tommaso

according to my experience you have no chance at all... Usually recovery cd/dvd contains special drivers developed specifically for the hardware manufacturer in a specified configuration. There is no way they are goin to restore a custom made pc...

well, I had to reactivate because of this... oddly enough! I noticed that with Vista 64 my iTunes couldn't detect cd burner anymore and does not allow me tu burn my cd. This looks like a very common problem "http://www.emergingearth.com/itunes-7-cant-burn-cds" as you can see... Luckily someone found the solution in here "http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070714011213AAmyyEd" , this was the problem "The issue appears to be with the 64-bit version of Windows Vista (and XP apparently), and the fact that a version of the third-party driver that iTunes uses to burn CDs and DVDs will not interact correctly with 64-bit OSes. This is characterized by an Error code 2380 when you run CD/DVD diagnostics in iTunes. The third party driver is known as gearsec.exe, and the solution is to download the correct 64-bit version, direct from GearSoft: http://www.gearsoftware.com/support/driv..." Guess what happened? Yes, Vista detects the cd burner "under a new light" and recognize a "major changment" in your hardware setup... Reactivation needed!

Is not that I disagree with you, but in Italy MS does not provide suppor 24/7... Actually, I'm plenty of time until tomorrow morning at 9

Hi everyone, first I'd like to state that I am firmly against piracy, I only buy original software & music as well. I have bought my original Win Vista 64x with the hardware components I needed to build my own PC. Here's what's happened: I noticed that with Vista 64 my iTunes couldn't detect cd burner anymore and does not allow me tu burn my cd. This looks like a very common problem "http://www.emergingearth.com/itunes-7-cant-burn-cds" as you can see... Luckily someone found the solution in here "http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070714011213AAmyyEd" , this was the problem "The issue appears to be with the 64-bit version of Windows Vista (and XP apparently), and the fact that a version of the third-party driver that iTunes uses to burn CDs and DVDs will not interact correctly with 64-bit OSes. This is characterized by an Error code 2380 when you run CD/DVD diagnostics in iTunes. The third party driver is known as gearsec.exe, and the solution is to download the correct 64-bit version, direct from GearSoft: http://www.gearsoftware.com/support/driv..." Guess what happened? Yes, Vista detects the cd burner "under a new light" and recognize a "major changment" in your hardware setup... This will lock my OS from 2 days from now until I do not manage to put my hands over a new product key (and no, I'm not gonna waste any more money, I already bought my orignal copy) or to contact MS support... This is simply not possible. I can even agree with anti-piracy software but, dammit MS should "tune-up" the way it detects any chang made on my hardware! I mean, I keep running the the same cpu, mobo, hdd, graphics and audio card!!! And what if I decide to turn on SLI and add another video card? Another product key or other tons of time wasted with MS? I'm sorry but if my problem will not be solved by MS support in 48hrs, this is the time I will switch to Linux. I am just sorry for my gaming life. But I'd prefer to spend my free time gaming rather than losing my time with supid MS requests!

Just to tell you how the journey ends... From yesterday new "certified" drivers are available on nVidia webpage (http://www.nvidia.it/object/winvista_x64_162.22_it.html) for 590/570 chipset based mobo (Intel & AMD) and 64x based Vista OS. Well, I tried them and they do work for me. That said, even if I cannot prove it, I have the suspect that Win Update downloaded a generic version (or is unable to recognize if you're using an Intel or AMD based mobo or worse installs the 32bit version on x64...) Anyway, try them from nVidia and remember to choose wisefully what you download from Win Update

TK you techtype, maybe my googling was not so good as yours

LOL - ok I won't

The drivers there are tested - they're likely also certified. However, if they don't work for you, contact the manufacturer and raise hell if need be - certified drivers should work properly. If they don't, make sure the vendor knows about it, or they'll continue writing drivers that don't work properly on your hardware! well they dont work alot of ppl. and the driver isnt even on the nvidia website... i ended up using the official nvidia driver from a few months ago and vista works fine now. I noticed isn't on nvidia website... I had to reinstall previous drivers on safemode to fix things... But now looks like Win Update detects a new version of those "strange" nvidia drivers... What shall I do?

So you experienced my same problem. Probably I got it worse because of the RAID setup. I blocked Win Update after last crash... Do you think it could be safe to install those download now?

Why should MS test NVIDIA's driver? It should be NVIDIA that enusres their driver works correctly with the OS. then MS should not certify it as a WHQL!

Sorry if I stuck in this post but... As far as I run a x64 Vista (2 Gb RAM @ 800Mhz) and I noticed that Vista tend to use something like 30-35% of my RAM all the times, is it a good idea to upgrade to 3 or 4 Gb? TK you

ermmmm... did you install both OS on the same partition, is that right? What OS is currently loading now? I really do not know if you can have them all in the same partition and run both fine... But, try to give us more info, please

The drivers there are tested - they're likely also certified. However, if they don't work for you, contact the manufacturer and raise hell if need be - certified drivers should work properly. If they don't, make sure the vendor knows about it, or they'll continue writing drivers that don't work properly on your hardware! Well, I will write them a nasty letter today!

I don't know if you know an old italian way of saying "any news, good news" but I just invented another "no windows updates are the only good updates" It's the 2nd time in ten days that Vista Win Updates cripple my OS, leaving me no alternatives than reinstalling the OS (oh and I guess very soon MS will accuse me of piracy because of that...) I am talking about 3 of the latest updates available that refers to Win Vista certified drivers for mobo based on nVidia chipset 590/570 and, in particular, nvidia RAID controllers and SATA drivers. You know well that when we talk about HD we talk about our precious data. Carefulness is adviceable. I'd like to state, too, that Vista was running fine with nVidia oldest drivers but as far as Win Update settings allows it to download "important" updates, looks like there is not much to do except disabling it... So, that said, every **** time Win Update downloads these **** drivers, my OS freezes on the first reboot and subsequentially becomes very unstable and hard drives seems to go on constant loop worsening performance and bringing to frequent lockups. I tried everything, from restoring the OS to rollingback drivers... Nothing seems to work and I know I will spend this night reinstalling the OS... Watch carefully what Win Updates download in your OS, I am pretty sure, no one tests it. Ever.

First thing we need to know, is what will be the main OS you intend to use, I mean, what will you put on C:\ ? What will you install first, or do you already have one installed? Then I suggest to keep at hand an utility that allows you to easily enable multiboot and "EasyBCD" is the best application to achieve this. But before you move a single finger, please have a printout of these two amazing "how-to's" , they worked great for me: http://apcmag.com/5023/dual_booting_xp_with_vista http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp