The following is about my experiences with my new (I got it for Christmas… if that is still considered new) computer and the Windows XP 64 bit operating system. I basically kept this saved and not published for awhile to add to the list of problems and quirks I encountered with it.
Computer Specifications
- ASUS A8N-VM | (Review)
- AMD 64 3200+
- RAM 1GB (2 x 512MB)
- Antec TX640B
- DVD-RW (Can’t remember the generic brand at the moment)
- 250 GB Western Digital 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 hard drive
- The first problem happened as soon as I turned the computer on and remembered I could only load the SATA drivers via a floppy disk. I tried to use a USB drive, but was not able to successfully find directions and do so. So I had to use my old computer and make a floppy disk with the drivers and then remove the floppy disk from the old computer and put it in the new one as I did not purchase a drive for the new computer.
- The computer booted so quickly that I kept forgetting to hit the correct key combinations to make it boot from the cd and then the F6 key to load the SCSI drivers. This was most likely due to the fact that it was really early in the morning (or really late for some).
- The first serious error occurred when it did not find the correct scsi/mass storage device drivers automatically. The following messages popped up:
- The installation went well until the computer booted up with Windows for the first time. Many of the devices had errors, but these were fixed one by one with the drivers off of motherboard – driver cd.
- The next step was to make sure the Windows Firewall was enabled and search the internet for a 64 bit virus scan. Avast Antivirus appeared to be the only one to come up. I had never used it but I will give it a chance as it seems important to have a 64 bit version since virus scan runs all the time.
- So I had just discovered and installed the Google Pack on my roommate’s computer in the living room so I navigated to it. Well, apparently that’s only for regular XP and since XP 64 is really built on Windows Server 2003 it would not let me download it.
- Next on to get Firefox, no 64-bit version either! However, the 32-bit version appears to run fine.
- The next big problem I ran into was not for months later until I needed to make a PDF, apparently there’s a problem with Acrobat 7.0, the print driver and XP 64.
- More will come as it is discovered.
Setup will load support for the following mass storage device(s):
“NVIDIA nForce Storage Controller (required)”
“NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER (required)”
Next error, “Setup cannot copy the file: ideocoi.dll” – entered to retry… did not work, try skip – worked, lets hope I don’t really need that file or I can add it later… (I never noticed a problem later)
Bus drivers installed fine. Reboot.
Video drivers installed fine. Reboot.
Audio drivers from cd would not install, “The audio files do not support your computer hardware”. The native XP 64 drivers appear to work fine along with the other drivers for the devices.
It installed more icons down on the damn system tray… pet peeve of mine.
Overall
My experiences with XP 64 have been fairly decent although I have not noticed a huge improvement over regular XP. The motherboard used in my computer setup has all of the devices onboard and came with an installation cd with the 64 bit drivers so I did not have any driver conflicts. I do not think I would even attempt an installation with older hardware. In fact, I have not even tried to install my external devices, such as a printer, or digital camera as my original computer can still handle that and I do not need anymore headaches.
I will most likely stick with the XP 64 installation for a few more months until I have time this summer to decide what I am doing with both of my computers. I would like to try Windows Server 2003 to see if I can set up a domain and a better network for file sharing and what not. I also want a media center… so we will see what the future of computing brings. (Okay, that was really corny)
The problem is Microsoft discontinued their support for Windows XP, so I am not sure how your new setup will work going forward. I would still go with 7 professional. Windows 8 is still a piece a shit.
Also, where the hell did you get an AMD chip? I thought they went out of business…
XP still works, it’s just not supported. AMD is not out of business, but they don’t sell as many processors as they used to by any means. I don’t have an AMD anymore. Thanks for commenting on a really old post. :-p