Vista SP1 Opinions

Hi all

would just like to know what everyones opinion on Vista SP1 is? for me it hasnt changed my m1330 much at all, and im fairly certain im going to move to xp as vista has too long start up times and too many problems hibernating for me, and i find it slow to use in general, despite having used flamenkos guides to speed up vista.

 

I have only tried it on my new laptop. I did not test without sp1, so I don't know really. I do have it though.

 

You got to give it a few days before you can really tell a difference, as it clears out the index/superfetch history and has to rebuild it.

 

I'm using it only few days since it was officially released but I didn't recognize any big changes. Maybe few days later changes will be more obvious...

 

i dont have it yet but the Dell tech told me that SP1 will allow 32bit Vista to see 4 gb of memory, can anyone confirm this?

 

I do not think that is true - I have not heard that anywhere else (not that I hang out a lot of places!), but that would have been a huge update, IMO and no one here or elsewhere has said diddly about it??

 

I didn't have any problems with Vista before SP1 and still don't. I will run 3DMark06 & PCMark05 later today to see if any change there.

 

That is correct, I installed SP1 and I now see 4GB RAM in my system.

 

I don't know whether is there any good just to able to see "4GB" memory and not able to use all the "4GB", as certain amount need to be reserved for the OS and the hardware, not all "4GB" will be available for the programs to use.

If I'm not wrong, for a 32-bit program, there's a limit of max 2GB per thread (for multithread program) or 2GB per individual program. It's the nature of 32-bit OS.

 

^ That's what I meant. You can "see" 4gb, but 32-bit will not be able to actually use it.

 

Just add in another note, now the RAM is cheap, you can install 8GB to your PC (not in notebook yet) and install a 32-bit OS (Vista SP1), Vista may be able to tell you that you have 8GB installed, but if it can only use 3GB+, then it's pratically meaningless and only for your eyes only.

 

Installed it on my Desktop (Custom Build), the Wife's 1520 Laptop and my M1530 Laptop covering Vista Home Premium and Ultimate (M1530) no problems before or after.

 

So far.........no differences really. Maybe a bit snappier but it's a clean install anyway, I will have to wait and see once it gets crapped up like it usually does.

 

So far I have installed it on 3 of my computers, 1 desktop 3 way sli and on Sony FZ180E, and Toshiba X205-SLi1 and all are working fine so it looks good and stable so far. Even though I do not see any performance improvement with games.

 

No Problem Faced in my XPS M1530 and I see some changes like better copy speed from a USB device

 

everytime I try and install SP1 I get error code 80072F78 and it fails, wtf? anyone know how to fix this?

 

Does it get rid of the annoying cpu/southbridge whine? it probably doesn't but I thought I would ask.

 

did anyone have a problem with thier video card after the SP1 install?

 

So far so good. Some people are having issues installing it, but mine went fine thankfully. I noted in another thread that my boot times are longer, but everything is snappier once on the desktop.
And file copying is faster!

 

@wdro: Don't expect a service pack to fix the whine problem, as it's a hardware "issue". There have been software workarounds that work for some, and not for others, but the underlying problem is the hardware.

@KOTULCN: I had no problems with my video card at all afterwards.

 

i have noticed the whine with the t8300. i have to say i would have probably never put 2 + 2 together if it werent for people on this board complaining about it. i personally dont think its that bad unless you are in a silent room and no ambient noise

 

That's because you have the southbridge whine, and not the cpu whine most people are complaining about.

 

what exactly is the southbridge whine?

 

NM I am an idiot, that was the beer talking. you know this thread isnt the right place to discuss this but I am amazed at how 2 machines with the same exact configuraion can be so different. I am glad my new system is about 99% problem free, knock on wood

 

Yes and NO!....Vista system info page now says the correct amount of Ram in your Laptop, however Vista 32 still just uses in my case 3.5megs....I hear other system might show even less. (3gigs Tops). Visa 64 handels and except upward of 8gigs.
[email protected]

 

Yes and NO!....Vista system info page now says the correct amount of Ram in your Laptop, however Vista 32 still just uses in my case 3.5megs....I hear other system might show even less. (3gigs Tops). Visa 64 handels and except upward of 8gigs.

 

Vista is quite a lot snappier for me since installing SP1. Firefox is faster too. And it isn't always thrashing the disk like it was before I installed SP1.
It now takes longer to hibernate the machine... but it's quicker to come out of hibernation, which is nice.

 

No problems, persay, but my Windows Experience Index score went down from 4.8 to 4.3, due to my "Desktop Performance for Windows Aero" going down. Oddly, my "Gaming Graphics" score went up from 5.0 to 5.1.

*shrugs* not that it really matters...overall I notice some snappiness improvements, especially in regards to Flip3D, live thumb nailing, etc...not much else

 

For everyone discussing the whole 4gb issue...

The hardware/system screen shows 4gb, but if you go to task manager you'll see it's still 3.5 (or something close). All MS did is make that one screen read the installed hardware vs what windows is actually able to address...nothing is different in what the 32-bit version can address...you still have 512mb (or something close) sitting there doing nothing...which is no big deal, even if you switch to a 64-bit version, you are going to be somewhat worse off, or the same, as far as memory goes.

Chris

 

Havent noticed any differences yet; i installed SP1 about 24hrs ago or so...

 

i cant get my windows mobile device to sync after sp1, i have done everything from reinstalling software to deleting my phone from the laptop and laptop from phone and everytime i get the message that i need to install activsync 4.5 before the sync can happen, only thing is vista uses MDC not activsync. has anyone else had this issue?

 

In a couple days, you'll notice it. It takes time for Vista to relearn your programs/habits (superfetch) and such.

As for my experiences, my Guest account logoff problem seems to be fixed. Also, no programs have crashed yet, which before SP1, was almost a daily occurrence.

 

i left my laptop on before i went out last night, when i came back it was at the log in screen; after i logged in it told me my laptop shut down from an unexpected error (BSOD); never had that happen before....

 

I haven't had problem. Have you tried to delete the partnership between your phone and laptop?

 

I used to have "USB cannot start" error after coming out of the sleep mode. It was the Bluetooth module. After SP1, I haven't had that problem and it has been 3 days.

 

currently d/l'ing it via win update now, shall post back. No doubt it will feel a little slower as people are saying, but i'll give it time.

USB transfer rates are currently dismal, and even transfer via a eSATA expresscard to a 7200rpm 16MB Cache Sata2 drive is not all that good (20MB/s average) I hope they improve with sp1

 

Lol yeah this is the first time I used vista since beta 2 which was over 2years ago...

I am going to wait abit to install sp1 get a feel for vista business and then Ill bite the sp1 bullet.

 

I installed SP1 as soon as it was available last week.

I've encountered no problems at all and I've seen three notable improvements:
- Wireless connects much more quickly after sleep/hibernation (and without a manual disable/enable).
- File moves on the same partition actually go quickly (as they should have from day one).
- File copies from a USB drive seemed much quicker.

I haven't explicitly tested any of this but yeah, file handling does seem much better.

 

hmm thats interesting, because ive noticed a drop in my wifi connectivity.

general productivity seems to be up, and im not crashing anymore which is awesome

 

My wireless adapter connects much more quickly since installing SP1, whether from a cold boot or coming out of sleep mode. This alone was worth the update.

 

It seems faster to me. I suppose it could be the placebo effect, but I like placebos, too.

 

lol I'm experiencing the placebo effect too.

The only 2 things I have really noticed is that the graphics are a bit snappier (minimizing/maximizing/moving windows around) and it seems to grab the network connection much quicker on boot up.

 

I noticed the same thing. Both wireless network adapter & bluetooth.

 

Tried installing SP1 on my m1330 and the system got stuck on 3 of 3 57%. Any ideas what could be going on?

I had to restore from prior to upgrade and have not tried to go to SP1. Will try again tonight but if anyone have any thougths that would be greatly appreciated.

m1330 Tuxedo Black
2.0 Ghz T7250
160 Gb HDD
3 Gb RAM
LED Screen
Fingerprint
Nvidia 8400 GS

 

Vista SP1 doesnt even show in my Windows Update. ive got a m1330.

 

Finally got SP1 to install completely and I think it was due to an old NVIDIA driver. After updating to a current version from Dell's website everything seems to work.

 

Installed SP1 via standalone EXE on my 1520 (2.2/8600) and 1420 (1.8/8400). No problems on either. I haven't checked the Windows Experience levels to see if they've changed.

Both notebooks worked fine on SP1 with the previous Dell nVidia driver, but I saw that Dell released a new one this weekend. I updated both notebooks. Again, no problems.

After a few days' use, both might seem a little bit 'snappier' in all tasks, but it's pretty subtle. Both machines were pretty quick anyway. File copying, at least via USB, is much improved. It's much faster at estimating the time remaining, and seems easily twice as fast. A folder copy took 45 minutes a week ago, and the same folder takes 25 minutes today, with the same amount of data.

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance, my game du jour, seems to run just a tad smoother than before. But again, if anything it's very subtle. I don't have pre/post frame rates to back anything up, so YMMV.

But one real improvement that I have discovered is that iTunes Coverflow works properly again. Finally! With Vista SP0, it it was slow and chunky as I tried to scroll the album covers - a common complaint. With SP1, it's now smooth and quick, just as it was with XP. I suppose it could be in combination with that new nVidia driver, but either way, it's finally working as it should.

 

I believe that Microsoft said that they will begin pushing the update out via automatic Windows Update sometime in April. I downloaded SP1 directly from Microsoft, because I have two Vista machines and didn't want to download it twice. Do a search, you should be able to find it.

But I do also recall seeing it in the list of available patches when I manually ran Windows Update before updating.

 

I downloaded the standalone SP1 and installed on my Vostro 1400 last night. The installation took so long that I finally left it running overnight. I checked the Windows experience and it did not change after the update. So far I do not find any problem. It actually solved one of my major headache in installing the driver for bluetooth.

 

Anyone wanna throw me a link to DL Vista SP1?