Installing Vista RC1

**Duke of Rezin** · September 21st, 2006, 06:45 AM

I plan to give it a shot on my next night off, but I was wondering about what number I should use for the product key. Is it the SHA1 hash that was on Microsoft's Vista download page?

**rgharper** · September 21st, 2006, 04:07 PM

It will install without a key but the key is the same 5x5 type key (like OU812-BR549-TWEEK-LUUSR-BIGR1) that Windows has always used. You should have gotten one when you applied for the download.

**gemstone** · September 22nd, 2006, 01:46 AM

It will only work for 2 weeks if you install without a key, also if you tried the beta 2 release, it's the same key.

**format c:** · September 22nd, 2006, 04:28 AM

If you have a gforce 7950 gx 2 video card your going to run into a major problem installing Vista RC-1, You willl get a stop error screen toward the end of the instal when Vista is loading the video driver for that card
The only work around is to use another video card to complete the instal, download the latest driver from nvidia's site, shut down, put the 7950 gx 2 back in, Boot into safe mode, run the nvidia installer and you should be good to go, It looks like Microsft can not write drivers yet
RC 1 does not open a lot of internet sites including Microsfts site and it did not allow me to downloand anything, I wanted to install Firefox
Beta 2 worked better on my top of the line system
So beware of the " improved " quality of the OS , I am staying away from it for a while

**rgharper** · September 22nd, 2006, 06:05 AM

Originally Posted by format c:

If you have a gforce 7950 gx 2 video card your going to run into a major problem installing Vista RC-1, You willl get a stop error screen toward the end of the instal when Vista is loading the video driver for that card
The only work around is to use another video card to complete the instal, download the latest driver from nvidia's site, shut down, put the 7950 gx 2 back in, Boot into safe mode, run the nvidia installer and you should be good to go, It looks like Microsft can not write drivers yet
RC 1 does not open a lot of internet sites including Microsfts site and it did not allow me to downloand anything, I wanted to install Firefox
Beta 2 worked better on my top of the line system
So beware of the " improved " quality of the OS , I am staying away from it for a while

(1) Microsoft doesn't write device drivers, the hardware manufacturer does.

(2) Onboard gigabit ethernet adapter? At least one that I know of has major problems with the drivers in RC1.

**format c:** · September 22nd, 2006, 05:15 PM

Sometimes when XP actualy natively supports one of my old cards like my all in wonder 9600 xt it will say in brackets next to the device " Microsoft Corporation "
So yes they do write device drivers, but with the gforce 7950 gx 2 they messed up , And in RC-1 I cannot connect to some sites including Microsoft, That tells me my network is working but very limited
Maybe I will switch to Linux since M$ is being so draconian, Their DRM is going too far , and I hate being protected from myself

**BOB IROC** · September 22nd, 2006, 07:46 PM

Originally Posted by gemstone

It will only work for 2 weeks if you install without a key, also if you tried the beta 2 release, it's the same key.

I am installing my Copy of Vista RC1 now and it took the key that was issued to me when I got beta 2. We shall see once it is done installing and it is activated

**NooNoo** · September 23rd, 2006, 04:55 AM

Originally Posted by format c:

Sometimes when XP actualy natively supports one of my old cards like my all in wonder 9600 xt it will say in brackets next to the device " Microsoft Corporation "
So yes they do write device drivers, but with the gforce 7950 gx 2 they messed up , And in RC-1 I cannot connect to some sites including Microsoft, That tells me my network is working but very limited
Maybe I will switch to Linux since M$ is being so draconian, Their DRM is going too far , and I hate being protected from myself

The drivers are written for Microsoft basic functionality by the hardware manufacturers.

**rgharper** · September 23rd, 2006, 05:17 AM

Originally Posted by format c:

Sometimes when XP actualy natively supports one of my old cards like my all in wonder 9600 xt it will say in brackets next to the device " Microsoft Corporation "
So yes they do write device drivers, but with the gforce 7950 gx 2 they messed up , And in RC-1 I cannot connect to some sites including Microsoft, That tells me my network is working but very limited
Maybe I will switch to Linux since M$ is being so draconian, Their DRM is going too far , and I hate being protected from myself

First, see what Noo said. Second, what network card do you have? I may have a fix for you if you can answer the question.

**Duke of Rezin** · September 23rd, 2006, 09:01 PM

Thanks rgharper. I was never given the key when I downloaded it unless it was displayed at the end of the download. The download was quite large and even with cable broadband it took a long time. I had already gone to work by the time it finished and never saw any opurtunity to receive the key. I just now applied to MS, filled out a form and got it.

**rgharper** · September 23rd, 2006, 10:13 PM

Originally Posted by Duke of Rezin

Thanks rgharper. I was never given the key when I downloaded it unless it was displayed at the end of the download. The download was quite large and even with cable broadband it took a long time. I had already gone to work by the time it finished and never saw any opurtunity to receive the key. I just now applied to MS, filled out a form and got it.

That works too.

I can't say for sure where the key request is - I think it's on the download page as a link. I get mine from the official beta program and the keys there are handled differently. As Bob said, if you have any key that was issued by Microsoft for Beta 2 or later it will work on the RC1 build or the RC1 refresh build that was just released last night.

**format c:** · September 24th, 2006, 01:00 AM

Currently I am using the marvell built in network adapter on my Asus A8NSLI premuim bios rev 1302 beta
I have to use a beta bios to support the 7950 gx 2, their last bios 1009 is not listed on mvdia's site as compatible, but thee board is compatible with bios ver 1011.006 or later. I found 1302 on their site
I think Asus has stopped supporting this board
I am open to your idead Rgaharper, then I can load a virtual machine to test things out

**GPUGURU** · September 24th, 2006, 02:21 AM

Originally Posted by NooNoo

The drivers are written for Microsoft basic functionality by the hardware manufacturers.

Yes. All video drivers are written by the IHV's and provided to MS to include in the OS so if there is anyone to blame for the GX2 issue, blame Nvidia. If you installed NVidia's Vista RC1 beta driver to fix the problem, then Nvidia has already addressed the problem. If you installed their XP driver, then perhaps Nvidia has some work ahead of them... L8R

**rgharper** · September 24th, 2006, 04:52 AM

Originally Posted by format c:

Currently I am using the marvell built in network adapter on my Asus A8NSLI premuim bios rev 1302 beta

Yep, the Marvell has been having problems in recent builds, I have two "maybes" and one "definite" fixes:

(1) Open the card in Device Manager and look at the Advanced properties tab, turn off the "IPv4 checksum offload" option

(2) Use the "Update Drivers" feature to replace the in-box drivers with Windows XP drivers.

(3) Disable the Marvell Yukon port and use a cheap 10/100 NIC instead for now.

I haven't had time to try the new post-RC1 build with this NIC and see if the problem's been fixed or not. Maybe later today.

**format c:** · September 24th, 2006, 10:17 AM

I just downloaded that new release of RC-1 , Looks like I may try it out on my spare drive and see if the install issue and the network issue has been solved, if not then I will try your ideas
Yes I do have a few of those cheap network cards, in fact I think one is a 3com , I have had some issues in XP but very miner
This board was RMA d due to connectivity issues
Well off to church for me, thanks for the ideas