Which system? Your opinion please (or, Floppy installs Vista Blog)

Ok Mucks, will do, it's not usually that important anyway, you can usually install the RAID drivers after install to get rid of that annoying yellow question mark in Device Manager. It's just that in this case I don't seem to have any RAID drivers :confused:

btw, on my fresh XP install thought I'd take a chance and install IE7 (yes, I'm one of those odd folk who actually prefer Microsoft's IE over Firefox, Opera et al) and it's actually behaving itself. I actually think it's quite good :eek:

First time I installed it, when it first came out, it was as unstable as hell and gave me all kinds of errors. Now it seems to be ok, and it make everything look a little different. To tell the truth, it look like Firefox in PC Linux OS :D

Does this tell us anything?
 
:lol:


I changed to IE7 very quickly, wasn't quite sure on it to start with, but never looked back.

It err, is a little safer/more secure than FF. ;)


Watch 'em come out of the woodwork now ... :D


:wave:
 
Well my first experience of IE7 was dreadful, have to admit, but I've always quite liked IE6 anyway despite it having no multi-tab facility. And I've never thought much of Firefox, which, I know, is odd.

Right then, E-Buyer e-mailed me today, aproving my RMA, then telling me the replacement RAM was going to be dispatched then sending another e-mail saying it was out of stock.

So I phoned them up, waited 12 minutes to get through but the queue seemed to go down quick (32 in front of me) and asked them if I could perhaps have a credit note. The lady said I could have a refund if I wanted so I said ok. So they're going to credit my credit card with £118.00 which is what the memory cost last March.

The same memory now costs about £41.00. So I think I've had a result there :D

All kudos to E-Buyer, they have changed beyond recognition to what they used to be, I shall certainly use them in future - superb service.

Unlike Scan, I've been getting increasingly cheesed off with them lately, they keep messing things up.

For now I will install Vista using just 2Gb RAM and see how I get on. I may try to install another 2Gb at a later stage but if it doesn't work then I'm lumbered with it because all my three machines that take DDR2 memory have 2Gb, so I couldn't use it anywhere else.

I put my old AM2 2.6Ghz in my media machine today (replacing a 2Ghz chip) and noticed I have the same OCZ RAM in there that's just gone wrong. Hmm.

I have now fully installed all software to my AMD machine after the fresh XP installation and I noted Mucks' mention of that Foxit software and am now using that instead of the Adobe reader. Excellent :thumb: I wish I'd known about that earlier.

Now I have that machine mimicking all functions the Intel machine was doing (apart from Games) I'm ready to start this Vista thing. I ran the compatibility test, all was good - including the RAID chip Mucks - apart from my Epson Scanner wasn't in their database and they doubt if Nero 6 will work.

Other than that all is ok, including two printers, a gamepad and a joystick. I did order an OEM copy of Nero 8 from Scan but it was DOA, I can actually see a fault in the disc layer. I e-mailed Scan this morning but have heard nothing yet, I shall phone them tomorrow.

So - bugger off Scan, hello E-Buyer, never thought I'd be saying that :eek:

Anybody recommend any Vista compatible free burning software? I've always liked Nero a lot but I'm open to suggestions.

Right, here we go wipey-wipe hard disk(s) time......
 
floppybootstomp said:
So they're going to credit my credit card with £118.00 which is what the memory cost last March.

The same memory now costs about £41.00. So I think I've had a result there :D
Click to expand...

You've done well there :D I'll have to look at ebuyer a bit more often :thumb:

floppybootstomp said:
Right, here we go wipey-wipe hard disk(s) time......
Click to expand...

Good luck :nod:
 
oh, jolly good show ...

I use Ashampoo I got ver 6 for free on a promotion ... they, a PC mag, gave a link & code ... obviously that promotion is now over, but it is ideal for me.

I have never liked Nero ... ;)

Can't help with "free" stuff.


:user:
 
Good result on the RMA
nod.gif


floppybootstomp said:
I put my old AM2 2.6Ghz in my media machine today (replacing a 2Ghz chip) and noticed I have the same OCZ RAM in there that's just gone wrong. Hmm.
Click to expand...
Is that the same mobo that you had the problem with the last set of OCZ RAM?
 
Adywebb said:
Good result on the RMA
nod.gif



Is that the same mobo that you had the problem with the last set of OCZ RAM?
Click to expand...

Nope, a different one. I just meant it was the same type of memory.

Asus M2V Motherboard; 2Gb DDR2 6400 OCZ memory and now a single core AM2 2.6Ghz CPU. Also just upgraded the Bios as well.

The faulty memory was originally in an Asus P5B Deluxe and went wrong when I transferred it to an Asus M2N-sli Deluxe which now has some Corsair memory in it working fine alongside an AM2 dual core 3.2Ghz CPU.

Clear as mud eh? :)
 
So I'm looking at PCR on Vista now and my experience, as I expected, has been a mixture of good and bad.

Gripes first:

My Creative X-Fi Extreme Audio Sound card works but I can't get it to work well with my 5.1 loudspeaker setup. The problem is I have no bass and my music sounds tinny. All the audio tests I do within Windows, the bass speaker gives bass, but when I play back a movie or music within Media Player, there's no bass.

Creative supplied software with the soundcard that was full of good stuff. In one section I could tweak the bass til it sounded real good. That software doesn't work in Vista, I tried and had to uninstall it. All Creative supply are drivers and a program named 'Alchemy' which basically is used for game profiles.

So I'm a bit fed up with that :( I have drivers for the motherboard onboard sound, I shall try that. If that isn't satisfactory then Vista is coming off of this machine and will go on my Media machine where the onboard sound is output to a hi fi amp anyway.

I will try and find out if there is a satisfactory sound card/speaker setup/software setup that sounds good with Vista but I really hadn't planned on spending more money. Whose fault then? Microsoft's or Creative's?

I installed Vista straight onto the disk (RAID 0 setup of 150Gb) that contained XP Pro. It's Vista Home Premium and it wouldn't let me upgrade XP, only if I was using other versions of Vista would it let me do that. No probs really I didn't want to upgrade but just so's you know.

I really wish I'd wiped the disk first because Vista informed me it was going to save the old Windows setup as a file named 'Windows.old'. And it did - all 97.4Gb of it :eek: Come on, how stupid is this? It didn't even give me the option not to save the old OS.

And when I found the file and deleted it, it kept prompting me that I was deleting important system files and my system may become unstable, which didn't exactly fill me with confidence. Still, I zapped it and all seems ok as far as I can tell.

Vista constantly urges you to lock yourself to Microsoft so they can monitor you. This is spooky. You can choose not to but who knows what they're up to? You're almost bullied into opting for automatic updates - I haven't chose that option and eventually I managed to find out where to get and install the updates - from within the Control panel.

Ever felt nannied? You will with Vista. Every bloody thing you do, it seems, a window pops up saying, more or less - are you sure? You feel like screaming 'Yes I am bloody sure, just do it, you moron'.

Ok, that's the bad stuff, although I haven't installed any software or peripherals yet, onto the good stuff.

The only drivers I really needed to install were the Nvidia graphics drivers and the sound drivers. Vista took care of everything else - this was really quite fabulous. Although I did install the Asus P5B Deluxe chipset drivers anyway. RAID 0 did not phase Vista and there are no yellow question marks in Device Mnager at all :)

It looks great and I like the way everything's laid out, it really is a pleasure to use.

It is just as fast as XP Pro. In fact, I'm hard pushed whether to say if it's faster or not. It also boots quicker.

It has a ton of useful and interesting features, of which I'm only just learning to find out about.

And that's about it really.

I'm sure I'll have more to say as I install software, games and peripherals.

Right now I really am finding my way about, it took me a long while to find where to install IE's 'Favourites' folder from my XP install but I did find it in the end and all my bookmarks are now in place :thumb:

Biggest disappointment is my sound card not functioning well. I shall persevere with this thing but if the onboard sound isn't any good, Vista may very well get relegated to a lesser machine of mine.

I do want this thing to work but right now I'm hedging my bets. We shall see....
 
Nice result on the ram flopp's looks like they have taken a leaf out of Amazons books and will refund the full original amount you paid no matter how long ago it was
 
Stick with it Flops just for a couple of weeks, even if you really want to go back to XP! This is just the teething period. ;)

I'd bet that the sound problem can be fixed with a bit of an investigation - I'm having a google now to see if I can find anything too. Did you set up the proper speaker types (i.e. 5.1) under the audio options in control panel - that's the only thing that springs to mind?

As for the annoying popups, you can disable UAC in msconfig under the tools menu. I know Mucks will say that you shouldn't, but I have done now :o
 
:lol:

Yep, I'll comment on turning off UAC ... I haven't ... however, while at this stage of installation can be 'annoying' it does ease off after you've installed all your bits-n-bobs ... more importantly, you haven't compromise any other security aspects of Vista by turning off UAC.

Linux "annoys" me more than Vista does with 'root' prompts ... some programs are still not Vista savvy and Vista is just being cautious. No, really, take some time and see for yourself. Lazy programs/programmers. :nod:

In the end though, it's your PC, do what you like. ;)


:thumb:



Maybe invest in a real sound card ... I have loads of bass
 
Haven't checked your links yet Ian but thank you.

I have now actually found the same software at Creative's site for Vista though they didn't make it too obvious that was what I needed.

Oddly enough when I configured my speakers to 7.1 instead of 5.1 I got me's some bass.

I'm messing with software now, mostly sounds ok but sound is fading in and out, or rather the tonal qualities are :confused:

Perseverance I guess, I'm getting there ;)
 
Alright Mistah Shifter - recommend a 'real' sound card then

I know I probably bought a turkey with mine, it being Creative and all, and also being pushed as an X-Fi when it ain't, but all I can say is under XP it sounded very good indeed :)
 
floppybootstomp said:
Alright Mistah Shifter - recommend a 'real' sound card then

I know I probably bought a turkey with mine, it being Creative and all, and also being pushed as an X-Fi when it ain't, but all I can say is under XP it sounded very good indeed :)
Click to expand...
Sorry, still looking ... need valves. :p

You'll 'fix' it ... but I can smile with you. :D


:wave:
 
I've built a couple of valve amps, they both still sound very good indeed...... ;)

For real :)
 
That sounds real annoying Flops, would really **** me off, still one of the reasons i aint jumped ship from XP.

Do you play games with the speakers or 'phones? I just got myself some Sennheiser PC 151's. (Link) Got GRAW2 free, not that i'll play it, but they are great. Plugged direct into sound card. The mic is very clear and great for Teamspeak etc. :)
 
I fell asleep in my chair after that last post, woke up at 2am and went to bed :D

Have just installed Photoshop 7, that's working ok.

V_R, I use loudspeakers, never use headphones at all on this machine.

I do use headphones late at night sometimes on the machine in the bedroom as my bedroom wall is adjacent to next door's bedroom. Then I plug into a front audio panel in the Antec Sonata case. I only ever use a Mic for Skype which, again, I plug into the front audio panel.

There were two lots of Creative software for my card, one at 40Mb, the newer one, and an older version at 53Mb. It wasn't very clear what each one done so I installed the newer one first. That didn't work so I installed the older 53Mb one which did work but I have this undulation problem as mentioned above.

So I will uninstall all things Creative and then install again and see what happens, as the two pieces of Software may be clashing.

Next up I'll be setting up my e-mail accounts in Outlook and wondering whether my version of Mailwasher Pro will work in Vista. It probably won't which means I'll be open to Spamming or have to purchase a newer Mailwasher or something similar, if something similar exists. Any freebies out there? I know Mailwasher is free but the free version only handles one account and I use four.

After that, we'll try some games.
 
Hmmm, well I don't use Outlook very much, but it does have it's own Junk Mail Filter ... you will need to set it up. ;)


Us other folk use Windows Mail, or more recently, Windows Live Mail in Vista ... it has a built-in Spam/Junk mail filter that works very well.

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/email/spam.mspx

Anyway, MailWasher Pro versions 6.0 onwards works with Vista. :thumb:


:user:
 
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