VISTA is ****

Lee H

Hi

Am sure someone has already started a thread about this where Vista reboots after updates, how annoying is that, i stopped using Vista a long time ago due to setup of the OS etc.. being considerably longer than XP, now i have installed it on my fairly new pc hoping it would run fine i have this problem with updating

Again i find this Vista needs far more attention than XP, when will MS get one right from the off, and why do we need to wait so long until its worthy of our time

Thats my Sunday morning rant after spendind all last night setting up Vista and the next hour setting up XP

Lee H

RussS

Shoot Lee - don't say that ...... some around here will want to lynch you for not following the party line

mamono

I'm not fond of how Microsoft pushes updates on you. I was typing a long post on TE at 3AM one morning a week and a half ago, and Microsoft pushed an update. It downloaded, installed, and then automatically rebooted without any warning. I was pissed because that post was nearly a page of typed text... *sigh* A warning would have been nice...

Ahriakin

Em....maybe set your Auto Update options to just notify you? Put the cert knowledge to work man!

I hated Vista when it was first released, took it off the laptop it came on and installed XP. I reinstalled it about 3 months back, with SP1, and to be honest I'm fine with it now. It's as fast as XP was on the same machine and is stable. Compatibility issues are pretty much done with too. Now I'm on no hurry to 'upgrade' my other machines but I don't see a reason not to get it with a new one anymore.

dynamik

Vista: Control Panel > Windows Update > Change Settings

XP: System Properties > Automatic Updates

The options are identical. Why is this a Vista issue?

Plantwiz

dynamik wrote:

Vista: Control Panel > Windows Update > Change Settings

XP: System Properties > Automatic Updates

The options are identical. Why is this a Vista issue?

Was thinking that same....


I just enjoye Vista so much that I've upgraded to a MAC

undomiel

I'm enjoying Vista on my work machine. Still Linux for my home desktop though. Office 2007 is pretty nice as well.

jibbajabba

Mm... WU behaves like it does on XP to be honest .. turn it off if you don't like WU

Lee H

Thanks for the obvious suggestion about turning off WU, tried that but still updated when i left it unattended, just now doing my 3rd system restore to get back into it so am gonna make sure I turn it off

So what is the plan, do we never update Vista cos of this????

My post was more of a general comment on how much time is needed to be spent on Vista compared to XP, I am extremely busy with 3 kids under 4 so spending hours setting up Vista is not what I need right now, I also love the GUI and all things Vista but I have to draw the line at babysitting it like I do with my kids, congrats if you have no issues with Vista you must be 1 of a few


While I was typing this out I noticed my Vista WU was set to "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them", so even with that selected it installed all the updates and again hung up on reboot


Lee H

dynamik

What problems are you having?

In my experience, Vista seems to need much less attention. I do think the installation might be slightly longer than XP, but it also requires much less interaction. You can pretty much walk away after putting in a little information. The wife an I each have a Vista laptop and desktop, and I have many more Vista machines I oversee at work. Aside from a few driver issues when it was initially released, I haven't had any problems.

mamono

mamono wrote:

I'm not fond of how Microsoft pushes updates on you. I was typing a long post on TE at 3AM one morning a week and a half ago, and Microsoft pushed an update. It downloaded, installed, and then automatically rebooted without any warning. I was pissed because that post was nearly a page of typed text... *sigh* A warning would have been nice...

That's just my problem. I have it set that way. Microsoft pushed that update. I had no control over that update.

royal

mamono wrote:

mamono wrote:

I'm not fond of how Microsoft pushes updates on you. I was typing a long post on TE at 3AM one morning a week and a half ago, and Microsoft pushed an update. It downloaded, installed, and then automatically rebooted without any warning. I was pissed because that post was nearly a page of typed text... *sigh* A warning would have been nice...

That's just my problem. I have it set that way. Microsoft pushed that update. I had no control over that update.

Maybe you need an update to make your updates work.

Lee H

What problems are you having?

In my experience, Vista seems to need much less attention

Whatever issues arise add time to the whole setup, i am still not at a point were i can sit down and just use the PC, the instalation is fine its when you load it up and see what you need to straighten out

Problem 1

Updates cause PC to hang on re-boot, this means i cannot update my Vista with any critical update as i dont know which one caused it to hang, i certainly dont have time to install each one individually and then reboot, google may tell me when i next have time to search

Problem 2

COM surrogate has stopped working, this pops up when i open any folder with a video file in it, i have tried the fix My computer - properties - advanced system settings - advanced - performance settings - data execution prevention - turn on DEP adding dllhost.exe, this did not work

Problem 3

I have added an IDE drive with all my media files on, this also makes Vista hang on boot, just a blank screen, when I F8 and choose my SATA 1 still no joy, my BIOS is set to boot to this SATA, soon as I disconnect the IDE drive Vista boots up


Am sure theres a way to solve these but as I have said before, Vista installs are much much longer than XP, I dont have any issue whatsoever with XP but I am gonna give this Vista a bit more time to see if I can iron out these issues

Any ideas would be great

Lee H

HeroPsycho

I've installed Vista on my main machine, wife's machine, computer I use for DVR stuff downstairs. Haven't had any of the above issues. I don't think Vista is the problem here.

Updated all your drivers and apps?

Pash

After using Vista for 6 months there is only one thing I can't fix but it annoys the hell outta me. Sleep mode is fantastic, but every morning at 2am it wakes itself up from sleep. I check my windows event logs and it seems to be the VMware nics performing some kind of check job, Ive searched and searched and no suggestions.

Other than that, I don't think it's that bad.

vsmith3rd

Lee H wrote:

Problem 2

COM surrogate has stopped working, this pops up when i open any folder with a video file in it, i have tried the fix My computer - properties - advanced system settings - advanced - performance settings - data execution prevention - turn on DEP adding dllhost.exe, this did not work

That COM surrogate may result from a Nero or DivX related issue. I had the same thing, upgraded my Nero, and the problem went away. If you use either, try updating to the most current version.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/fix-for-com-surrogate-has-stopped-working-error-in-vista/

vsmith3rd

Pash wrote:

After using Vista for 6 months there is only one thing I can't fix but it annoys the hell outta me. Sleep mode is fantastic, but every morning at 2am it wakes itself up from sleep.

I'd try cutting back on its afternoon naps. I have mine up and running all day, and it sleeps soundly all night long.

Sorry man, just kidding. I have nothing to offer in the way of a solution, but figured maybe I could lighten your stress with a corny blurb.

JDMurray

Pash wrote:

After using Vista for 6 months there is only one thing I can't fix but it annoys the hell outta me. Sleep mode is fantastic, but every morning at 2am it wakes itself up from sleep. I check my windows event logs and it seems to be the VMware nics performing some kind of check job, Ive searched and searched and no suggestions.

Set Vista to Hibernate rather than Stand By (sleep) or set it not to wake from hibernation when signaled by a NIC (disable WakeOnLAN).

Pash

JDMurray wrote:

Pash wrote:

After using Vista for 6 months there is only one thing I can't fix but it annoys the hell outta me. Sleep mode is fantastic, but every morning at 2am it wakes itself up from sleep. I check my windows event logs and it seems to be the VMware nics performing some kind of check job, Ive searched and searched and no suggestions.

Set Vista to Hibernate rather than Stand By (sleep) or set it not to wake from hibernation when signaled by a NIC (disable WakeOnLAN).

Sleep mode is a lower power state right? Also, wake on lan can only be disabled from physical NIC's (already done that), not virtual ones, at least i couldnt find a way of disabling it from device manager with the vmware ones.

Also, -Powercfg can be used to troubleshoot vista sleep problems. According to the info i got from playing around with the flags, the only device that can wake my pc from sleep, is my keyboard, which is what i wanted.

Ill paste the logs from windows event viewer when im home, its very strange to say the least.

Thanks,

Pash

Actually i found the answer to my own question, sleep is a hybrid of stanby and hibernate modes. I guess I could argue i like sleep mode a lot more as it is extremely quick to resume after powering on.

I would love to fix sleep mode issue, without uninstalling vmware

dynamik

How long does it take for you to resume from hibernation? My laptop only takes around 10 seconds.

JDMurray

Check all the network adapters in Device Manager and make sure "Allow this device to wake the computer" is unselected on the Power Management tab of each adapter's Properties page. If an adapter doesn't have a Power Management tab then it's not the device being woken up.

dynamik wrote:

How long does it take for you to resume from hibernation? My laptop only takes around 10 seconds.

Hibernation writes the entire contents of RAM to a hidden partition on the hard disk, so the time it takes depends on how fast your hard drive spins up and how much RAM you have to restore.

dynamik

JDMurray wrote:

Hibernation writes the entire contents of RAM to a hidden partition on the hard disk, so the time it takes depends on how fast your hard drive spins up and how much RAM you have to restore.

Yea, I know how hibernation works.

I was just curious how long it took for him since it seemed to be problematic for him.

Pash

Already made those steps, like I said above the only device configured to wake my pc up from a power state of s3 or lower is my keyboard, but still it happens.

I don't actually have hibernate turned on, ill activate it and try it

Cheers,

JDMurray

Also, if you think it's VMWare waking the PC, shutdown VMWare before sleeping and see if it wakes anyway. That would rule out VMWare if it doesn't stays down.

dynamik wrote:

Yea, I know how hibernation works.

You don't have an A+ cert, so I couldn't be sure.

Pash

JDMurray wrote:

Also, if you think it's VMWare waking the PC, shutdown VMWare before sleeping and see if it wakes anyway. That would rule out VMWare if it doesn't stays down.

dynamik wrote:

Yea, I know how hibernation works.

You don't have an A+ cert, so I couldn't be sure.

Very good point, troubleshooting 101 that

I shall post the results, thanks.

Btw maybe we need a Vista nursery judging by some of these issues

kingpinofdisks

I don't understand it when IT types complain about the latest OS - I heard all kinds of grips when Win95 came out, or NT 4, etc...

My laptop screen cracked last month. So I had to buy a new one, especially since I am studying at the library (free Air Conditioning, fast wireless, no Tivo/Xbox type of distractions).

I got a Dell Vostro 1510 (Core2 Duo 1.8ghz, 2gb RAM, 160gb HD, DVD-RAM, 15.4", 2 yr warranty, $582) laptop with Vista Basic. Yep, I am cheep, and my laptop won't ever join a domain (I use Vista Business in a Virtual Machine for Microsoft lab-type work). It plays movies, music, burns discs, and has a decent wireless antenna.

The sucker runs everything I have thrown at it, with no errors / crashes / issues at all. I did turn my updates to download/notify, so I can choose when to update. I did install some security features (privoxy, a HOSTS file, Firefox 3) to make internet surfing a clean(er) experience. Adobe CS3 trial software, Dictation Software, 2 office suites, Solarwinds, VMWare, and open source stuff like Gimp, Dia, Wireshark, NMap, and more all run perfect on even Vista Basic.

It even runs my favorite serial port program (Terra Term Pro from like 1996) without any issues at all, using an Airlink USB -> Serial port.

Most of the crashes I find are related to a)older software that was written poorly (like programs trying to directly access some piece of hardware), and b)older hardware that would have problems running any OS.

Tyrant1919

JDMurray wrote:

dynamik wrote:

Yea, I know how hibernation works.

You don't have an A+ cert, so I couldn't be sure.

Burnnnnnnnnnnnnnn..........

Back on Topic, No issues with Vista. I had the Com Surrogate thing too at one time awhile back, updated everything and it was good to go. I mean EVERYTHING, so I wasn't sure of the exact fix. The amount of updates available for Vista right now have fixed a lot of issues.

Lee H

The amount of updates available for Vista right now have fixed a lot of issues

and also created one, i still cant update mine for fear of it not coming back on

JDMurray

And I ran into a new bug in the Windows event logging service cerated by Vista SP1. There is a hotfix for it, but it doen't work on my machine.

Lee H

for some strange reason, I have to press F8 on boot and select my SATA, or it will boot to my IDE and say missing HAL, even though I have my boot order correct, if i remove the IDE it will boot straight to my SATA, only way round it is to press F8