Unstable Windows Installation.....

Ransure · Post by **Ransure** » April 18, 2005, 2:09 pm

Ok, so I finally got a new power supply for my computer... rebuilt it, and Ive loaded windows on my new HDD 3 times. Heres the system spec

Epox 8RDA+
Athalon XP 2500+
2 x 512 crucial PC2700
Radeon 9700Pro
WD ATA100 74gb 8mb HDD
Maxtor ATA133 30gb HDD
Lite-On 16x DL DVDRW

After I get through patching to SP2 I begin loading utilities... every time I get through all the utils, Windows explorer crashes and doesnt load. If I log off current user and log back in, explorer will load, but it wont off of a boot.

Heres what Im loading on.

Nero 6.x
Daemon Tools
Windowblinds
Desktop X
Winpatrol
Azereus
Java Runtime
Radeon Omega Drivers
CDisplay
Fast Stone

I think thats it.... Ive been using Windowblinds and DesktopX for about a year now, and Ive configured them for multiple systems. I know the problem points to them for whats going on, but I havent gotten the system to the point that I want to run an image off of and burn it to DVD (Ghost still the best utility for this?)

Could it be my copy of Windows is whats causing me the issues? Ive used this copy a few times (only on the computer I purchased it for of course

) But it seems to be flaking out on me...

Tenuvil · Post by **Tenuvil** » April 18, 2005, 2:36 pm

Your spec is almost identical to mine hardware wise, except for the video card...I had a serious problem with my XP Pro install media the last time I reloaded the system and ended up calling Microsoft and getting a new copy of the media from them for like $20.

That being said, I have heard the Omega drivers are somewhat unstable...try rolling back to standard ATi drivers?

Kilmoll the Sexy · Post by **Kilmoll the Sexy** » April 18, 2005, 2:42 pm

Omega drivers are really only for gaming. I would do a standard isntall with no other garbage and see how it works. You can narrow it down to an installed application after that....and do a restore if need be.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » April 18, 2005, 2:51 pm

As much as I liked my ati9700Pro, I was having issues with it right before picking up the 6800GT. It seemed XP SP2 had problems with the 9700. I read up on it a bit and others were having the same issue of basically getting the blue screen of death and having to reinstall windows from time to time. I did it twice and finally said, "aw fuck it" like that dude and his Chewbacca costume. At the time, I couldn't find anyone on the net that had come up with a solution to the problem.

To be fair, my ati9500Pro also had the same issues with SP2.

As Kilmoll said, Omega drivers are tuned for games but may not be worth the hassle for the little performance gain as you never know what's being tweeked.

Kilmoll the Sexy · Post by **Kilmoll the Sexy** » April 18, 2005, 3:56 pm

I have the ATI 9500 pro and it still runs great. have never had a problem out of it and I am running SP2. I did back down my drivers and did not use Omega as I get plenty of performance out of it for the games I am playing.

Tenuvil · Post by **Tenuvil** » April 18, 2005, 4:10 pm

the other thing is, Window Blinds directly affects the shell, and hence explorer.exe...and there is a way to load custom themes by patching the theme.dll file without the excess overhead of Window Blinds (which I have done to use a faux BlueCurve theme).

Ransure · Post by **Ransure** » April 18, 2005, 4:57 pm

Actually, Im thinking on this PC Im going to run DesktopX instead of Windowblinds... while I do like the grayhaze themes DinksDXBlue and MetalX2... In the 8 or 9 systems Ive installed windowblinds on, Ive never had issues like this, thats why its frustrating.... Im typing this message on a WB PC with SP2, but its my laptop.

Oh well, back to the drawing board.