Vista is a Joke

[Rhyfelwyr]

Having recently got a new PC with Windows Vista, I have had constant problems when trying to play M2TW or do anything basically.

First of all I had constant crashes and had to remove 1GB of my 2GB RAM to stop those. Then, having thought the problem was fixed, M2TW would start up and run at a snails pace, virtually unplayable due to the lag. I would have to restart the PC until it decided to run smoothly. Now, having installed the latest Windows updates automatically (well the ones that didn't fail to install for whatever reason), my PC won't start. It loaded once since I installed the updates, but M2TW was doing its usually laggy performance, so I restarted the PC. However, when it got to that green loading bar bit, the PC stayed like that for at least five minutes before I restarted. It then told me Windows had failed to start properly. Even when loading in Safe Mode the PC stops loading when it gets to a certain point each time.

Ever since I got this new PC with Vista it has given me nothing but problems and I'm thinking about just sending it back and getting a new PC with Vista, even if it won't be DX10 compatible.

[edyzmedieval]

Oh noes. I ordered a new laptop for me (a Sony VAIO), because my old one was 5 years old, and it ran like a snail. It will come delivered with Windows Vista.

I hope I won't have problems with it...

[sapi]

Vista's fine, for the most part.

You just have to get used to it.

[Rhyfelwyr]

I'm not sure I want to get used to my computer crashing and probably having to have everything re-installed just because Vista failed to install some updated properly.

[AggonyDuck]

To be honest that really doesn't sound like problems with Vista itself, but more like hardware/driver issues.

[Rhyfelwyr]

No, I think it was the automatic updated that mucked it up somehow. Anyway, I used the repair my PC function on the Windows Vista installation disk, and now it works again. For justnow anyway...

[Husar]

I've got to be either a computer professional or I'm blessed by Bill Gates personally. I have vista and I have 2GB RAM, and I didn't have to remove any of it. Search google for "memtest", download it and let it run for a long time, my guess is it will come up with a lot of faults in either or both of your RAM sticks. I'm updating Vista quite often, I have set it to notify me of new updates and i always download them, there hasn't been a problem once.
However just today I learned/heard that it can produce some weird bugs, try downloading the updates again and see whether that results in the same errors, though backup any important data before doing so.

Apart from that it could still be a hardware problem and it always reminds me how often I had Linux crash. XP doesn't always work properly either btw, the world isn't perfect and Vista is new. Yeah, I got it for free.

Oh, I need a point, well, I don't think it's a joke, it's not perfect, but joke is too strong a word.

[sapi]

Yeah, well it definitely sounds like hardware/driver issues to me; haven't had a single crash on vista since I got it installed.

You wouldn't happen to be using the 64 bit version?

[Xiahou]

To be honest that really doesn't sound like problems with Vista itself, but more like hardware/driver issues.

Maybe, but we still don't have to like Vista.

[Rhyfelwyr]

I am indeed using 64-bit Vista. I think the crash was caused by either the updates that installed, or the ones that failed to install properly. Its run smoothly for a week with just the 1 RAM stick. When I ran with just the other (bad) RAM stick, it crashed a lot more than when I used both. So I'm fairly certain it was just the one bad RAM stick that caused that problem.

I've googled tests for RAM before, but everything I come across tells me I need to buy a disk first.

[sapi]

Ah, 64 bit vista - that explains it

It's not so much microsoft's fault as you'd think, but the driver support is atrocious.

Hopefully it'll improve over time...

[Tran]

Just curious (and slightly off-topic) what's the differences between "64 bit" Windows XP/Vista and "normal/common" Windows XP/Vista? The graphic?

[Husar]

I run 64bit Vista and I haven't had a single crash either, I'm using Vista's own drivers for my mainboard and only installed the NVidia ForceWare drivers for 64bit Vista. The computer runs fine, only for my rather old TV card there are no Vista drivers. You can get memtest here, there is something about purchasing it but the testing procedure can be run for free.

[Lemur]

I've googled tests for RAM before, but everything I come across tells me I need to buy a disk first.

Memtest86 is free. Download it, burn it to a disc, test the RAM. (You'll want to download the ISO image.)

[Whacker]

Memtest86 is free. Download it, burn it to a disc, test the RAM. (You'll want to download the ISO image.)

Might I suggest this (Memtest86+) instead? It's a bit more up to date and has a few better features. Direct link to the ISO image also.

[Lemur]

My Google-fu is weak, and Whacker's is strong. Go with his suggestion, not mine.