Windows Vista 32 Bit

[Big Harpe]

Hi all,
In case you're wondering, here is a post I put up on the Powercore Forum. It may benefit those who are thinking of upgrading to Windows Vista. Keep in mind, this is based on MY experience, hardware and software issues not yours. Therefore, everything may be just fine for you. I just wanted to pass this along to save some pain in the world. God knows there is enough of that. Here you go, read at your own risk.... I have no interest in getting any negative feedback since I am doing this out of genuine kindness, period..

What a time! My PC got corrupted and I had to reinstall my O/S for the first time after 6 years (not too bad, huh?) Since I lost my XP CD's I decided to just buy Vista to upgrade anyway. I mean, how much different could it be, right? Well, continuing along that thought process was a big mistake..

A fully licensed version of Cubase SX 2 wouldn't work,
My Audio Cards' ASIO drivers failed to work, (flawless in XP),
MIDI wouldn't work, (again flawless in XP,),
Powercore-down for the count (as some of you already know)
UAD-1 was OK.
Limewire wouldn't work
BittTorrent couldn't connect
Some web sites wouldn't load, due to 'Security' issues. (This was with the Security Options in Vista turned off too).
Demo software wouldn't operate.
MP3's wouldn't open and I even had trouble playing some of my OWN music due to licensing issues.
Adobe Reader 8 wouldn't install due to \"The temp drive is either full or you don't have permission to access the drive\" - after it downloaded and almost installed... And I tried it install it from and on external drives too without success.
NVidia Windows Vista graphics driver (from http://www.nvidia.com) wouldn't install. Vista reported that \"The file you are installing does not contain any valid Windows Vista Drivers\".

I tried every work around to install and run this stuff for a week. Nothing would work. I tried booting in Driver Loading Ignored Mode, whatever mode, safe mode, yadayada. I have always been on the technical forefront and I've always been an advocate of upgrading software. I've been working on a PC full time, every day since 1993. I've been through DOS, Windows 3.0, 3.1, 95, NT, 2000, XP, and now, Vista. The only experience that compared to this latest one was the painful 'Upgrade to Windows NT'. That one hurt too. I thought that crap was a thing of the past though.

What worked besides basic Audio WDM drivers and the UAD-1??

The Internet
Email

Windows Vista, at this point in time, is a useless piece of crap.

I put XP back on, and guess what?? Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING works like a charm. Coincidence???? No.
After discussing with some others it is apparent that Microsoft has taken over the role of Apartheid of the PC world. I understand the need to limit hacking, improve security and turn a profit, but it shouldn't be implemented at the expense of completely shutting off access to the LEGAL hardware, software and licensed content the you have PURCHASED.

Shame on Microsoft. I am inclined to buy a Mac next time around because of this.

 

[Spacey]

I hear ya I've kind of had the opposite, everything but the uad-1's worked on Vista 32 bit. My Echo Audiofire 12 xp drivers work fine as does Cubase 4, in fact Cubase 4 is a lot more stable and a lot quicker on the gui.

I have to run Kontakt 2 as \"administrator\" or it won't let me save presets, it won't let me put a convolution in the convolution reverb though.

My Uad-1's keep losing connection with card, and I had a hard time getting them to even be recognised by Vista, it didn't even think they were there. I've sort of got it working. But on the whole I like Vista. I have an Ati X1600 pro graphics card so drivers were ready for Vista. You need a good graphics card for sure. I'm able to run a lot more programs without crashes so I like Vista. But I need the uad-1's to work all the time.

 

[project]

you need to check and make sure you have drivers for everything that is mission critical before making a move like that... so far for me everything works great in Vista 64. even reason 3.04 now after an update patch.

 

[Big Harpe]

Yes, you are both right. Granted, I don't have the latest in anything these days, but still you'd think something would work besides the UAD-1 and others mentioned.

As far as crashes, it Blue Screened when I was doing my Taxes with TurboTax. Maybe I am just unlucky, but I don't feel the love for this O/S yet. In the past I was on top of every upgrade, but this time I guess it just didn't work out for me - and won't.

I plan on updating my entire system someday, and maybe then I'll install Vista. But, if it's working fine now (actually pretty awesome), so, until I am dragged by my left ear into it I am staying put.

Word of caution to those who are successful with Vista.... The fact that Big Brother is watching you now is more true than you may realize. Microsoft KNOWS if your system is working or not.

The old saying of \"Intel Bringeth, Microsoft Taketh Away\" is never more apparent to me than with the release of Vista.

Thanks all,