Meh, switched back to XP from Vista

[legoman666]

I had been running Vista x64 for about 4 months. I was satisfied with it except for one point: I experienced constant video driver crashes. It was intermittent. Sometimes it wouldn't happen for a week, other times it happened 3-4 times a day. I kept my video drivers up to date.

And sometimes, the driver would restart, restart, restart, restart, restart and then the machine would hard lock.

This happened at completely random times as far as I cold tell. Sometimes it occurred when I was playing games, browsing the internet, watching a movie, or when I was AFK sleeping.

So last night I finally got fed up with it and installed XP again. I didn't nuke my Vista install, I set up a dual boot, but I don't foresee any reason to ever boot into Vista. I tried everything to get the crashes to stop but nothing worked.

Q6600 @ 3.1
2 x HD3870
2x2gb RAM
GA-X38-DS4
Asus Xonar DX

Video cards and CPU are watercooled.

 

[Tempered81]

i also switched back to xp from vista 32bit. I find it much more stable & quicker.

 

[bryanW1995]

don't worry, windows 7 is just around the corner...2010 can't get here fast enough...

 

[Lithan]

I lurk in horror of the day I want more ram. 2000pro to XP was enough of a downgrade. Vista might make me switch to console gaming.

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: jaredpace
i also switched back to xp from vista 32bit. I find it much more stable & quicker.

XP is definitely faster and less stress on the ram and hard drive it seems. I'm staying with vista though because I like the functionality, dx10 and security issues.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: jaredpace
i also switched back to xp from vista 32bit. I find it much more stable & quicker.

XP is definitely faster and less stress on the ram and hard drive it seems. I'm staying with vista though because I like the functionality, dx10 and security issues.

Actually, I find Vista 32bits to be a bit faster overall then XP. It boots faster and loads the programs you use often quicker. However, the constant hard disk crunching is pretty annoying and gives me a feeling of slowness. But the slowest thing in Vista over XP is copy, cut and paste. This is the thing I just can't get used to since I've switched from XP.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Like error8, I, too, find Vista 32-bit to be a bit faster - or at least, it feels that way - than WinXP. For me, the "constant hard disk crunching" went away (for the most part) after a week or so. Vista seems to handle my multitasking needs smoother than XP, also.

I'm running an Opteron 165 @ 2.5 ghz, 3 gb ram, 4 gb readyboost drive, 500gb hdd, geforce 8800gt.

BryanW1995 must be very young, as I have no desire whatsoever for 2010 to get here "faster".

 

[HannibalX]

Vista is faster on my hardware. I am using the Xtreme-G Catalyst 8.4 drivers for my X1950 Pro with zero problems. Lovely drivers, faster than ATi's.

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle


BryanW1995 must be very young, as I have no desire whatsoever for 2010 to get here "faster".

I think he's married with children

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle


BryanW1995 must be very young, as I have no desire whatsoever for 2010 to get here "faster".

I think he's married with children

That explains it! He want the kids out of the house! :laugh:

 

[legoman666]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
Vista is faster on my hardware. I am using the Xtreme-G Catalyst 8.4 drivers for my X1950 Pro with zero problems. Lovely drivers, faster than ATi's.

The question isn't whether it's faster or not, the question is about how often the video driver randomly takes a crap.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: legoman666
I had been running Vista x64 for about 4 months. I was satisfied with it except for one point: I experienced constant video driver crashes. It was intermittent. Sometimes it wouldn't happen for a week, other times it happened 3-4 times a day. I kept my video drivers up to date.

And sometimes, the driver would restart, restart, restart, restart, restart and then the machine would hard lock.

This happened at completely random times as far as I cold tell. Sometimes it occurred when I was playing games, browsing the internet, watching a movie, or when I was AFK sleeping.

So last night I finally got fed up with it and installed XP again. I didn't nuke my Vista install, I set up a dual boot, but I don't foresee any reason to ever boot into Vista. I tried everything to get the crashes to stop but nothing worked.

Q6600 @ 3.1
2 x HD3870
2x2gb RAM
GA-X38-DS4
Asus Xonar DX

Video cards and CPU are watercooled.

Sounds like a video driver issue ,did you you install latest DX9.Oc(dated March 08) for Vista as well(some people forget that its also for Vista ).
I can get my video card to behave like yours in both my XP and Vista if its overclocked too much(even factory overclocked cards stability can vary between different operating systems and a slight underclocking even by only 10mhz or so can make a big difference in some cases).

I'm looking forward to Windows 7 ,only because both my Vista PC and Vista laptop are so boring,fast/solid stability and low HD activity(faster then XP IMHO),nothing ever goes wrong,I do like to troubleshoot now and then but its not the case with my Vista PCs (I'm not really complaining).
Little tip for Dell Vostro laptop users that have a nvidia onboard chip,the latest Nvidia modded 175.12 drivers from laptopvideo2go are awesome(best modded drivers I have used so far on my Vostro) I also updated my Vostro BIOS too.

 

[legoman666]

Originally posted by: Mem

Originally posted by: legoman666
I had been running Vista x64 for about 4 months. I was satisfied with it except for one point: I experienced constant video driver crashes. It was intermittent. Sometimes it wouldn't happen for a week, other times it happened 3-4 times a day. I kept my video drivers up to date.

And sometimes, the driver would restart, restart, restart, restart, restart and then the machine would hard lock.

This happened at completely random times as far as I cold tell. Sometimes it occurred when I was playing games, browsing the internet, watching a movie, or when I was AFK sleeping.

So last night I finally got fed up with it and installed XP again. I didn't nuke my Vista install, I set up a dual boot, but I don't foresee any reason to ever boot into Vista. I tried everything to get the crashes to stop but nothing worked.

Q6600 @ 3.1
2 x HD3870
2x2gb RAM
GA-X38-DS4
Asus Xonar DX

Video cards and CPU are watercooled.

Sounds like a video driver issue ,did you you install latest DX9.Oc(dated March 08) for Vista as well(some people forget that its also for Vista ).
I can get my video card to behave like yours in both my XP and Vista if its overclocked too much(even factory overclocked cards stability can vary between different operating systems and a slight underclocking even by only 10mhz or so can make a big difference in some cases).

lol you think?

Both cards are watercooled by full cover blocks and are kept at stock clocks. I do not believe I had the latest dx9, I know I had the latest dx10 though. It's a moot point anyway.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: legoman666

Originally posted by: Mem

Originally posted by: legoman666
I had been running Vista x64 for about 4 months. I was satisfied with it except for one point: I experienced constant video driver crashes. It was intermittent. Sometimes it wouldn't happen for a week, other times it happened 3-4 times a day. I kept my video drivers up to date.

And sometimes, the driver would restart, restart, restart, restart, restart and then the machine would hard lock.

This happened at completely random times as far as I cold tell. Sometimes it occurred when I was playing games, browsing the internet, watching a movie, or when I was AFK sleeping.

So last night I finally got fed up with it and installed XP again. I didn't nuke my Vista install, I set up a dual boot, but I don't foresee any reason to ever boot into Vista. I tried everything to get the crashes to stop but nothing worked.

Q6600 @ 3.1
2 x HD3870
2x2gb RAM
GA-X38-DS4
Asus Xonar DX

Video cards and CPU are watercooled.

Sounds like a video driver issue ,did you you install latest DX9.Oc(dated March 08) for Vista as well(some people forget that its also for Vista ).
I can get my video card to behave like yours in both my XP and Vista if its overclocked too much(even factory overclocked cards stability can vary between different operating systems and a slight underclocking even by only 10mhz or so can make a big difference in some cases).

lol you think?

Both cards are watercooled by full cover blocks and are kept at stock clocks. I do not believe I had the latest dx9, I know I had the latest dx10 though. It's a moot point anyway.

Moot point maybe,but you must explore every possible avenue,as to watercooled that means jack,fact is there are other users that have normal air cooled 2 x HD3870 working fine in Vista,so the real question is why is yours unstable when theirs are not?

I presume you have latest BIOS and latest vista chipset drivers for your motherboard?

Does it still crash with everything at default speed with nothing overclocked?

Tried changing ram timings?

Run Memtest86+?

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

As the OP said, it's a moot point now, since he's gone back to XP and that's working for him. Gotta use whatever works best for ya...

 

[HannibalX]

Originally posted by: legoman666

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
Vista is faster on my hardware. I am using the Xtreme-G Catalyst 8.4 drivers for my X1950 Pro with zero problems. Lovely drivers, faster than ATi's.

The question isn't whether it's faster or not, the question is about how often the video driver randomly takes a crap.

Well it doesn't for me. I can't remember the last time I had any game crash in Vista if at all. I'm sorry your having problems though. I hate random crashing, but like I said that is something I haven't experienced in Vista.

 

[taltamir]

I found vista 64 tons faster because it lets me run 64bit programs... using MPC-HC + FFDShow I am now (since last month) capable of viewing movies in a 100% 64bit environment, and I have been using a variety of other 64bit programs before...
IE7 and firefox 64: about 5 times faster
7z: benchmarked at 28% faster.

video encoding is also faster, but i don't do that on a regular enough basis to count.


Oooh, and even since SP1 fixed the file copy slowdowns AND the network issues with sleep mode I have been REALLY feeling some speed. In deep sleep mode the video card and hard drives and fans are all spun down, it is like the system is off, but just press a button and windows is back on in two seconds flat.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

i made this switch 1 year ago after 2 months of Vista Business. now i'm back to XP Pro 32. its getting old, and i'd like a refresh but i'd rather the system be stable then be problematic.

 

[RapidSnail]

Originally posted by: Lithan
I lurk in horror of the day I want more ram. 2000pro to XP was enough of a downgrade. Vista might make me switch to console gaming.

So "hard" to keep up with the times, eh? It costs roughly $100 for 4 GB of DDR2-800: a huge deal-breaker.


Dick: "Golly, gee, gosh, Bob! Why can't I run UE3 on my abacus?!?

Bob: "You need more RAM, DICK."

Dick: "I swear technology is taking us backward. :roll:"

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
As the OP said, it's a moot point now, since he's gone back to XP and that's working for him. Gotta use whatever works best for ya...

If it's a moot point, why post a thread about it? I don't make threads here on stuff I don't want you guys to talk about.

lego, did you replace all the components involved in your leak a while back?

HD3870 + X1800XT = dead water cooling leak. pics added!

 

[ShadowFlareX]

I would get the graphics driver crash, display would blacked out for half a sec, and comes back with a message on the taskbar saying it just recovered. Probably the same thing you're having.

But thing is, the only time I'd get this problem is when I set my RAM voltage greater than 2.0V. I have 4 x 1GB Crucial Ballistix Tracers 8500 on a Rampage Formula. At 2.0V, PC would blue screens at times, more at full load than at normal usage.
At 2.1V and up, display would go berserk after 1 minute upon getting to desktop, scary when it happens cause it looked like my GPU was fried. So I set it at 1.9V, PC never been happier, no more such problems.

Just saying that just maybe try reducing your RAM voltage to 1.9V, who knows. I'm on Vista 64-bit by the way.

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
As the OP said, it's a moot point now, since he's gone back to XP and that's working for him. Gotta use whatever works best for ya...

If it's a moot point, why post a thread about it? I don't make threads here on stuff I don't want you guys to talk about.

lego, did you replace all the components involved in your leak a while back?

HD3870 + X1800XT = dead water cooling leak. pics added!

Meh, can't be related to same components in use...

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
As the OP said, it's a moot point now, since he's gone back to XP and that's working for him. Gotta use whatever works best for ya...

If it's a moot point, why post a thread about it? I don't make threads here on stuff I don't want you guys to talk about.

Ask the OP that.

 

[manowar821]

Originally posted by: ShadowFlareX
I would get the graphics driver crash, display would blacked out for half a sec, and comes back with a message on the taskbar saying it just recovered. Probably the same thing you're having.

But thing is, the only time I'd get this problem is when I set my RAM voltage greater than 2.0V. I have 4 x 1GB Crucial Ballistix Tracers 8500 on a Rampage Formula. At 2.0V, PC would blue screens at times, more at full load than at normal usage.
At 2.1V and up, display would go berserk after 1 minute upon getting to desktop, scary when it happens cause it looked like my GPU was fried. So I set it at 1.9V, PC never been happier, no more such problems.

Just saying that just maybe try reducing your RAM voltage to 1.9V, who knows. I'm on Vista 64-bit by the way.

Vista 64 really is sensitive to voltages and overclocks... Much more the former than the latter.

Perhaps I'll try this for my system, seeing as I've been having this exact same video driver crash problem. Especially with Assassin's Creed, I literally cannot play the game, it will crash the drivers several times, give me a BSOD, and then I have to reinstall the drivers before playing ANYTHING in direct3d again unless I want the game to crash immediately after starting up. Annoying!

 

[legoman666]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
As the OP said, it's a moot point now, since he's gone back to XP and that's working for him. Gotta use whatever works best for ya...

If it's a moot point, why post a thread about it? I don't make threads here on stuff I don't want you guys to talk about.

lego, did you replace all the components involved in your leak a while back?

HD3870 + X1800XT = dead water cooling leak. pics added!

The x1800xt turned out to still be in working condition after a good cleaning. I did have to replace the 3870 though. I ended up selling the x1800xt and buying a 2nd 3870 for some crossfire sweetness.