Right. Time to get serious
Ive been working on a windows vista machine for about a year and a half now and quite frankly ive just lost my rag with it. Its an unneccesary rescource-hogging pile of crap, and the compatibility problems that im suffering lately are getting right on my nerves.
Now. Im considering "downgrading" (if you want to call it that) to XP Pro. What problems am i going to have? Now i suspect that i am going to have to find a ridiculous amount of drivers on the internet before my laptop will work properly.
The laptop Specs are as follows. I have also provided a list of programs that i use frequently and want to know if ill experience any problems with them. here goes.
OS: Windows Vista
Model: Toshiba Satellite P200-1k9
Proc: Intel Centrino Core2 Duo T7700 2.4Ghz
GPU: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600
RAM: 3.0 GB
Programs:
3D Exploration
3DS Max 7
7-Zip
Acoustica Beatcraft
Adobe Photoshop 7
Apple iTunes (and other connected programs)
Blender
Blender nif Scripts
Audacity
Threed
Pak Explorer
ODL1 Winter
BZ2 Scriptor
BZ2 TA5, and other versions
Filezilla client
GIMP
XnView
Reason 4.0
WinRAR
Windows Grep 2.3
Python (many versions)
AIp Editor
VUE 7 Pinoeer
Firefox
Kaspersky Internet Security 2009
Fallout 3
Fraps
Game Extractor
I also need all the various drivers for my laptops hardware
^ The main ones im concerned about.
What you think?
Using 64-bit for some odd reason?
3DS max 7, 7 zip, pak explorer, blender, and itunes all work fine on vista
And really, thats running badly?
That doesnt seem to bad. Graphics card could be a bit better but yeah.
Don't do it. Use the task manager to help you keep all the programs that are running processes down to a minimum when you do high end pc work. I've been through this before. It's not worth it. By the time you get back to where you want to be, you'll have lost interest in the reason you did this.
Did you change the visual settings for performance?
Thats NOT the problem im having. Its only a laptop so its not that higher spec.
Im having Compatibility problems. Im trying to install sound engineering software called CUBASE 4, but it wont install on vista.
BTW my version is 32-bit, not 64. However if i was to change OS' i would move to a 64-bit system.
if you do decide to downgrade to xp. one of the most critical issues i've found is with sata harddrives and multicores. when you install i'd turn off your multiple core in bios until the install is completed. by the time its fully up and running it'll work fine.
the harddrives may or may not be a problem. If you can find an install disc with service pack 2 you should be good, but dont wipe out the comp until you're certain the XP setup recognizes your hard drives. If they arent seen, you'll either need to put drivers on a floppy or (since noone really has floppy drives anymore) slipstream them onto the CD. Drivermax (http://www.drivermax.com/) is a pretty good program ive found for extracting drivers from your current system and nLite (http://www.nliteos.com/) has a good easy to understand wizard for creating custom XP install CDs.
the problem with extracting drivers from vista is that they might not work with XP. more often than not youll have to download XP drivers from online.
one last thing i would recommend if you use nlite for custom drivers is to use a CDrewritable as the first drivers you get might not work and youll have to reburn the CD.
Before you change the Windows version on a laptop, visit the manufacturer's website. Ensure that there are drivers for the OS you want to change to. Download them to a memory stick/burnt CD so that you can access them after a reinstall. If there aren't drivers for your new OS, do NOT try and change the OS. Ever. It's just a bad idea. I'd just download drivers for your current OS, and do a reformat/reinstall.
If switching to a unix-derivative, like Ubuntu, then manufacturer's site is going to be useless. But, Ubuntu can usually be booted and run off a CD to preview things.
(Update): Just to clarify, I always grab latest drivers for all major parts (motherboard chipset, networking, sound & video) and put them on memory stick/burnt CD before I begin any Windows reinstall, laptop or desktop. For a laptop, I grab latest version of all downloads offerered, major or not.
The main thing is that I always check what OS the downloads are for. I've got a laptop that only has WinXP driver downloads. I will never try and put Vista/Win7 on it, as important pieces of hardware may not have drivers. Same in reverse -- if drivers are only offered for Vista, I'd never try and put XP on it. Most desktop hardware has drivers for WinXP & Vista, so this is less of an issue. Laptops tend to have more custom hardware that can't use generic drivers, so you have to check the laptop maker's website.
-- GSH
That's good advice that GSH has usually given you. If its the only computer in the house and XP cannot install the driver for the network adapter automatically then you won't be able to simply go on the internet and download the driver yourself because you need the networking driver to get on the internet in the first place. Video and sound drivers are also typically missing on new computers. Though XP will typically use the generic video driver (which is no good for 3D) if it cannot find the driver for your specific video adapter.
i have two computers... the PC is a family system so that will be sticking with XP.
It seems like a possibly expensive risk... Ill keep hunting for a work-around with my Cubase copy first. If i dont have any luck ill consider a revert. Either that or wait until i can afford Pro-Tools LE...
Why doesn't Cubase work with Vista?
Exactly what are you seeing when you are trying to install Cubase? Are you sure you only have Cubase4 installed on one PC at a time? It might be due to some licensing restriction (i.e. Syncrosoft E-License Control).
Other than that, as aforementioned, check the Toshiba website for drivers. I downgraded a client's Toshiba Satellite UMPC (U205 series) from Vista to XP successfully and luckily there were XP drivers (except for a specific HDD shock-resistant xp driver, which wasn't necessary anyway). In my case, I went and installed all possible xp drivers for the U205 (about 50 of them, heh). A good (or better) place to ask for specific Toshiba notebook queries is at http://laptopforums.toshiba.com . Some nice folks there. Also ask/search around in the Cubase forums, if not already.
Tweaking Vista to work more like XP might also help, as I've heard (don't ask me though :P ).
Cubase 5 supports Vista and, IIRC, the same file formats (Steinberg have an annoying habit of making one version incompatible with the next) so it might be a good idea to spend a bit more and get that instead, if you want to stick with Vista.
whats boffins by the way?
Im not spending more money on getting cubase 5. I got version 4 for free, and the software is NOT cheap.
The message i get is 'this program requires windows XP SP1 or higher to install'. The file format for the installer is .msi, which is microsofts own installer. The STUPID mis program runs as a service on vista, so i cant run in compatibility mode.
Plenty of people have had it installed, but i cant get beyond that point, no matter what i do with my settings. Im going to give it a try on my desktop later, which has vista SP1 installed, and will try that. doubt ill get anywhere though.
I get compatibility issues with some games on XP saying it won't work on Windows NT. It is because the software isn't capable of recognising the OS as what it is and so mistakes it for the most similar, which is, of course, earlier. It is probably seeing Vista as an earlier OS.
Backup your vital data, grab hardware drivers, format and reinstall Vista.
Deal with it until Windows 7? You're over half way there. Maybe it will have better compatibility with your stuff than Vista.
yeh possibly.
Ill hang on for now... i wont need to use it regularly until next year and then ill probably end up with pro-tools and a 003 rack + factory anyway.
How long until W7 does hit shelves anyway? I was thinking about grabbing one of the public betas if they are still around...
November, or maybe even October from what i've read.
TheJamsh do a clean boot of vista (also with only what you need running) and post a hijackthis log.
I know this is old, but I have been busy.
The reason some old things may complain about XP/Vista/Win7 being NT is because:
Windows 2000 == NT5
Windows XP == NT5.1
Windows Vista == NT6
Windows 7 == NT7 (Hmm, wonder why they call it Windows 7...)
The old Windows 9x line is dead, it had far too many issues, NT was always more stable and faster.
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I managed to get this to work BTW, strangely enough by installing the vista service pack. The pack must have included some missing .dll's or something.