Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit Through Boot Camp: Lots of Blue Screens and Wi-fi Won't Work

I have a dual boot of Mac OS X and Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit through Boot Camp on my new MacBook Pro. I used an OEM version of Windows Vista 64-bit (with Service Pack 1 pre-included). I get a blue screen a few seconds to minutes into running Vista, wi-fi doesn't work, and the touchpad is buggy. I've tried installing all of the drivers through Apple's installer and manually, though I still have the same results. I know that the 64-bit version and Service Pack 1 are supposed to work fine. The latest Boot Camp drivers are from April, six months before the MacBook Pro that I'm using was released. I doubt it, but maybe that's why Vista isn't working correctly?

 

Michael-with your post and rep power-how dare I say this; but, anyway, have you considered trying 32-bit Vista or XP Pro? My MB hasn't arrived yet but I intend to put plain old XP Pro on it. The 64-bit servers where I work run Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition. So, I can understand a 64-bit OS on them (Sunfire 4600's - the OS "sees" 16 processors w/ 32-Gb of RAM) but not on a laptop. Despite what Apple may say, I bet they haven't optimized the Bootcamp drivers for Vista 64-bit.

 

maybe you should reinstall?

 

I would reinstall... I had to do it twice on my last install of 32 bit xp on my MBP. Let use know how it works out. I'm thinking about upgrading to a new unibody and I have a 64 bit Vista Ultimate laying around as well.

Thanks,

JP

 

I would reinstall then load bootcamp drivers then load the 64 bit bootcamp update at apples website. I have the same laptop running 64 bit with no problems after the recent 64 bit update was installed. I'd also make sure your vista partition is large enough, since vista takes up a lot of space and relies heavily on virtual memory.

 

Isn't 2.1 the latest BootCamp update? I tried installing it off the Leopard disk and online, neither worked right. They're both the same on newer versions of OS X disks, anyway. I guess I'll just try to reinstall Windows.

 

There's some interesting benchmarks of 32-bit vs. 64-bit Vista for games, which is why I'm installing Vista, anyway. Seven extra frames in games like Crysis and a few extra in pretty much everything else is worth trying to get the 64-bit version working, especially since the 9600M GT is a mid-range video card.

 

I forgot to mention that I would also double check to make sure you have all the latest EFI updates on the OSX side and also the latest trackpad update on the windows side.

good luck

 

I reinstalled Windows and so far it's working pretty good. I wish that there was support for the double tap to drag and tapping to click on the touchpad, but otherwise it seems good so far. It's been stable in Windows, though sometimes I get a blue screen on boot up, which may be more of a problem with how the MacBook Pro boots up Windows. Calibration seems really off on the screen compared to OS X, it's way too "cool" (blueish), I'll probably have to adjust that.

For anyone wondering, I'd recommend using the 32-bit version of Windows if you're going to use Windows as your main operating system on a Mac since it'll be stabler. If you're just using Windows occasionally for some applications, I'd recommend the 32-bit version for that, too. If you're going to use it to play games and applications that require a lot of power, but you're going to use OS X as your main operating system, then definitely go 64-bit.

 

Good info Sir - Thanks for posting the follow-up comments. I know my (cheapest) MacBook is pretty low-end compared to your MBP - but I have a Dell 1530 here with me too. I would like to put Vista on my MB but I don't have a copy - so I'm going with XP Pro. I'm thinking though about just getting COD4 for MAC OS and trying that; the only other reason I need Windows, really, is for MS Office. I'm afraid to ask how much Office for Mac runs...

 

Just as a note, as far as I know the Boot Camp 2.1 drivers on Apple's website aren't supposed to be compatible with the new unibodies. The latest Boot Camp drivers for the unibodies are the ones that came on the included OS X Leopard DVD. There's also a new Multitouch trackpad driver on Apple's website for Windows (not sure if it's x64 compliant though). There won't be a unified Boot Camp download until the next version, probably in January when the rumored Mac Mini and iMac refreshes are due.

 

I've installed the drivers off of the OS X install disk that came with my MacBook Pro and I have installed the multi-touch trackpad update. I can't believe people would runs Windows on a MacBook pro before the trackpad update. Right clicking works after the update and two-finger scrolling is smoother. Hopefully, Boot Camp will be better by Windows 7. The only thing really lacking is the trackpad, screen calibration, and stableness while booting up Windows.

 

Surprisingly, the Mac version of Office costs the same as the Windows version and I actually prefer the Mac version to the Windows one.

 

I have had Blue Screens too (rarely) with Windows XP PRO SP3, you should reinstall with the 32-bit version for compatibility and dun forget to install the drivers from the Leopard DVD.

 

that has nothing to do with being 32-bit / 64-bit

i am having the same issues, re-installed it twice already.
updated to latest drivers

take a look at this thread, we are not alone, and this is getting annoying

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1758728&tstart=0