Windows XP Home and Quad core CPU

@Drachnem, just to tell you something about video codecs. Because I thought their was a problem, but actually not at all.
Once I first installed Vista 64-bit, I installed 64-bit codecs. However, Windows Media Player still failed to play videos (like it did not have any codecs).
After a bit of digging I realized that Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center are set to run the 32-bit version instead of the 64-bit. (probably Microsoft believed that their would be a lack or issues with 64-bit codecs when they released Vista).
Anyway, I use this codec pack witch is great, and also have a small program that convert all file associations and shortcuts to Windows Media Player 32-bit to the 64-bit. Once the switch is made, then your video plays fine. If you compare side by side, 64-bit codecs perform quiet nicely compared to the same codecs in 32-bit. You see that CPU is used much less, and plays even more smoothly (hard to see but is their, it is most visible with 1080p HD videos)

My recommendation of Vista 64-bit codec pack:http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multim...-Video-Codecs/VistaCodecs-x64Components.shtml

 

I have a hard time beleiving this. You and I have similar hardware.
I just have S939 DDR1 RAM, you have Socket AM2 with DDR2 RAM.

I think the problem is because your SATA controller is not truly Vista ready, so when you do a RAID setup it fails.
Did you try Vista without RAID? (meaning you set your BIOS to be SATA-II and not RAID type), also make sure you have the latest BIOS? If without RAID, and the latest BIOS, it still doesn't work properly, then check your RAM. Also did you try removing any added hardware (like wireless card, sound cards) on your computer?
NT6 core (Vista and Windows 7) does not like approximations, it want exact values, and no second guesses. This is part of the main reason why Vista is much more responsive. (I was told (although could be wrong) that MAC OS X has the same behavior as Vista on that topic). Also, make sure that the Vista disk you use to install is not a copy of a Vista disk, perhaps it was miss burned and an important file got damaged during the reading of the disk.

As a programmer I can tell you that things does not occur randomly on a computer. Something is done, perhaps a driver conflict, which could be created when Windows installs drivers automatically or with Windows update, and you update it. Make sure you uninstall the old drivers first, then install the new ones. Remember that Vista drivers was done very quickly by many companies as did not took seriously Microsoft when they said "your current drivers won't work, or if it does, it won't work properly".

If you have a Vista retail, you have access to Microsoft support. You can call them about it as well. Moreover, Microsoft has a forum.

 

You've convinced me to give it another go at the weekend

After much googling i'm convinced it's a hardware incompatibility of some sort, as a lot of people on the internet seem to be having similar issues with this motherboard and vista

Doubt it's the SATA problem though, have had the same issue with it set to both normal and RAID mode using the mobo SATA ports, at the moment it's running off a PCIe x4 add-in raid card

EDIT: http://icrontic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48305
hmm...

 

Whoa, that is bad (my post, that is). Sorry about the spelling mistakes, I corrected my sentences.

Yes it could work.

 

I have vista 64bit rolling and I notice my game (wow) patches a lot. And my system uses all the ram, 2000 mb are cashed is this whats making my pc patchy?

 

I don't have World of Warcraft, but if it patches the same version, then perhaps something is wring with Blizzard update server at your region, or during a patch process something screwed up and it keeps downloading the same patch, or you have many patches that applies, or if your game is located in the same partition as Windows, your program will require Administrator privileges to write in the System drive. (remember: that in reality your "Administrator" account is actually something like "Power User" (Similar approach to Linux). Try running your game as Admin (right click on teh executable file of shortcut, and select "Run as Administrator". You may also want to have a visit to Blizzard forum.

All the RAM? you mean 100%? If that is the case, then Windows Vista will prompt you saying that you are low in RAM, and that if a program reaches the maximum, it may crash and you may will lose any unsaved work. And also mentions you a list of programs that it recommend you to close to free up space.
If by "all" you mean a large percentage of your RAM, like 25-50%, then that is Super Fetch. The size will decrease or increase over time depending on what it believes it needs. This space that Super Fetch takes is not fixed or reserved. If Windows processes or any other application needs ram, Windows will free up space from SuperFetch on the spot (instantly). So you don't have to worry about it. I have 2 GB of RAM, and when I play a heavy game and quit, I see my task manager, it shows that Vista takes ~400MB of RAM instead of the usual 750-1000MB.
Again, SuperFetch is a technology that makes your program startup faster, and if it require plug-ins Super Fetch will load them as well (as it learns what file your program uses, and I what time they open, so it pre-loads them on your RAM before you do). This technology is very smart, and I congratulate Microsoft programmer team on their fine work (on of the few things that is super duper well done (however, I can't say perfect as their is always room for improvement)).

Also define pathchy? From my knowledge here in Canada, a Patch (in computers) is a update that applies to a software which fixes issues. It is normal to have Windows updates, as well as update for games and software. If that is what you refer.

If you refer to something that is slow (I am guessing here, as you talked about RAM), make sure you have the latest drivers for all you hardware and devices. Moreover, open the Device Manager, and see that Windows found all your hardware, and that all is running perfectly. If you have just installed Vista, defrag your harddrive and let it index all your files.

Based on your signature, I see that you have the Logitech MX Revolution, so I would imagine SetPoint is installed. If you see any drawing issues in your Volume mixer, blame on Logitech, as it is SetPoint that plays games with Vista and Vista is confused. (This issues recently grabbed Microsoft, and they are apparently looking into it. However, due to the low amount of complain, on both Logitech website and Microsoft, I don't think it's any where near the high priority)

 

huh.. Im using XP Pro SP1 and im still running better frames and performance than anyone i know who uses Vista 64bit.. Not to mention the fact that im running a q6600 as well.. and yes, while i use 3GB of 4GB with XP Pro, it doesnt bother me. You really dont need more than 2Gb for *anything* anyway, so whats the big deal with the vista talk? its a crappy, pos operating system at the moment and still needs to be neutered and fixed like that ******* pitbull up the road. Not saying that XP wasnt the same when it first came out, but thats why time and development is needed for software.

 

Haha, I had the exact opposite, XP 64 bit just gave me error after error n_n;

 

Note:Many of the advanced DirectX3D 10 features which come with Vista 'could' be ported to XP.

But MS are not going to do it because it makes NO sense to them.
Now 3rd party devs 'could' do it but the solution would end up having another abstraction layer not to mention they would have to write (reverse engineer) XP DX3d10 drivers for the Gfx cards as well.
In fact the whole task would be so time consuming that writing GLIDE'3' from scratch would be quicker!
Therefore such a project although NOT impossible, will never reach completion.

The bottom line is we are on the verge of moving over from the 32bit single core era to the 64bit multicore era.
So if you plan to just play single thread Dx3d9c games (anything up to Lost planet) then XP is just the job. But if you want to play 2009 games on a PC, 64bit multicore Vista OS is the future.

Though personally I play Doom3 & ETQW on linux

N.B. I have XP 64 atm & Unbuntu but will get Vista 64bit in a few years.

 

Well was playing with it over the weekend.

The Bios tweaks on the linked website made vista itself stable, but programs still have problems...
In particular WoW, which crashed to desktop several times an hour in vista with error #132, which is generally memory corruption errors

boot back into XP 64 and was stable running WoW for 4hours solid...

I shall stick with XP i think

 

My brother has Vista 64-bit, and plays WoW like crazy, and he has no issue. You are defiantly sure you have Vista SP1 fully updated?
Just an idea: Try disabling Windows Defender (stop service, and disable that startup item with msconfig). I say this because him and I both done this. So maybe that is the secret.

Just a note about drivers:
Windows Update usually has older driver version as either Microsoft testers feel it is better then the new one, then you have the ATI latest.
Try the ATI, see if that helps, if not go with Windows Update drivers and see if that works. Just make SURE you uninstall your drivers BEFORE installing the new one. The last thing you want is a driver conflict, last time I had this was under XP (since that event I am carful now), the hole system went nuts, took forever to restart, screen resolution was not being saved (always comes back to 640x480 at 256colors), and every games and videos made the system crash (if this occurs in Vista, I would expect the game crash (hmmm...) or the drivers (which you will be prompt to restart the drivers)

Oh wait, is your computer OC'ed? See when you Overclock your computer, memory error could occur. This situation is not because Vista sucks, it is just that the OC features of your motherboard or motherboard chipset or your BIOS was not tested thoroughly under the OS you are using (in your case Vista). Set ALL your settings as default.

Searches I found on the error you have:
http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=21027&searchQuery=error 132&pageNumber=1
http://forums.nvidia.com/lofiversion/index.php?t12792.html

 

For WoW you might as well stick with XP as it's not a game that uses Vista's new features. In fact most MMOs are still in the XP era

 

@cloudew, as it was discussed, all games are not Vista exclusive. The time we get 64-bit games multi-core and DirectX 10/11, it will be the end of life of Windows 7 or begging of Windows 8. That is if companies stop selling DirectX 9 video card, P4's and Pentium D CPU's, and people change computers.

 

try vista with sp1 32bit it now sees 6gb on my system, and cheap, or xp64 is good and stable, either have problems though. but why would you want home?

normal xp pro is about the stablest out there at mo from ms (o dear) could try linux??