Microsoft Windows 7

[ChrisP]

Yeah it's def. their most worthy OS on first release. It's more like Vista with trimmed overhead and all the service pack stuff though tbh.

XP is still good, but it took them 2 epic service packs and 3 years to get it to the point of stable and relatively efficient.

What are you guys talking about? I am running 64 bit Win 7 with no problems with flash.

yeah prob 32 bit os with 32 bit flash, not 64 bit browser. Windows 64bit doesn't seem to have the issues I had with linux 64bit emulation. Mozilla 32bit just barely worked and the flash plugins wouldn't work with the 32bit browsers running in the 64bit OS.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

Yeah...XP is in it's third SP and honestly...with all the recent updates the SP should be (SP4). Now that 7 is on the market they most likely will shy away from XP support and focus on 7. I want to upgrade my Home PC but will wait until Win7 SP1. It's, without a doubt, on its way.

In the meantime my home laptop is Linux and I'm loving every minute of a free OS..with all the free bells and whistles......

As far as Windows 32 vs 64 bit...I feel that Harry HomeOwner should stick to 32bit. Most apps still trying to play catchup. I can't really think of too many reasons why one would need 64 over 32....RAM maybe...CAD, Databases.....I guess....Graphics cards...maybe....Well Win7 32bit should be fine for most....

 

[BucephalusBB]

I want to upgrade my Home PC but will wait until Win7 SP1. It's, without a doubt, on its way.

To be honest, XP was only decent after SP2 on more, Vista did need SP1 to be stable, but Windows 7 at the release is in my opinion allready a good one.
And I have been running 7 for quite some time on several computers allready..

As far as Windows 32 vs 64 bit...I feel that Harry HomeOwner should stick to 32bit. Most apps still trying to play catchup. I can't really think of too many reasons why one would need 64 over 32....RAM maybe...CAD, Databases.....I guess....Graphics cards...maybe....Well Win7 32bit should be fine for most....

Harry Homeowner would not build his own PC but buy a prebuild system. In that case I also think 64-bit would be good for Harry..

 

[Dirty Penguin]

To be honest, XP was only decent after SP2 on more, Vista did need SP1 to be stable, but Windows 7 at the release is in my opinion allready a good one.

I can agree here. I think the OS needs a little time in circualtion but I feel that, with all M$ products, they have some sort of exploit buggy glitch that will need to be patched. Once you patch one leak you're bout to find another that needs patching....and so on...and so...on. It's not a bad thing per-say. That's how you design better software. Linux and Mac OS are not without their flaws and glitches either.

Harry Homeowner would not build his own PC but buy a prebuild system. In that case I also think 64-bit would be good for Harry..

You may be correct. I haven't found a need for 64bit over 32bit. Maybe RAM though. I guess Quad Cores can do more under a 64bit OS than 32. Maybe if you're a gamer and have a honken' video card there's some benefits......

Well...even though I'm not a big fan of Windows products I have been impressed with what they have done in Win7.....(still gonna' wait for that SP1 though....).....

 

[ChrisP]

You may be correct. I haven't found a need for 64bit over 32bit. Maybe RAM though. I guess Quad Cores can do more under a 64bit OS than 32. Maybe if you're a gamer and have a honken' video card there's some benefits......

I'm a gamer with honken' video cards and I get less stability and lower fps under 64bit OS. 64 bit is for enterprise only until developers get their a into g and start coding stable software and drivers for 64 bit OS's.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

I'm a gamer with honken' video cards and I get less stability and lower fps under 64bit OS. 64 bit is for enterprise only until developers get their a into g and start coding stable software and drivers for 64 bit OS's.

Yea, I agree....I have a co-worker who built his own....(quad core AMD, 4+ gb of RAM, and a honken' video card) and found himself tweaking the video card settings a lot with Vista 64. I'm not sure what kind of video card he had. I know it was an ATI. He said he loaded 7 32bit and is lovn' it.....

 

[Apex]

I just got a HD 5770 and I am running it with Win 7 64 bit with no apparent slow downs in fps. Although I had to ensure I didn't use the default driver and, instead, download and install the updated one. The default has problems with Win 7 but the updated one runs perfectly. What games were you having trouble in with the 64 bit?

 

[Willamena]

Can you fellows help with an Ethernet question? The Ethernet board on my new computer doesn't connect to the modem, it seems the address isn't set up. I read online that the address was supposed be assigned by the manufacturer. Device Manager indicates the board is working fine, but advanced options indicate some disabled. Can I activate the IP address in the driver options?

Edit: I read about ipconfig /release and /renew. I'll try that tonight.

 

[ChrisP]

I just got a HD 5770 and I am running it with Win 7 64 bit with no apparent slow downs in fps. Although I had to ensure I didn't use the default driver and, instead, download and install the updated one. The default has problems with Win 7 but the updated one runs perfectly. What games were you having trouble in with the 64 bit?

It's less about "trouble" (although that's not to say there is no trouble for some...) and more about performance. I've got 2 ATi Radeon 4870 1GB running in crossfire. I play almost exclusively first person shooters and during testing of the games I play (Team Fortress 2, Day of Defeat : Source, CS:Source, some single player games) I consistently received 40-80 frames per second higher under the 32bit Win7 RC than in the 64bit Win7 RC. I also found this to be true when running games under WINE in Ubuntu about 2 years back. Some games only got about 5 fps running on WINE in the 64bit Ubuntu OS and ran with around 40-70 fps under WINE in 32 bit Ubuntu OS. (my rig back then was an AMD 64 x2 3800 with a PX 7600 GT TDH 256mb and not as flash as my new kit).

What I'm trying to get at is that although 64bit may be stable it is not always going to give you the best performance from your hardware just because it is 64bit and therefore bell-like and whistley.

 

[Apex]

What I'm trying to get at is that although 64bit may be stable it is not always going to give you the best performance from your hardware just because it is 64bit and therefore bell-like and whistley.

Yeah, hopefully the driver support will continue to get better. I am just happy I can finally use all my RAM. I also got lucky because my school has a deal through MS. I was able to get the 32 bit Win 7 for ~$35 which then made me eligible for a coy of 64 bit Win 7 for only $5. So I stuck the 32 bit on my laptop and the 64 bit on my desktop.

 

[ChrisP]

Can you fellows help with an Ethernet question? The Ethernet board on my new computer doesn't connect to the modem, it seems the address isn't set up. I read online that the address was supposed be assigned by the manufacturer. Device Manager indicates the board is working fine, but advanced options indicate some disabled. Can I activate the IP address in the driver options?

Edit: I read about ipconfig /release and /renew. I'll try that tonight.

Can you tell us what type of modem you have and how your network is set up please?

If you have just one PC connected to the modem it may be that release/renew will work for you but if it's a router you may need to set something around DHCP to allow your machine to pick up an assigned IP address.

Give it a crack and let us know

Yeah, hopefully the driver support will continue to get better. I am just happy I can finally use all my RAM. I also got lucky because my school has a deal through MS. I was able to get the 32 bit Win 7 for ~$35 which then made me eligible for a coy of 64 bit Win 7 for only $5. So I stuck the 32 bit on my laptop and the 64 bit on my desktop.

Where's mine?

 

[Willamena]

Can you tell us what type of modem you have and how your network is set up please?

If you have just one PC connected to the modem it may be that release/renew will work for you but if it's a router you may need to set something around DHCP to allow your machine to pick up an assigned IP address.

Give it a crack and let us know

Back on my old computer, now. The ipconfig /renew was ineffective. The problem seems to be hardware.

My computer is connected to a cable modem, which is a Surfboard SB5100. No router. I connect by USB on this, my old computer, but have tried both USB and Ethernet on the new computer and neither works.

The adaptor is NVIDIA nForce 10/100. Windows suggests it is enabled and working, and that the driver is the most current. I just doesn't feel like connecting to the Surfboard. I tried the ISP Support but they just said it's a hardware problem and not much they can do. I was hoping it would be as simple as a driver setting.

I promise not to get my hopes up, but if you can suggest anything I'd appreciate the advice.

Edit: It keeps insisting 'Media Disconnected' but it's built into the motherboard, which makes me suspect it's just a setting.

 

[BucephalusBB]

My computer is connected to a cable modem, which is a Surfboard SB5100.

On this page you can find this model and see the original support if needed.
Drivers are also found there. I asume Win7 did its best to install it, but you never know. As I couldn't find the Win7 driver there, you should try the Vista one. But his is only if the modem isn't installed.

 

[Willamena]

On this page you can find this model and see the original support if needed.
Drivers are also found there. I asume Win7 did its best to install it, but you never know. As I couldn't find the Win7 driver there, you should try the Vista one. But his is only if the modem isn't installed.

Awesome, thank you. I will try installing that. The disk I had didn't work (script errors).

 

[Dirty Penguin]

Back on my old computer, now. The ipconfig /renew was ineffective. The problem seems to be hardware.

My computer is connected to a cable modem, which is a Surfboard SB5100. No router. I connect by USB on this, my old computer, but have tried both USB and Ethernet on the new computer and neither works.

The adaptor is NVIDIA nForce 10/100. Windows suggests it is enabled and working, and that the driver is the most current. I just doesn't feel like connecting to the Surfboard. I tried the ISP Support but they just said it's a hardware problem and not much they can do. I was hoping it would be as simple as a driver setting.

I promise not to get my hopes up, but if you can suggest anything I'd appreciate the advice.

Edit: It keeps insisting 'Media Disconnected' but it's built into the motherboard, which makes me suspect it's just a setting.

It could be what you describe above or depending on how you networked computer was setup it could be there.

Here's what I mean. I have Comcast Internet. I have a cable moden that does not have a router built in. When my internet was setup they would not make the connections if I was going to use a router. They wanted one PC connected to the modem. They took the MAC Address from my PC's network card and set it up in the modem's configuration page for sole access to through the modem. This meant that if I attempted to unplug my PC and plug my laptop in it would not issues and IP address to the laptop and allow me access.

In my case, being a network engineer, I have a router that allows me to clone my MAC address. This means I take the MAC address from the PC's network card and in the router I insert it. Now the router's "new" MAC address is my PC's MAC.

Now I can connect multiple PCs because the new router hands out the IP addresses and passes internet request to Comcast. Comcast can only see the one request coming from my router with my old PC's MAC. It doesn't see all the other PCs. I still use my Old PC but because the network card was 10/100 MBPS I wanted something faster so I put in a second card that. I don't use the built in one anymore. I suspect I still could have without any conflicts. Some PC network cards let you clone other MAC addresses as well.

I hope that wasn't too technical.

 

[ChrisP]

'Tis fixed good sir. Was a dodgy bit of CAT5.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

'Tis fixed good sir. Was a dodgy bit of CAT5.

Oh...cool...

That's usually rare unless you happened to buy one that is suspect, it becomes damaged some how or it was custom made.....

Well, I'm glad it was figured out. I knew mine was too technical...could have been a possibility....but I'm glad it was a simple fix...

 

[ChrisP]

I hate it when you want straight and all you have is crossover...

 

[Dirty Penguin]

I hate it when you want straight and all you have is crossover...

:biglaugh:

 

[Willamena]

Thanks for all your help, Chris. The main problems I was having were solved by getting a proper Ethernet cable (I bought a new one), replacing my power bar (I bought a new one), and uninstalling the network adaptor driver so that plug-and-play would properly capture the Internet when I turned the computer on. All's well that ends well.