NP9261 Issues with Vista x64

I just received my NP9261 yesterday and I love this beast!

However, I'm having some issues with Windows Vista Ultimate x64 and was wondering if anyone using it has had any of the following issues:

1) Applications sometimes install incorrectly, as if all the files were not extracted correctly or installed.

2) Vista seems to be eating up all 4gb of my RAM and it has 0 available RAM, it's all been cached. Weird!

3) Applications seem to hang sometimes and have some sort of delayed load time, about 2 mins before an application loads.

I've installed all the drivers that came on the Drivers/Utilities CD and also fully updated vista. I know spyware/viruses are not an issue since I haven't installed any any dodgy software. Can anyone advise what the problem might be? Is it just that Vista x64 sucks? I have vista ultimate x86 on my 3 year old dell inspiron 8600 and I've had minimal issues with it, so why would x64 be so damn buggy?

 

1. This happens quite a bit...

2. I have x64 edition and it works fine.. Depending how it is tuned..
In a default installation.. you should not be taking up all of your ram.
I suggest you reinstall or open task manager to see what is taking all of your memovry

3. Sounds like all your resources are done.....
Look back at number 2.

I would be very carefel and make sure you run fn 1 to turn fans on max...
This way your fans are running cooling down your system...
I would just do it for good measures...

Try going into task manager and stopping the tasks that are taking up so much memory...


Joe

 

I haven't had this personally, I do not like the way that some programs get installed and almost 'vanish'. You have to hunt down where they went to.

Do you have the Update KB 938979 installed? If not you can grab it here. Be sure to specify what version you want i.e. x64. My ram usage went from 58% to 38% which is a good performance enhancement.

I can't comment on this. Have you tried defragging your HDD? Is there something else in the background, like an antivirus, that is checking something each time something loads? Just a thought.

My install of Vistax64 Ultimate hasn't given me any problems so far, but to be honest I usually use my XP32 more than it.

Take a look here for the top vista tweaks, they might help also. Hope something here helps your problems!

 

After being fed up with the instabilty of vista ultimate x64 I've switched over to vista x86 and I still notice that there is quite a bit of hard drive activity right after I start my computer. When I open up task manager, no unusual processes are taking up any memory, it just looks like Vista wants to move my RAM from being "free" to being "cached". I don't remember it doing that on my previous laptop, maybe because it didn't have enough RAM, lol.

Here's a picture of what my task manager looks like after a cold reboot into vista:

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Is this normal for windows to cache all my RAM right when it loads up - it only stops once nearly all my RAM has been cached and hardly any is left "Free"?

Also, I can't get HD Tune or Notebook Hardware Control to report my HDD temps to me - they both can't get any readings. I have 2x100GB 7200RPM in RAID 0. Anybody have any idea? I appreciate the help!

 

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the Mac OS Leopard do this too? I have a powerbook g4 and under its "taskmanager" its shows every program using 700mbs of ram. It totalled 30gbs of virtual memory but I found out all that it does is "cache" these programs so it is easier for the memory to be used on those applications...kinda like a buffer if I understand it right.

YOu are only using 26% of your physical memory so everything looks correc. I think the caching feature is just a way to spead up the process of getting the info progams need to the ram in case they call for it, that way it wont have to "find it" then load to ram then to the program and so forth.

I could be completely wrong on this but that is what I would guess... Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. Your memory isn't being pegged at 2gbs because it is only using 811mbs physical... I would play a game in a window and pull that up next to it then see what it says it is using for that game and how much is cached and used and so on.

Hope this makes sense but someone please correct anything that I got wrong or don't understand here.

 

its all precache and resources that are being prefetch'ed into paged memory.

You must optimize your OS to bring it down.

I have mine at a good 200-300mb right now.

Just disable the resource hogs:
- System Restore (rarely ever useful, takes 10-15% of resources)
- Drive Indexing (rarely ever used, takes 5-10%)
- any suite of Norton or McAffee crap... even AOL 9.0+ (use better alternatives like AVG, Avast for AV's.... and Comodo or ZoneAlarm for firewall.)
- Aero or any other fancy windows themes (bring it back to Classic for best performance)

 

Hey thanks for the insight. I'll make sure to disable those and check out my resources afterwards. Any idea why my HDD's aren't reporting there temps in HD tune or Notebook Hardware Control?

 

It is sad that you didn't enjoy the benefits of Vista x64 and that you had to downgrade. Mine is running very well and very fast for almost two months now. Do not be scared if Vista puts your RAM to good work. It is there to be used. During normal load my system does not go over 50%, though.

 

I am not sure if anyone else is seeing this but I noticed that when I had Nero loaded on my Vista 64 machine it would constantly try to read my picture files. It would also cause higher ram usage and cpu utilization. I uninstalled that portion and it solved my issues.

 

I decided to test my memory just to be sure everything is fine with it - but when I tested it with Memtest 86+ it came up with 1 error. I let it run for 8 hours straight, and it completed 10 passes. There was 1 error on the 6th pass, on test #4. I know from previous threads that even if there is 1 error in my RAM I should get a new module. I haven't have any BSOD's yet, but then again I've only had my 9261 for 3 days.

Here's my question: I'm currently in New Zealand for Work/Holiday and won't be back home in the states until April of next year, so I'd prefer to find out which module is the failing one and ship it to sager and have them cross ship me a new module. I know since I'm overseas at the moment that I need to pay for shipping both ways, so that's no problem - it's only RAM (thank god).

So, am I allowed to open up this beast and take out 1 module in order to test each module with Memtest 86+ and find out which one is bad. If I open up my system and take out a module, will that void my warranty at all?

 

I purchased mine just at the Oct release and they shipped 1 memory card not installed because of a driver issue with the 8700. When I got the machine they fixed the driver issue so I installed the memory card only to find out it was bad. I explained to the support tech how I determined it was bad. They replaced my card with no problem. So I would say that it does not void the warranty. You might look at memtest again I thought it broke it out by card/slot number.

 

Yes you can open up your notebook without voiding the warranty... as long as you do not damage it... which is highly improbable if you are a competent person.