mobo RAID config utiltiy (CTRL + I), deleted the RAID set, reset the disks, and then rebooted. Go back into RAID config and create a new RAID set. I'm using a RAID 1 mirror.
4. Went into mobo bios and made sure RAID volume was recognized and first in boot sequence, with DVD drive 2nd in boot sequence.
5. Pop in Vista DVD and boot off it. When comes to choose drive, screen is blank. Pop in USB flash drive, let it recognize. Add a driver, and Vista reads USB flash drive and picks up Intel RAID.
6. Proceed with install. I didn't have to format the raid volume or anything, just go.
7. First time Vista comes up, the hard drives are cranking crazy for a while. Waited until disk activity was finished. LAN was automatically recognized, so I could get out to internet just fine. (Actually, had to update router with my new PC name because of over zealous security on my part, but that's my prob.)
8. Download/Install 8.1.1.1010 version of INF Update Utility and then reboot. ***please see note below on this item***

After that, pretty much everything else is academic. Had to install .NET 1.1 and then 7.2 Catalyst for my HIS X1950 Pro 256MB AGP. Set screen resolution, 3d options, and video options. Got Vista beta drivers for Audigy 2. Lastly, reran Windows Experience wizard which activated Aero, and then picked wallpaper.

I didn't mess with screensaver or power options, left them at default. The PC went to sleep and woke from S3 in the morning without any issue.

Lovin' Vista so far..

 

[hellokeith]

A few more things:

* I'm not convinced the Intel INF installer actually did anything. Looking through Device Manager, all the Intel chipset devices are using Microsoft drivers. So the INF Installer may not even be needed.
* Both apps Intel Active Monitor and Intel Desktop Control were a no-go. Tried run-as-admin and compatibility modes, but wouldn't work. Had to uninstall and then roll back the SM Bus / SMbios drivers after uninstalling.
* Haven't tried Intel Application Accelerator (RAID app), it never appeared to actually do anything in XP other than give information on the drives.

Speedfan does in fact work. It is a more complicated app, but provides most of the functionality of the above apps.

 

[tcsenter]

* I'm not convinced the Intel INF installer actually did anything. Looking through Device Manager, all the Intel chipset devices are using Microsoft drivers. So the INF Installer may not even be needed.

In any case, they will be using Microsoft drivers because the INF package doesn't contain any 'drivers', per se. As the same implies, it provides INF support for the hardware.