Here's the scoop, a friend just picked up a brand new Dell Studio laptop, nice Core 2 processor, 4gb ram, 250GB SATA drive etc. Vista Home Premium.

Yesterday, we were installing some software on it, preparing it for use. In the process, I also completed the windows updates.

One of the updates hung up, destroyed the booting record. Required a reinstall. That's not a big deal with a dell because you can do an image-recovery in about 20 minutes and just be back to opened-box square one. So, I did that this morning. Somewhere in the process, the password got corrupted and we got locked out...locked out of everything, including the image restore. After a couple hours on the phone with Dell, it became apperant that we would have to do a fresh install via the shipped disc, including hours of individual driver installs.




TURNS OUT!!! There is a special intel matrix driver needed to control the hard-drive. It's suppose to be installed during the Vista installation process, when you choose the drive to install to, you're suppose to click the load driver button and install at that point. I didn't get that memo until AFTER almost everything was installed (read, multiple hours of time I dont have right now). The computer is running a little doggy and I assume it's because of the [censored] hard disk driver. It currently is controlled by a iMicrosoft SCSI Initiator driver. I can't figure out how to get it to load the CORRECT Intel driver.

Any pointers?

Thanks!

Well, I figured out that the only way to install the driver is to do a reformat and install of Vista. 3rd time today! Man, I love my Apple computer. Never EVER!!!! have to put up with this shi*.

get a Mac. Nobody deserves the BS that Vista is handing out.

(XP is always a safe bet too.)

I run a MacBook myself. He wanted a Dell, so that's what he bought.

Dumb Dumb Dumb! But when it does work, they are fast and pretty. Too bad they only work 50% of the time and it takes a ton of knowledge to operate.

My Apple rarely requires maintenance. Advance setup and customization is a breeze.

I have never had problems with my PC's that I build myself. Run Vista on both PC in the house.

Mark

Microsoft always manages to do stupid stuff.

I remember several years ago, with Win95, I upgraded my CPU from 200Mhz to 500MHz.

So I tore apart the computer, installed new memory (might as well upgrade that as well), and put the faster chip on the motherboard.

Tried to boot the computer, and nada; the initial boot from DOS would work, but it failed to run windows.

Did a little investigation, and found out that Win95 was never intended for anything faster than 200Mhz, and it was a timing issue within Win95. Fortunately, they had a patch that would change the timing to work with 500Mhz CPUs. So I figure, great, I'll get this thing running in no time.

So I downloaded the patch file (it fit on a floppy), booted the system and ran the patch....

"must be running windows to install the patch"

(put your favorite cuss words here)

So who is the moron that did this? I'd like to reach into my monitor, grab that person by the neck, and slap them into common-sense.

Since I can't run windows with the new CPU, that means I would have to remove the CPU and all of the work I just did, and re-install the old hardware - run the patch - then reinstall everything again.

I went out and bought Win98...

Had my XP pro for 2+ years on desktop, 4+ years on laptop. No problems, no crashes, no issues.

That being said, I am not a fan of Bill Gates and his bloat-ware.

Vista screwed up again on the computer I was working on.

Boy am I glad im back on my mac!

Ditto...

Gonna ride XP until they get rid of Windows ME, err... Vista....

I have to believe there are major changes coming in the future of desktop OS'. As though XP was any great standard, now MS doesn't seem to be able to produce anything half as good. The go-go days of MS may be coming to an end. And they should, if all they can produce is crap.

Maybe they'll need a bailout...

I remember when XP came out...it was SLOW to be accepted. Many HATED it.

Funny, now it is spoke of as if it's god. I remember a lot of folks refusing to upgrade t XP from 2000, which was relatively stable.

Infact, if I remember correctly (I was only in like 6th grade), XP was very unstable until SP1 came out. SP1 was not exactly secure. SP2 is what made XP stable and secure, as we know it today. SP3 I think is just a bunch of small updates combined into one.

Point is, Vista is on SP1. By the time SP2 gets here, it might be a decent OS like XP became.

BTW, it's no wonder Apple's marketshare is growing at alarming rates. They're something like 10% of the computer market in the US now. That's not chump-change.

You're right, XP was slow to be accepted, because of the fact that 2000 was a very good OS (still is in most regards). I don't think anyone thinks of XP as God (I certainly don't), it's just so much better than Vista.

Apple may in fact become mainstream, if MS doesn't start doing things a lot better, a lot sooner. Their track record doesn't bode well in that regard.

Apple has a very robust AND easy to work with network system now. I wonder if cooperate america will ever adopt it to replace Windows Server or Novell Clients. It's certainly not more expensive. I'm not exactly excited by the thought of Apple becoming mainstream...that could hurt current users by bogging everything down.