Is Vista supposed to be this buggy?

[SRTDodge05]

I would use whatever one your happy with. Vista is nice but it can sure take sometime to get things working right. If you wanted to do a dual boot and use xp for your main use and then have vista to play with and learn the new style.

[ctal]

Assuming that the restore disk came with the laptop (as opposed to being an installation disk issued by Microsoft), I suspect it would reinstall all of the crapware, as well as the os and the desired programs. And that the crapware is a significant part of the problem, in addition to Vista's problems.

A few months ago I bought an Asus A8SC-B1 laptop, and I've been delighted with it since I "nuked" Vista Home Premium and all of the crapware it came with, and installed XP Home SP2.

As delivered, its performance was so bloated and slow I didn't even bother trying to figure out all of the new and unfamiliar things about Vista, I just got rid of everything and installed XP and the programs I wanted from scratch. I recall that Task Manager showed around 75 processes running in the "as delivered" Vista configuration (a lot of them associated with non-Vista crapware supplied courtesy of Asus), with no programs open. With XP and the MANY programs I have installed, that number is 29.

Regards,

-- Al

[SRTDodge05]

Originally Posted by ctal

Assuming that the restore disk came with the laptop (as opposed to being an installation disk issued by Microsoft), I suspect it would reinstall all of the crapware, as well as the os and the desired programs. And that the crapware is a significant part of the problem, in addition to Vista's problems.

A few months ago I bought an Asus A8SC-B1 laptop, and I've been delighted with it since I "nuked" Vista Home Premium and all of the crapware it came with, and installed XP Home SP2.

As delivered, its performance was so bloated and slow I didn't even bother trying to figure out all of the new and unfamiliar things about Vista, I just got rid of everything and installed XP and the programs I wanted from scratch. I recall that Task Manager showed around 75 processes running in the "as delivered" Vista configuration (a lot of them associated with non-Vista crapware supplied courtesy of Asus), with no programs open. With XP and the MANY programs I have installed, that number is 29.

Regards,

-- Al

Some oems offer three different restore options. One is a image on a hidden partition with the os, drivers and etc. Theres also a restore cd or dvd you can get some have the bloatware on them and some dont. Third option is a disk with the oem name on it thats just windows with a second disk with drivers.

[ctal]

Thanks, SRT. In the case of my Asus A8SC-B1, it came with a hidden partition containing a restore image, and a "restore DVD" that can be booted from and used to restore the hidden image. IIRC, what I read at Asus' site or in the manual led me to believe that the image contained the complete "as delivered" software configuration.

Before nuking the hidden partition and everything else on the hard drive, I created an image of the image, so to speak, and stored it on an external drive, in case I ever want to restore it to get the laptop serviced or to sell it.

Regards,
-- Al

[jaketerminate]

I ran into a problem, apparently it wont let me boot into my XP restore disk. It loads the CD and comes up with a message that goes something like "Press R to start recovery, this will either boot from the recovery partition or a recovery CD". I press R and it boots me into Vista. I dont get it. I have XP as a non recovery Install but I really wanted, and kinda need, media center for my TV tuner and other peripherals.

[jaketerminate]

I just found this article about Phenoms TLB problems. It mentions how your computer can "lock up or freeze". Phenom TLB patch benchmarked - The Tech Report - Page 1 Ive had this happen to me twice. Im thinking about returning my computer again... AMD claims that this problem is rare but i really think that this is whats happining.

[zman88]

I'm pretty sure you need xp with sp2 and intel matrix drivers slipstreamed. I think its doing that because xp is not seeing the hd.

hope this helps

[ctal]

Originally Posted by jaketerminate

I press R and it boots me into Vista. I dont get it. I have XP as a non recovery Install but I really wanted, and kinda need, media center for my TV tuner and other peripherals.

Do you mean that it boots the existing Vista os installation, or that it tries to reinstall/recover Vista from a hidden recovery partition on the hdd? It could be that your XP recovery cd is designed to recover from an image on a hidden partition on the hdd, but what is on that partition is a Vista recovery image.

Have you tried the XP "non-recovery install" cd you mentioned, and if so does that work? If not, as was pointed out you probably have to create a slipstreamed cd with XP + SP2 + storage driver.

If you want XP media center edition, then obviously you need an install disk for that. Let us know if I'm misunderstanding your question.

-- Al

[jaketerminate]

Ive decided im just going to return the thing and was thinking about building my own system. I was thinking about getting all my parts from Newegg. Got any tips before i start?

[polonyc2]

Originally Posted by jaketerminate

I just found this article about Phenoms TLB problems. It mentions how your computer can "lock up or freeze". Phenom TLB patch benchmarked - The Tech Report - Page 1 Ive had this happen to me twice. Im thinking about returning my computer again... AMD claims that this problem is rare but i really think that this is whats happining.

that's why you gotta do research before buying a new system...I'm in the process of upgrading and I must have spent a few weeks researching different components/configurations etc...that being said I doubt the TLB bug is what's causing your issues...isn't there a BIOS option to disable the TLB errata?

[jaketerminate]

Originally Posted by polonyc2

that's why you gotta do research before buying a new system...I'm in the process of upgrading and I must have spent a few weeks researching different components/configurations etc...that being said I doubt the TLB bug is what's causing your issues...isn't there a BIOS option to disable the TLB errata?

Yea i think ive realised that now that im returning my 2nd computer that i have boughten and yes there is a BIOS option to disable it but it sacrifices 10% of your processor speed and i dont want to do that...

[johnrr6]

An Abit P35-E board and a E6550 looks like a WHOLE lotta bang for the buck from Newegg right now.....

A very high end start for just $230....

Or you could wait till the Wolfdales become more plentiful....

[SRTDodge05]

Also look at the giga-byte p35-DS3L its a very strong board and overclocks great for about $100.