Posted on 02/23/2008 7:33:11 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Last week Microsoft rolled out three prerequisite updates to prepare users computers for the first service pack for Windows Vista. However, one of these updates apparently caused serious issues among some users, prompting Microsoft to quickly suspend automatic installations of KB937287 after customers complained that their PCs wouldn't boot up properly once the update had been applied.
For affected users who already received the update, the only solution is to reboot their computers, boot from their original Vista disc and restore their computer to a state several days prior. However, some users have reported hardware and hard disk problems after restoration.
Nick White downplayed the problem on the Windows Vista Team Blog, stating that only a small amount of customers were affected and only in unique circumstances. Microsoft is trying to look into what is causing this unrecoverable crash, and has yet to respond whether or not the blunder will impact its plans to start offering SP1 to users next month.
(Excerpt) Read more at techspot.com ...
Microsoft Junks and Replaces Vista Kernel in SP1
APCmag | February 5th | James Bannan
Posted on 02/09/2008 6:22:20 AM EST by Halfmanhalfamazing
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1967574/posts
Suit says Microsoft knew it misled - (Mislabeling computers as “Vista Capable”)
Seattle Post Intellegencer | 02/13/2008 | By JOSEPH TARTAKOFF
Posted on 02/13/2008 9:12:57 PM EST by Swordmaker
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1970017/posts
better go open a window and air out the room after that one..
Oh no, not me.. :-}
No Vista, staying with XP. If I go anywhere past it, it’s on a different OS....
What a bunch of incompetent bozos.
Nice feature! Did MS QA this thing?
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA GAG CHORTLE COUGH CHOKE *SPIT*.
I know folks who used to be involved with "Patch Tuesday" on Microsoft stuff.
Not time to do much more than rush stuff out the door...
And remember Bill Valentine's infamous "Think INDIA! Two for the price of one!"
The sacred cows are coming home to roost.
Cheers!
I’m supposed to exchange my HP laptop for a newer version but the HP “geniuses” said Vista was the ONLY OS and no more XP. Is there a way to revert the Vista back to XP IF I get the laptop?
Vista SP1 kills and maims security apps, utilities
"Microsoft has admitted that Windows Vista service pack one (SP1) renders useless a number of well-known third party security products.Uh, huh. Funny, it doesn't affect WindowsLive OneCare..."Redmond said in a knowledge base article yesterday that due to "reliability" issues with Vista SP1, it has been forced to prevent some security products from running after the service pack is installed..."
[Tech pings?]
You can still buy XP Pro at Best Buy. $299.99
I got a copy off the shelf a couple of weeks ago.
Some vendors are allowing a "down-grade" option to remove Vista and replace it with XP.
However, you have to be careful about device drivers -- make sure your notebook vendor (e.g. HP) asserts that XP will run on the laptop. Microsoft convinced some hardware vendors to put Vista-only devices in their computers (laptops especially), and reverting to XP will not work. No technical reason to have done it -- pure marketing and arm-twisting.
Bastards. Technological improvement is one thing, but undercutting the will of the customer is just BULLS!T.
Unfortunately, if your HP person is correct, then your new laptop might be one that really only runs with Vista.
I learned this the hard way.
I should add, "Only comes with Vista" does NOT equal "XP won't run on it".
Just because HP doesn't offer it with Vista preinstalled, doesn't mean you can't buy a separate copy of XP and install it successfully.
But you may have to really push and pry to get the accurate answer out of HP to the question, "Are there XP drivers available for all the devices in this laptop???"
That's really what you need to find out.
Just because HP doesn't offer it with Vista XP preinstalled, doesn't mean you can't buy a separate copy of XP and install it successfully.
Get XP.
Better yet, 2K Pro, if you can find it.
Actually, I bought it with the thought of going to a Mac, running XP on it using Parallels or Boot Camp.
If Microsoft is going to force us off of PCs in order to avoid Vista, so be it.
I loaded vista enterprise on my machine a few weeks ago and Still can’t find a problem.
dayglored:
So basically I have to CONFIRM with HP if they have XP drivers installed in the laptop, correct? The first time I spoke with them, they said NO, but I;ll try another “quality assurance” person to find out...
I'm running VMware Fusion on my Macs to do XP, Win2K, Linux, etc. BootCamp works, but you still have to deal with Windows corruption/crash/recovery scenarios eventually. And you can't run them concurrently and copy/paste between OSes as with Fusion.
I suggest looking at VMware Fusion, or Parallels if you prefer (I don't have experience with that one).
I'll never install Windows (any flavor) directly on hardware again. Ever.
Not quite. You have to confirm with HP that XP drivers are AVAILABLE. The XP drivers won't be already installed in the laptop, because it's running Vista, not XP.
You might have to download the XP drivers from their support website, for example. Their tech support people ought to be able to tell you that, and supply you with links to the proper pages.
More power to ya. Count yer blessings -- yer one of the lucky ones.
Waitaminute...if I keep asking these XP Questions, they’ll get the idea that I will convert it back to XP LOL!
OK, I’ll ask if the XP drivers are AVAILABLE on Monday.
Thanks for the advice!
I now have Vista on 3 machines, 1 on home laptop, 2 on machines in my business. Have had zero problems so far.
See post #22 above.
"More power to ya. Count yer blessings -- yer one of the lucky ones."
A lot of it depends on what you try to do with it, too. If you're lucky, you can avoid many of the places where problems exist.
The point is, MOST people with Vista DO experience serious problems. The rest don't, and that's fine, but it doesn't negate the majority who do.
I just purchased an HP printer in October, OfficeJet L7580, and networked it on three computers at work. 2 computers were Vista and one was XP. The printer drivers installed and worked with no problems on the two Vista computers. The XP computer was a different story. Took me 1/2 a day to get the drivers installed and working properly.
Sorry to hear of the trouble.
So when you finally got it working, what did the real cause of the problem turn out to be? E.g. Was the XP machine rife with conflicting drivers? Were the drivers you had trouble with, Vista drivers (e.g. not back-compatible)?
If the XP machine was significantly older, and/or had seen a lot more usage, it's entirely possible that -that- was the cause of the problem, not XP itself.
Just askin'. I'm curious, because as a Sys Admin I run into similar things, and rarely is it XP itself. More often, it's the environment, the so-called "compatible" drivers, or the user has already scrogged the old XP installation.
I know about a dozen people that have Vista and I've not heard of any problems except someone not being able to use a very old printer because Vista drivers were not available. They said it was no big deal, they needed a new printer anyway.
I'm not sure what the problem was. The drivers loaded fine on Vista from the CD that came with the printer. When I tried to load them on the XP machine it would just hang. Did the same thing after numerous attempts. I finally gave up on the CD and went direct to HP's web site and did a download for drivers and did a basic only install to leave out some crap that was not needed.
> I know about a dozen people that have Vista and I've not heard of any problems except someone not being able to use a very old printer because Vista drivers were not available. They said it was no big deal, they needed a new printer anyway.
Okay, but so what? I'm not sure we disagree.
If you buy a new computer with Vista preinstalled, and only run the latest applications, you are only going to run into the "annoyance" level problems, like the UAC dialogs, etc. I also know folks who run Vista like that without getting into too much trouble.
OTOH, If you install Vista as an upgrade on an existing machine, and have to support applications more than a couple years old, you are likely to encounter significant hassles.
Statistically speaking, of course. YMMV, and clearly, yours does. Okay, good for you!
Vista did not get its sour reputation because of Mac and Linux enthusiasts bad-mouthing it. Vista is just a lousy product. Microsoft needs to cut bait and move on to Windows7 ASAP.
HP sells restore discs for every computer it sells. Ask if they have XP and Vista restore discs for the laptop you want. You should ask more than once before you give up. You would get the laptop with Vista on it but then use XP restore disc on it. This disc(s) will have XP plus your laptops drivers on it. They are likely to charge $30 for such discs
As someone posted -- Some new laptops have hardware in them that is newly developed and the only drivers developed for it have been Vista drivers. Typically you can install XP on such laptops and find drivers for most devices but not for your sound
Go here and see what XP drivers [Download drivers and software (and firmware)] are easy to track down for your laptop. Send me your laptop model number and I'll give you my guess for XP drivers
Oh, boy, does THAT sound familiar. My sympathies!
Sounds like the CD was only QA'ed for Vista. It happens, especially with vendors who have had their arm twisted by Microsoft to only support Vista.
"... the machine would just hang..." is almost always a driver issue, especially if you get a blue-screen at the kernel level on the next boot.
Glad you eventually got it working... it sounds to me like the blame lies with HP on this one.
Try the Dell web site. Personally, I’m a Mac guy, but Dell offers XP as an option on a lot of their computers, and won’t give you any flak. If you really want HP, mention to them that Dell still puts XP on their computers. It might make them a little more helpful.
Didn't get that. By hang I mean the computer would start to copy the drivers but after 3 or 4 minutes it would just stop. CD was supposed to be for XP or Vista per the instructions.
I remember DLing the restore discs into 3 discs because HP ONLY uses the DBL SIDED DVD-RW discs (which irritates me due to high cost of those discs).
Ok so in summary:
1) ask if the XP drivers are available for the laptop.
oh btw, the 6500T is being “given” to me...
After my last experience trying to upgrade (2000 to XP) I don't think I'll ever upgrade again. I spent 4 hours talking to India to complete that upgrade. No way would I try and upgrade from XP to Vista. The Vista computers I have were purchased new with Vista.
FWIW, I have an HP PSC 1610 printer (all-in-one type) a couple years old, that came with a CD (XP at that time). There was a point during the installation where the machine stopped responding for at least five minutes, might have been more, and then picked up and continued. I was almost ready to dump it and reboot when it "came back to life".
I hate HP's printer CD software -- it's maximum bloatware.
> CD was supposed to be for XP or Vista per the instructions.
Hmmm. Think maybe they lied? Or just assumed it would work with XP? It happens, in order to get something out the door, deep QA testing for back-compatibility often gets dropped on the floor.
I've upgraded three Win2000 machines to XP, with good results overall. But I agree, I would only install Vista as a fresh from-scratch install.
And only in a VM (virtual machine). Not directly on the hardware. That way, rolling back to a working machine is a simple matter of a file copy from a saved snap of the VM.
It does not list a set of XP restore discs and limited set of XP drivers but you can often track down XP drivers in other ways
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=3369405&lang=en
It does list Vista restore discs and full set of Vista drivers
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=2093&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=3369405&lang=en
I would still phone them up and ask about XP discs for the laptop. This is the easiest way
Here is what a typical hunt is like to put XP on a Vista laptop
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showpost.php?p=9162893&postcount=937
My guess is if you cannot get HPs XP restore discs you will get the laptop video, wireless networking, regular networking working with XP but iffy on other stuff. Sound you will get going but with a hassle
dennis: that is the proposed laptop and is also (?) available in XP. BUT the drivers are iffy and indeed, looks like a hassle.
So it all comes down to 1) XP drivers
2) XP restore discs
1) A Windows XP disc you buy plus 2) XP drivers for that laptop you download from HP support and hunt down in other ways
or
3) HPs XP restore discs custom made for that laptop that you can buy from HP. Just like its Vista restore discs are custom made for that laptop
--------- Forgetting XP for the moment.... With HP Vista laptops these days usually the customer burns his own Vista restore discs. If he has a computer meltdown and has not made these discs then he must pay HP for a set of Vista restore discs
--------- You can always sell your new sealed replacement laptop from HP on eBay then go over to Dell where there is an XP option for some of their laptops
Yes, I remembered DLing the restore discs into 3 discs, AND I STILL HAVE EM’.(for my current HP laptop).
Now here’s the Q: if my “new” Vista laptop crashes, can I “put in the old XP restore discs” (from my current laptop)?
Your old laptop restore discs will not work. Or will half work.... but you might have something there to build on. What model is that one?
You better have your XP serial number. The installation number
One of the Dell laptops I was going to buy and downgrade to XP had an Vista only optical drive. I ended up buying a dell with XP installed instead of risking having non functional hardware.
2k is not better than XP. It has long shutdown times, weird device problems, doesn't support wpa/wpa2 etc. XP is clearly superior to 2k.
Vista however is phone-home garbage-ware. It's Mistake Edition II. Any other application that contacted the home office as much as Vista does, without consent of the owner would be classified malignant spyware or perhaps a trojan.
I’m sticking with Kubuntu Linux.
Count me in as one of the “lucky ones” as well. Absolutely no problems with Vista. Sure, it involves a bit of a learning curve, as any new OS or major upgrade does. But Vista itself has played nice with all my programs and peripherals. I haven’t had to upgrade any of them because they didn’t work with Vista.
As far as the “majority” having problems with Vista. I don’t know about that. I think its so-called problems is a lot of hype and people like to get on that bandwagon.
Take for instance a woman I know who was told when she bought a computer with Vista that she’d need to upgrade all her software as well. So while she was in the store she bought $600 worth of upgraded software. So she tells everyone that getting Vista meant she had to get new software. The common person will just take that as fact. I think she was told a line by a store hoping to make an extra buck.
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