So help me already before throw my MBP out of the window

Sorry for my freaking frustration but I'm just so frustrated with Windows and this Macbook Pro. I don't know who to blame, but I sure know that none of my classmates running Vista or XP face even half the damn problems that I face.


I just uninstalled XP a few freaking hours ago and installed Vista Business over it, mainly due to the fact that I had two major annoying problems that I couldn't find a fix for.

Firstly, my damn wireless keeps disconnecting and reconnecting to my school network at least once in 5 minutes.

Secondly, after just leaving my computer on for 2 - 3+ hours it'd start stuttering every 30 seconds. It's majorly annoying because I can't play any freaking music at all because the god damn thing distorts my sound so awfully I'd rather not play it. I can't play any games either because it keeps freezing halfway and the next thing I know, I'm dead.


Now under Vista, it's giving me a whole different set of problems. I just had it for less than 4 hours and already it's a freaking *****. Firstly, it runs at least 5 degrees C hotter than it did in XP. It felt warm enough in XP, but in Vista it feels freaking hot.

Secondly, for some damn reason I CAN'T install Maya 2008 ext. 2 on my notebook. It worked perfectly fine on XP Professional, and it works fine on all my friend's computers, but it just doesn't want to install on my computer. I install the damn thing halfway then it just tells me that "the wizard was interrupted halfway and Maya was not installed".

Thirdly, for some unknown reason, Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 for Vista refused to install too. Kept telling me some BS that it couldn't locate my software or that it was the wrong patch. The retarded part is that when I tried running Visual Studio C++ 2005 without the service pack, it told me about some compatibility issue and it linked me back to the same patch.

Lastly, Vista lags like a *****.

I am just so frustrated because I've been hopping to and fro between Vista & XP. This is my freaking 6th reinstall of Windows already in just less than a month. And please, don't even ask me why I got a Mac if I wanted to run Windows. I have a hell lot of good reasons for why I did that.

 

reformat all of your partition including os x then reinstall windows and os x

 

I'd say first off, dump vista and just use XP.
I've just started using Vista on my new desktop, and besides the weird bugs and quarks, it's not exactly fast.

Do you have all updates for OS X? And take a look at your Activity Monitor and see if anything is going crazy in there.

as far as the heat... yeah, it's going to be hotter in windows because the power management / heat management stuff just isn't there yet :-/

 

Please read....

 

Ah sorry, thought you were saying those two issues were OS X issues.

It's hard to say what would have caused that without having any reports from the system manager. My guess is that the wireless drivers need to be reinstalled and different video drivers need to be used. I've already heard from others that Apple fubared the new Bootcamp drivers for Penryn machine.

The maya issue... Do you know anyone running Vista Business that was able to install maya? I can try the demo tonight if you like (I'm running Vista business 64 on my desktop).

No idea about your third issue.

And yeah, vista is kinda laggy. In a really bizarre way. Most stuff is fine, but sometimes, when I open an installer, it takes a minute for it to really begin. Keep in mind, thats on a q6600 with 4 gigs of ram and a fresh install of vista! So I would certainly chalk up the lag to Vista, unless yours is different from mine and a lot of other peoples weird lag issues in Vista.

BTW, I assume you are using 32 bit versions of XP and Vista?

 

I saw this same post in the windows section. It's a duplicate thread?

 

Wow you sound very pleasant. These people are trying to help you. I say do a complete reformat; OS-X, Windows et all. If the problems persist, sell your MBP and buy a PC

 

Your problems are two, you installed XP first, and them you install Vista over it. Try to do the same on any PC you will have a lot of problems due permissions setting in the wrong way.

Second, several drivers will be no updated, and you have to do it by hand.

If you want to do something with vista, I will recomend to do it with a Virtual Machine, or delete completle the XP/Vista install and start over again.

The disconection from Wifi is a common problem on Vista /XP if you do not remove the poer setting on the wireless hardware. take a look at the windows forums and you will found several issues related to this matter.

I had to remove on several XP machines, the BT drivers because affect the operation of the WIFI module.

Normally you can not install over because on your windows directory the install application found a mixture of DLLs and can not recognize the real OS .

 

Crypt, anytime you install one OS over another (in this case, Vista over XP) it should reformat that partition.

I'm assuming you did reformat, right Cathy?

 

I second this advice.

1) Try a more respectful tone when asking for help. It's certainly a frustrating experience but it's no one's fault here.

2) Nothing left to do but perform a complete reformat.

3) You probably don't want to hear it, but if you're predominantly using Windows and having issues with it on a Mac, time to get a PC.

 

I think Cathy's position is very understandable.
My advice would be to go into OS X, run the Boot Camp Assistant and get rid of the Windows partition, re-run the Boot Camp Assistant to recreate the Windows partition, install Windows, install the drivers on the Leopard DVD, download the driver update from Apple ( http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/) and install it, and do not install anything else.
See how it goes.

 

*sigh* I'm really sorry if I yelled at anyone here. I understand that none here have any obligation to help me. I was just really really frustrated last night, plus my dad was yelling at me simply because he likes yelling at people.

Timeline:
Last Tuesday - Installed XP SP2
(problems with networking in school)
Last Thursday - Reinstallation of Boot Camp drivers; updated to Boot Camp 2.1
(stuttering issue)
Sunday - Complete reformat of XP partition and reinstallation of XP; updated to Boot Camp 2.1
Tuesday - Installation of SP3 for XP
(stuttering issue still present; networking problem still present)
Wednesday - Complete reformat of XP partition and installation of Vista Business; update to Boot Camp 2.1; Installation of Vista SP1.

I've done 6 installations of XP/Vista in less than a month; all with complete reformats. They're all also 32-bit versions of Windows.

Installations done so far:
1 - Installed XP Professional using a friend's retail key (he wasn't using it yet)
2 - Received Vista Business from my school so I upgraded to Vista.
3 - Felt Vista was a *****, so I ordered XP Professional from my school, but sadly the key they gave wouldn't work with the normal retail CDs. Hence I reinstalled Vista back again.
4 - Installed XP Professional after finally receiving the installation CD from my school.
5 - Stuttering issue was present; network issue was present; hence I just did a clean reformat and reinstall of XP Professional hoping it'd go away.
6 - It still didn't go away so I went back to Vista where those issues weren't present before, but now I can't install Maya. =/

hollownail: I'm using Maya 2008 extension 2 by the way. Everyone in my school is using the same version of Vista Business & Maya 2008. It works fine for them. Any idea what wireless drivers I can use...? I did 2 clean installs of Windows, with a reinstallation of Boot Camp drivers the first time, as well as 2 updates to Boot Camp 2.1. None of them worked. Also, do I really need a new set of video drivers? I'm using 174.74, but the stuttering issue I have is that my whole computer just lags for like 5 seconds every minute. My sound stutters during that period, my mouse jerks a bit; everything just lags for that period. CPU usage also jumps up to about 50% during that time.

surfasb: Could you link me to that thread please?

Cryptonome: I did do clean reformats and installations of XP & Vista. Could you tell me more about this 'poer' setting please?

Budding: Thanks, but I did do that. Doesn't work.


Again, I'm really sorry if I yelled at anyone.

 

Cathy's language sounds like a drunken sailor. Can we safely assume Cathy that either all is well with Mac OS X or are you just not using it at all? Your entire post is all about Windows. If you are not into OS X then the MBP may have been the wrong choice for you.

 

Running Windows on a Mac machine can cause trouble with some things. Apple's boot camp drivers may not be up to date, and the BIOS-calls to EFI emulation is not entirely perfect either I guess. I have seen reports regarding that. So when in most cases Windows runs fine, or even better, on Mac machines, problems can still arise.

 

windows does NOT run better on a mac than a PC. equivalent. equivalent.

are you having problems within osx?
have you updated osx completely? keep in mind that there are firmware updates for your hardware that you can only get from the software update within osx that will effect your performance in any OS.

if you can verify that the problem is isolated to windows installs, that suggests that you don't have a hardware problem.

i recommend reformatting, reinstalling OSX from scratch, updating, run boot camp, set up a new partition, install windows.

 

if it helps at all maya 2008 is available for mac? i have it, works well.

 

I'm afraid the only suggestion I have is to try a slightly older version of bootcamp drivers.
But I'm at a loss of advice for what to do next... No problems in OS X?

very weird...

 

I would check your system's temperatures. Sounds like it is possible that your hardware is bad and is causing your system to overheat.

 

I am using Mac with Windows and never had this stuttering problem. May be you can check in the Task Manager which process uses 50% of CPU. I looks like there is some process which just does something pereodically and your music player doesn't get enough CPU power to run during this time. Which bring me to another suggestion - try to change music player, may be other onces are less CPU dependant on CPU.
I any case, I suggest to either disable Bluetooth drivers completely or install Widcomm drivers.
As for wireless, it seems that that I have some problem with it as well - freezing during stand-by, BSODs sometimes, altough I am not 100% sure that it's the wireless card. I had no problem with previous generation of MacBook Pro, which had Atheros wireless, so I assume that the new Broadcom card has some driver issues.
I am considering buying Wireless Express Card and disabling the internal card. It will also help with heat problem, since the internal wireless generates a lot of heat especially under heavy load.

 

Yes, I always do a comple format. But you can install over with the Update option and do you keep the old files.

 

I did a fast, 4 hours, I install Windows XP Professional SP 2 32 Bits over a new BootCamp partition ( Leopard 10.5.2. I generated the drivers CD first. Install goes perfect and I was able to install Maya.

I deleted from inside OS X the BootCamp partition ( recomended in case of install another OS ). I installed Vista Business 32 bits. So far so good install perfectly and I was not able to install Maya, due an error on Maya installer looking forwar is an error because my version will not be installed over Vista.

I tested the drive on MBP 15'4 first generation and MBP Peryn 17".

Hope it's help

 

One simple solution, get a PC to run windows.

 

Sounds like you and your dad have a lot in common

 

I, too am ready to chuck my 2006 MBP. Actually, it's logic board/hd need to be replaced (oh so stupid not to have AppleCare), I'm not up to replacing them myself and I don't think it's worth putting the $$$ into it anyway. So, I'm off to buy a new one (this time with AppleCare!) I hope the quality of the new one is better than the old one...

I have a Vaio SZ691 that runs Windows, so I don't need to run XP on my MBP. Early on I did try running Boot Camp, but had multiple issues with it, gave up and bought the Sony. My Son installed Leopard/XP (fusion) on his external hard drive and boots to that when he needs Windows. It works very well for him and I may try that as well.

I suggest you follow the advice of the majority of IT professionals and stay away from Vista.

 

what's wrong with vista?

 

Well first of all, it's a resource hog. And slow. And a pain in the neck to administer on a professional network. Other than that, I'd say it was a feeble attempt to make Windows look more like OSX. Don't get me wrong, I'm an accountant and a regular user of XP. But I haven't heard any IT professional say they're thrilled by Vista.
IMHO, Vista doesn't hold a candle to OSX.

 

I have the new base model MBP and run a dual boot of vista ultimate 32 bit and OSX, and then run XP under parallels and I never have a problem. In fact, I have less problems running vista on my MBP than I did on my desktop. I would make an appointment with a Mac Genius if at all possible.