My last Blue Screen of Death: Bye Vista

[Not Me]

I have had some similiar experiences with Vista.
I do have it on a couple machines, but I now always set the machines up to
dual boot XP.
That way I can actually test the hardware, download drivers, etc (from
within the working XP).
Then I boot to Vista and install the drivers and wait for the next freeze.
Every piece of hardware on those systems is on the Vista hardware
compatibility list, but that seems to mean less with Vista than any previous
version of Windows.

I've only been computing since 1969. I've seen many many changes in
computers and software.
Most have been for the better; but my experiences with Vista, throughout
Beta, and to the present have been mostly negative.
I can figure out just about anything on many OS's, but Vista is the my least
favorite.
I'd rather go back to using the command line that some of the stupid
interfaces they built into this thing.
Many swear by it, but I swear at it.

 

[Edward]

Why not buy a complete Vista system instead of bungling with XP updates and
partitions? That's the cause of most problems with Vista.

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

Funny, I have that same motherboard. I had a problem booting the first day
I got it - nothing at all was starting. Was that what you were seeing?
That'd be an interesting data point.

Most everything you're describing really seems like a hardware problem.
It'll be interesting to note if you have these experiences over time with XP
(or any other installed OS) as well.

Which specific LAN driver was it?

If it's freezing or hardware is failing, that's probably driver/hardware
based, which I for one couldn't help you as much with. If you're having
problems *within* Vista that's more interesting, but by the same token any
system that's freezing all the time is going to be extremely prone to
corrupt ongoing processes.

I'm osrry. That sounds horrible. When did all this badness begin? Did
things start off bad, go bad after some point, or what? I'm curious as to
whether the machine was a lemon to being with, or if some sequence of bad
events lemonized it. If it works with a clean/new OS, that'd be
interesting - does a clean install of Vista (no further additions) then also
fail again badly? If so, there might be some inbox driver issue. If it
takes adding X or Y before badness begins, that also helps isolate out the
badness.

 

[Not Me]

I did, a core duo with 2GB RAM, a 512MB Video card, and Vista Home Premium
installed by the OEM.
But after experiencing Vista problems, I installed a second HDD and
installed XP Pro as a dual boot.
XP will run for weeks without a lockup, Vista likes to 'stall' for a few
seconds to a few minutes on a regular basis.
There may be driver issues, but it is certainly not a hardwars issue or XP
would act up also.
If it works for you, great.
I have one machine Vista actually works on, but XP is considerably faster on
the same hardware, and I can personally see nothing that I need in Vista
that XP doesn't already offer.

 

[C.B.]

"Erwin Moller"

Hi Vista lovers/haters/and all in between,

First: Some people in here are serious trying hard to help out (thanks!),
but I have had way too much Vista troubles now: I give up.

Too much in Vista is broken (even after SP1) to consider it a serious OS.
A *small sample* of my experiences:

- Backup is broken and doesn't offer any settings for advanced users.
It returned only 0800xxxx errors on me, no matter what I tried (sheduled
backup, fresh backup, etc). My filesystem was OK, and I didn't have any
extra users (and removed them, leaving some registry settings) on the
system (which was a known problem).

- My RAID1 kept failing (and rebuilding). To be honest: This could be an
ASUS P5K-E problem (my motherboard), I am not sure.

- System freezes. Power down was the only way out. (Which means a RAID1
rebuild)

- When I run Windows Update, I see an update for my LANdriver. If I try to
install it, my system freezes. This is a driver delivered via Microsoft
Update, not some obscure file found elsewhere.

- My logitech trackball mouse stops responding. Unplugging the usb, and
reinserting helps sometimes, sometimes not.

- My logitech keyboard and mouse are not recognized when I start up.
Unplugging the usb, and reinserting helps (always).
I do use the Logitech delivered Vista drivers.

- Vista oftens needs a few tries before booting. I couldn't find ANY
problem in my device manager, and am using ONLY vista drivers for all my
hardware.

The list goes on and on.
And on.


I went to the shop where I bought my machine, and asked for a XP Pro
licence, which they gave me without troubles.

I am a programmer by profession, and need to work on my OS, not fix it.
I use Gnu/Linux (debian) of course for my server. But I MUST have some M$
software for some of my customers.

Time lost:
I understand I need a little time when using a new OS, no problem. I
estimate that investment on a week or so: Just to get used to it, read
important tech articles, etc.
But I think I lost now 3 weeks (120 hours) on problems with Vista.

My advise to all who consider using Vista is simple: DON'T.

I frequent this group, and I can predict some reactions on my post:
- Frank shouting I am a noob/facist/communist/etc,
- Kevpan saying FYI,
- somebody saying I need the right drivers (which I have),
- somebody saying THEY don't have any problems, so it must be me screwing
up the machine.
- etc
...the usual....

And I'll surely have a look at them when I return here, running XP pro.

No Ubuntu for me, allthough I love it, I simply need Microsoft software
for my customers, like: SQL Server support, a running IIS, etc.

This is no random rant: These a serious complaints by a guy who started
programming when he was 13, and kept working on programming/computers ever
since (for 27 years now, makes me 40).
I liked W2000/W2003 a lot, really, so I don't hate Microsoft or something
(except their monopolistic behaviour. And Steve Balmer I hate too.).

I am not the noob, Vista is crap, and I will not wait for SP2/3/4 whatever
to 'solve all problems'.
I do not care too much about the money paid for Vista (a few hundred
euros), I care about the loss of productive workinghours, which is worth
manyfold the price I paid for Vista.

Regards and thanks for reading my rant,
Erwin Moller

PS: All intelligent replies/opinions are very welcome.

Mr. Moller,

I'm not a programmer. I'm not that intelligent. However, I've been
running Vista Ultimate x86 since Vista was released to the public and I
haven't experienced any problems whatsoever.
What I do know is this: Vista works flawlessly (well, almost) if you
have the proper hardware, the software applications are compatible and the
settings are configured properly. I find Vista to be superior to XP in
almost all ways.
The problems you experienced undoubtedly have something to do with your
system.

C.B.

 

[Alpha]

"Erwin Moller"

DanS schreef:

Hi Dan,

Yes, that one I forgot in my list. ;-)

My point was: I don't care too much about troubleshooting hardware/OS
problems.
I had my fair share of that.
I expect nowadays that when I buy state-of-the-art hardware, an OS works
on it if I deliver the right drivers.
If it doesn't... well, I am not getting paid by M$ or the hardwarecompany
to fix that.

Then you should never have even tried a new OS. I installed Leopard upgrade
on my brand new MacBook and it completely destroyed the data on the HD and I
had to revert. And that was provided by the Apple monopoly.

 

[Adam Albright]

"Erwin Moller"



Then you should never have even tried a new OS. I installed Leopard upgrade
on my brand new MacBook and it completely destroyed the data on the HD and I
had to revert. And that was provided by the Apple monopoly.

So it looks like the real moron is the same guy staring back at your
from your bathroom mirror.

LOL!

 

[DanS]

Erwin Moller

DanS schreef:

Hi Dan,

Yes, that one I forgot in my list. ;-)

Yeah....I was just being sarcastic......

 

[Christos]

Hi Vista lovers/haters/and all in between,

First: Some people in here are serious trying hard to help out
(thanks!), but I have had way too much Vista troubles now: I give up.

Too much in Vista is broken (even after SP1) to consider it a serious OS.
A *small sample* of my experiences:

- Backup is broken and doesn't offer any settings for advanced users.
It returned only 0800xxxx errors on me, no matter what I tried (sheduled
backup, fresh backup, etc). My filesystem was OK, and I didn't have any
extra users (and removed them, leaving some registry settings) on the
system (which was a known problem).

- My RAID1 kept failing (and rebuilding). To be honest: This could be an
ASUS P5K-E problem (my motherboard), I am not sure.

- System freezes. Power down was the only way out. (Which means a RAID1
rebuild)

- When I run Windows Update, I see an update for my LANdriver. If I try
to install it, my system freezes. This is a driver delivered via
Microsoft Update, not some obscure file found elsewhere.

- My logitech trackball mouse stops responding. Unplugging the usb, and
reinserting helps sometimes, sometimes not.

- My logitech keyboard and mouse are not recognized when I start up.
Unplugging the usb, and reinserting helps (always).
I do use the Logitech delivered Vista drivers.

- Vista oftens needs a few tries before booting. I couldn't find ANY
problem in my device manager, and am using ONLY vista drivers for all my
hardware.

The list goes on and on.
And on.

I went to the shop where I bought my machine, and asked for a XP Pro
licence, which they gave me without troubles.

I am a programmer by profession, and need to work on my OS, not fix it.
I use Gnu/Linux (debian) of course for my server. But I MUST have some
M$ software for some of my customers.

Time lost:
I understand I need a little time when using a new OS, no problem. I
estimate that investment on a week or so: Just to get used to it, read
important tech articles, etc.
But I think I lost now 3 weeks (120 hours) on problems with Vista.

My advise to all who consider using Vista is simple: DON'T.

I frequent this group, and I can predict some reactions on my post:
- Frank shouting I am a noob/facist/communist/etc,
- Kevpan saying FYI,
- somebody saying I need the right drivers (which I have),
- somebody saying THEY don't have any problems, so it must be me
screwing up the machine.
- etc
...the usual....

And I'll surely have a look at them when I return here, running XP pro.

No Ubuntu for me, allthough I love it, I simply need Microsoft software
for my customers, like: SQL Server support, a running IIS, etc.

This is no random rant: These a serious complaints by a guy who started
programming when he was 13, and kept working on programming/computers
ever since (for 27 years now, makes me 40).
I liked W2000/W2003 a lot, really, so I don't hate Microsoft or
something (except their monopolistic behaviour. And Steve Balmer I hate
too.).

I am not the noob, Vista is crap, and I will not wait for SP2/3/4
whatever to 'solve all problems'.
I do not care too much about the money paid for Vista (a few hundred
euros), I care about the loss of productive workinghours, which is worth
manyfold the price I paid for Vista.

Regards and thanks for reading my rant,
Erwin Moller

PS: All intelligent replies/opinions are very welcome.

In Greece we say vista is svista.... and svista means in Greek
uninstall them!!!!! Wow!!! It couldn't fit any better...
I've lost not hours but days... and my happiest time was when I was
getting ONLY one blue screen a day!
Regards,
Christos

 

[Frank]

In Greece we say vista is svista.... and svista means in Greek
uninstall them!!!!! Wow!!! It couldn't fit any better...
I've lost not hours but days... and my happiest time was when I was
getting ONLY one blue screen a day!
Regards,
Christos

Buffous...!
Frank

 

[C.B.]

So it looks like the real moron is the same guy staring back at your
from your bathroom mirror.

LOL!

Here we go again. Name calling is an indication of lack of maturity.
Why do you insist on exhibiting such childish behavior?
No, I'm not a member of the "language police." However, it always
amazes me when someone reverts to such childish diatribes.

C.B.

 

[Adam Albright]

Here we go again. Name calling is an indication of lack of maturity.
Why do you insist on exhibiting such childish behavior?
No, I'm not a member of the "language police." However, it always
amazes me when someone reverts to such childish diatribes.

C.B.

Then would should find dozens of your posts taking the resident
newsgroup idiot named Frank to task. How come we can't find such
posts?

 

[Erwin Moller]

zachd [MSFT] schreef:

Hi Zach,

Funny, I have that same motherboard. I had a problem booting the first day
I got it - nothing at all was starting. Was that what you were seeing?
That'd be an interesting data point.

Most everything you're describing really seems like a hardware problem.
It'll be interesting to note if you have these experiences over time with XP
(or any other installed OS) as well.

I must add that since I replaced my P5K-E (first edition) with the
second edition, my RAID1 failures disappeared.
I pointed out in my original post that my motherboard could be the
problem here, and indeed it seems to be the problem.
If you are experiencing RAID problems, replace it by second edition.

Which specific LAN driver was it?

The one delivered as Viasta driver on my motherboard CD.
It is called: Marvell Yukon 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Controller.

I didn't mention in my original post the problems I had with TCP/IP
networking.
Sometimes all my network went down. No http request, no FTP, all went down.
I COULD however still ping other machines succesfully.
Only a reboot helped.
Add this to the list. ;-)
SOmebody in here suggested I get 'better drivers', but the drivers I use
are advocated as Vista ready. :-(

If it's freezing or hardware is failing, that's probably driver/hardware
based, which I for one couldn't help you as much with. If you're having
problems *within* Vista that's more interesting, but by the same token any
system that's freezing all the time is going to be extremely prone to
corrupt ongoing processes.

Agree.
I think however that Microsoft shouldn't sell an OS that has
hardware/driver issues with mainstream hardware.
Microsoft will tell me it is the hardwarevendor that should build good
drivers. I know the drill.
Bottomline is that I am not inclined to solve Vista/hardware/drivers
problems on a daily basis.

I'm osrry. That sounds horrible. When did all this badness begin? Did
things start off bad, go bad after some point, or what?

The missery started almost right from the start.
Buildin backup has maybe functioned well for 1 week before it started
returning 0800xxxx errors.
Failing USB mouse and keyboard started also right from the beginning.
I didn't install funky stuff on my PC, except maybe Mc Afee virusscan.
If Mc Afee is screwing up Vista, well, they are only the number1
antivirus vendor. It should simply work in my humble opinion.


I'm curious as to

whether the machine was a lemon to being with, or if some sequence of bad
events lemonized it. If it works with a clean/new OS, that'd be
interesting - does a clean install of Vista (no further additions) then also
fail again badly?

I had about 3 fresh installs of Vista on my machine.
My machine should be good, except maybe the motherboard (first edition),
but that was replaced by second edition, and all troubles stayed except
the RAID1 failures.
None of the fresh installs solved the problems.
I did all installs together with techpeople from the hardwarestore. They
did nothing strange, simply install the machine with the DVD: pretty
straightforward.


If so, there might be some inbox driver issue. If it

takes adding X or Y before badness begins, that also helps isolate out the
badness.

Sorry, I cannot say what causes the problems. After a lot of fiddling
around, reinstalls, driver replacement, etc, I can only conclude my new
hardware and Vista don't work as they should.
I haven't had 1 problem yet with XP SP2.

Vista is simply not working as it should.
Microsoft can blame all the hardwarevendors in the world, I don't care.

The way I see it:
SuperMotors inc. brings a new automobile on the market.
It works great, is fuel efficient, safe, etc..
Great machine: Not cheap, but great.
After I bought it I discover I cannot get fuel anywhere.
All the tankstations I visit sell fuel that crashes my new car....


Sorry for the silly analogy, but it describes excactly how I feel about
Vista.

Regards,
Erwin Moller

 

[Erwin Moller]

C.B. schreef:

"Erwin Moller"



Mr. Moller,

I'm not a programmer. I'm not that intelligent. However, I've been
running Vista Ultimate x86 since Vista was released to the public and I
haven't experienced any problems whatsoever.
What I do know is this: Vista works flawlessly (well, almost) if you
have the proper hardware, the software applications are compatible and
the settings are configured properly. I find Vista to be superior to XP
in almost all ways.
The problems you experienced undoubtedly have something to do with
your system.

C.B.

Mr. C.B.,

Yes, I am aware of the fact that Vista runs allright on some systems.
I heard that before.
Do you expect Microsoft to sell an OS that actually works on NONE
existing system?
I do expect a lot from them, but not that...
Of course Vista works on some systems.

Your kind of comment has been heard a lot, and means nothing.

It always goes like this:

1) My computer is working fine with Vista.
2) Somebody seems to have problems with Vista

Conclusion: The guy having problems must screw things up himself.

No go get a course 101 on logic, then return if you still have something
usefull to say.

Thanks.

Regards,
Erwin Moller

 

[Erwin Moller]

Christos schreef:

In Greece we say vista is svista.... and svista means in Greek
uninstall them!!!!! Wow!!! It couldn't fit any better...
I've lost not hours but days... and my happiest time was when I was
getting ONLY one blue screen a day!
Regards,
Christos

Haha, I don't know greek, but one would expect Microsoft to name the
brand differently in Greece. ;-)

Regards,
Erwin Moller