Will SL Work on Windows Vista?

CoCo, I just bought a new Dell - I get a discount also through my work. These are the specs I initially chose:

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E4500 (2MB L2 Cache, 2.20GHz, 800 FSB)
Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT-DDR3


This was the system I was looking at when I posted the same question here a few weeks ago. What I actually ended up with is better as I sprung for more memory and the next level up on the graphics card, 900 series.

I for one haven't had any trouble with SL and Vista, works fine for me. SL just hums right along now - what a difference.

IM me in world if you'd like more details.

I have Vista and SL running on one of my systems, which btw has a 4 controller SATA II raid configured.

I first installed Vista some 6 months ago, just after its launch, but binned it after it shutdown my soundboard because it said my headphones were not Vista compatible <mutters about anal controlling software to an extent its almost maleware>

Since then, the GC industry has released newer drivers and with a bit of severe tweaking under the hood, I got it running sweet. It evens updates my Raid controller cards drivers, so no problems there.

The main issue to getting Vista running with your system, and equally SL, is to run only a 32bit version and install TweakVI asap. This gives you the option to turn off the 'User Account Controller' (the naggy, anal controlling bit of waste of space, that reports everything about your system and software to Hollywood, via MS). It also allows you to get a way under the hood past all the gel buttons and layers of hand holding and get Vista behaving itself in a way YOU want it to.

Hate to be the one, but...........

I'm desperate and don't know where else to go.
This is my situation, I have a desktop, with a crappy old graphics card (nvidia 440 something or other- I think with 64 mb), any way this pc runs sl fine - albeit slow.
But there are 2 of us in the house that want to get on sl, so we bought a new laptop, specs:
Vista Ultimate (6.0, build 6000)
Asus M51Sn
Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 @ 2.60GHz
3070MB RAM
Page File 1169MB used 5154MB available
Nvidia GeForce 9500M GS 512MB with 495MB dedicated memory
250GB hard drive

The blurb on the manufacturers website says "To power the most demanding 3D intense games, equipped with abundant graphics power, with top of the line specs, blah, blah, and a choice of the most powerful graphics the Nvidia GeForce 9500M GS which utilise 512MB VRAM memory management technology which dynamically allocates TurboCache:768M with 1G system memory, 1280M with 2G system memory for maximum system performance"
Well don't know what half that crap means, but it costs a lot of cash.
My problem is I can only stay in sl for a maximum 10 minutes before my av just won't move or keeps moving and won't stop - I know this means I've been logged out, I don't get an error message.
I have updated the latest driver for the graphics card to no avail.
The day I got it, I spent all night trying to sort it out with Linden, who were no help and couldn't make up their minds what the problem was.
Please someone help me....I am pulling my hair out.

Bleh!

Just do like the smart ones do- build one!!!

Never had a problem running anything!.... Inluding SL.

I'm in good shape till the next Motherboard socket change comes around. By then I'll pick up a new Motherboard, CPU & RAM. Everything else stays.

/me goes off to check the price on AM2 motherboards.

Well that's all well and good, but it doesn't really help me. Glad you're in good shape though!

I bought a new Dell with 4GB of RAM and a 788MB video card running Vista and could run SL but was never real happy with the problems I encountered. I fought with Dell for months trying to get a solution and finally downgraded back to XP. SL smokes on my new Dell with the old XP and can use much more of the 4GB of RAM. For some reason Vista would only allow me to use 2 GB of my RAM and Vista took almost 1GB of that. On XP I can use 3GB and XP only uses 400MB so I have lots more capacity to multitask than I had with Vista.

Well, after lot's of hunting and trying anything and everything, I finally found the answer.
This is the post I found, and although my symptoms weren't the same they were very similar, and it worked, it's worth a try anyway.

Symptoms (wired network):
* logging on works fine (sim crossings work fine, see below)
* after log-on View / Statistics Bar shows bandwidth spikes as things rez, but after a (very) short while it falls flat (10-20kbps) and movement becomes impossible

IMs continue to work for a few more seconds (if after about a minute and a half either the sim or the client haven't seen a ping from the other they'll drop the connection). Oddly enough, opening the map will give it an extra minute or so (but only once). After that (and even weirder) each switch from full-screen to windowed (or the other way around) will "reinvigorate" the network connection, allowing movement for a short time (for 10-30 seconds at a time).

---

The actual cause (in this particular case?) seems to be a setting on the network card and not any firewall/router/ISP/etc settings:

* Start menu / Run: ncpa.cpl
* right-click on the one you use for your internet and pick "Properties", then click "Configure"
* under the Advanced, set "Task Offload" to "Off"
(It's possible it's called any of the following in which they all need to be set to "Off": Offload TCP Segmentation, Offload Receive TCP Checksum, Offload Transmit IP Checksum or Offload Transmit TCP Checksum)

Swapping the network card for another one *might* work (assuming it doesn't have the capability to have certain things be handled by the network card instead of the puter) which is what eventually led me to blame the network card rather than all the other dozen things I'd tried so far .

---

SL was literally the one and only thing that wouldn't work (so I'm still inclined to blame LL more than anyone else ) and I have absolutely no idea why it works, but the above was the only thing that made any difference/fixed it.

(In this case it was a wired network, but wireless network cards may have the same setting so I would try the same solution there as well before deciding that SL just won't play nice with it)

Good luck

I am on vista with Dual ATI 1950s set crossfire. Absolutely 0 problems!

Holy necropost!

Well anyway, you might be interested as to how my story turned out.

By August, when I started looking into it all again, Dell had stopped insisting everybody get Vista, I guess. I was able to find a pretty good computer and opt to have XP put on it.

I researched and found that XP would be supported for another seven years, so that's what I did!

Me and my new Dell have been very happy together ever since!

coco

P.S. My HUSBAND - the one who had for the past couple of years insisted time and again that I had no need for a new computer - inherited the old one. Which he now refuses to use, cause it is "too slow."

Indeed! hahahahahaha

Vista on a Dell will be fine as long as you aren't getting a budget model with intetgrated graphics and not enough ram.


Driver issues on the newer hardware is not an issue now.

Buying a new system and using XP is silly.

Vista now has SP1 as well, which fixes many little things.

Vista is to XP what Win 98 was to Win 95 or Win NT was to Win 98.

then you better buy it sooner M$ annoced they are halting all sales of XP in a few weeks and will only be going with vista.


and for the OP look very closely at dell in alot of circles dells are not even counted as a computer the reason they have great ratings with there customer support is a simple reson they get lots of practuse.i just want you to make sure you get something that is trouble free we all pay to much of our hard earned money on computers that you almost have to have today and from my experances and my freinds and family's experance dells are anything but trouble free

People usually have computer problems when they are not real computer literate. Dell is far and away the most reliable, with the most comprehensive warranty. Vista had problems for awhile mainly due to bad video card drivers, but that is in the past.

Dell is simply the Packard Bell of the 1980's

Yes Vista runs well using SL on my system. (Home Premium)

Dell XPS 1710 works great with SL (and almost every other 'game')

I think I will buy another dell in a few years, I've been very pleased with this one and hope they continue to offer high end parts & systems.

Been using a Dimension 8400 for almost 4 years now, and it's run flawlessly with XP Home. I plan on buying another Dell in a couple of years.

I needed a secondary machine, so I went bargain. I did this: I went to Best Buy, got an eMachines T5246 for $409 (plus tax). I replaced the power supply (not necessary, but I wanted to be in spec) for $50, and bought an 8600GT for $100. For about $560 it makes a kick-ass game machine. If you wanted to, however, you could not get the power supply and low-ball the video card ($60-$80 entry ATI or NVidia, IM me if you want recommendations).

My config will run almost any current game reasonably well (my primary machine is still faster, but much more expensive), or a lower config will still do OK and run SL well. The best thing is: it is a very cheap way of doing it (usually I DIY, but couldn't for that price).

It runs Vista well, which I have no complaints about inside or outside of SL.

Same for me, well, almost. It's a Dimension 8250 and is 5 years old. I have never, ever had a problem with it, although at 512 mbs and 5 years, it's starting to show it's age. I'll be looking for a new one in a couple of months because the only real problem with this one is it's almost as much money to upgrade the memory and video card. Plus, it just makes sense to buy a new one at this point.

My husband's big, huge, expensive Alienware, on the other hand, has had to be re-spawned (rebooted back to factory settings) twice now, and it's only about 2 years old.

Dimension 5150 with some added beef here-has run well for two and a half years now (*knocks on wood*) -That's why I want to get a Dell laptop to replace my old one that died on Friday...because I am quite satisfied with the desktop.

Is Dell kidding or is this really almost 9 kg heavy????