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Software Vista SP1 Problems "Bug" Some Users
Jason Mick (Blog) - March 20, 2008 9:30 AM
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User reports of Windows Vist SP1 problems are varied, growing

Microsoft's Windows Vista has accumulated a very large user base since its release to the public in January 2007.  The recently released SP1 included bundled drivers with the aim of increased compatibility in users' machines who do not regularly perform driver updates.  It also includes speed ups to hibernation recovery, and the ability to use encryption tool BitLocker on multiple drives. 

Furthermore, to improve hard drive write times, SP1 moved Vista from an uncached write system to a cached I/O mode system.  The net result was slight increases in hard drive write speeds, according to preliminary tests; though surprisingly, the test found that USB drive write speeds dropped significantly. 

SP1 shipped to English language volume customers, MSDN subscribers, and testers last month.  Initially, some users experienced a catastrophic failure when one of the previous Windows updates was found to trigger an endless boot loop after the installation of SP1.  Microsoft quickly pulled the offending update.  Now with the release of SP1 to the general public, the large test population is sure to reveal any flaws in the SP1 if there are any.

And it turns out there may be, if initial reports are to be believed.  Some people are still reporting being locked into the boot loop, possibly due to the lingering presence of the malignant update.  Many users left pointed remarks about the various failures on Microsoft's Vista Team's blog.  Some users remarked that the update destroyed the latest versions of their NVIDIA drivers.  Says commenter "SeppDietrich", "What a disaster-- It exiled all my NVIDIA drivers to the Bermuda Triangle."

Other users complained of significant slowdowns.  "After installing SP1 things seem to go really slow, even though my computer shouldn't have any problems," said one commenter named "Bikkja".

Part of the slowdown may be due to spiking memory demands experienced by some users.  One user "Kurrier" reported that his memory usage by the OS jumped from 650 MB to 1 GB.  He announced that he would definitely be switching back to the pre-SP1 version of Vista.

Also, SP1 would not install on some computers which have incompatible hardware drivers.   A small set of Intel and Realtek drivers are among those deemed incompatible.  For the full list of incompatible hardware, refer here.  Microsoft is working to resolve these issues.

One should note that service packs often wreak havoc on users’ computers and that Windows has a long history of releasing Service Packs that negatively affected some users.  Windows XP SP1, while delivering essential updates in 2002 caused many problems, which Microsoft scrambled to fix in a series of subsequent patches. 

Windows SP1 is currently available in five languages: English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish.  Some retailers such as Amazon started selling boxed copies of the update yesterday.  Users must install prerequisite files before install Vista SP1, including the allegedly fixed prerequisite that caused the boot loop crash on some users' machines.

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Maybe I missed it
By Xodus Maximus on 3/20/2008 9:56:31 AM , Rating: 5
But where are all these users coming from and where did they report this to. Microsoft's forums? AnanndTech's forums?

Because, this can simply be a bunch of kids with too much time who just post to "be with the hate mob", Im sorry the I don't trust the word of "Bikkja" or "SeppDietrich", do you have anything more concrete.

Oh and yes I do have SP1 running on my HTPC for a while now, no issues...




RE: Maybe I missed it
By Homerboy on 3/20/2008 10:03:28 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
Im sorry the I don't trust the word of "Bikkja" or "SeppDietrich", do you have anything more concrete.


Exactly.... these are just anybody posting anything on a forum. Not sure if this is "news" or not. I'm going to post that "SP1 killed my dog!!" Lets see if that makes it to DT's front page...


RE: Maybe I missed it
By Capsaicin on 3/20/2008 10:07:36 AM , Rating: 6
More exact link (than the article's) where you can find the users' posts:
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/arc...


RE: Maybe I missed it
By Cobra Commander on 3/20/2008 10:46:55 AM , Rating: 5
Thanks for that.

I think the original point still stands though that generally speaking to much hype is creating by online bloggers citing other bloggers comments. The amount of credit given is an undeserved amount. I will say the RSS description of this article is overtly colorful, "User reports of Windows Vist SP1 problems are varied, growing." Nothing untrue about it but it's inherently painting a picture full of bias and I wonder if this scene will ever grow up.

Additionally the longer you've used Windows the more this is nothing more than history repeating yourself. Doesn't mean complaints cannot be valid but almost every doggone SP gets this reaction immediately after launch. Beginning with WindowsXP SP's Microsoft uninstalled non-WHQL certified drivers if the SP contained WHQL drivers for your hardware - and what do we see five and a half years later? The same complaint.

I don't know, most of the immediate complainers are individuals who at best I take their complaints with a grain of salt. ...another rant full of complaints... quick, someone quote me and blog an article on it. :P


RE: Maybe I missed it
By JasonMick (blog) on 3/20/2008 11:07:43 AM , Rating: 2
While you raise somewhat of a valid point about sources, however, print news is not much different in using quotes from random sources (ie. guy on the street says this about the mayor). While you could argue that there is some anonymity granted by username blog posts, who could possibly be trolls, print and video news often cite individual's comments. These comments certainly could be perceived as biased, particularly when it comes to political issues. And as to the anonymity, while video news might be a mark better in its quoting as you lose some anonymity with your picture being taken, print news is really no less anonymous than blogs in that people could simply give falacious names when being quoted.

My point is that online news (like DailyTech) and online blogs (like DailyTech's blog section) are no more or less respectable than print or television news. As this article obviously relies on user accounts, I intentionally added disclaimers, as well as an explanation to make the extent of these problems clear. Similar problems have happened with service packs in the past, so it seems like there's no reason to blanketly disregard reports of problems. If a number of users are reporting a problem with a popular software standard, it certainly is newsworthy.

The great thing about online news though is its ability to reach a broader audience than print news. That's the real difference.


RE: Maybe I missed it
By walk2k on 3/20/2008 12:24:45 PM , Rating: 3
read this same article quoting the same "sources" yesterday on WSJ so apparently it's common practice now to cite people named "Capt_KickzUrAazz9900" as experts.

anyway I really want to know why someone claiming that his system is using more ram "at idle" than before, because really that's a good thing. "free" ram should probably be renamed to "useless" ram with all the system cache and "pre-fetch" that vista does now.


RE: Maybe I missed it
By Alexstarfire on 3/20/2008 1:18:41 PM , Rating: 2
The problem with the way Windows tells you how much RAM is used is that it doesn't always tell you WHERE it's being used. They don't tell you how much is being used for pre-fetch and stuff like that.

IDK, I think it's more of a mind thing. That if it's being used at idle, that it can't be used when you run a program. I mean, that's traditionally how it's worked with Windows stuff. If it's allocated in one place it won't be used in another.


RE: Maybe I missed it
By theapparition on 3/20/2008 2:09:38 PM , Rating: 5
Hey,
Say what you want but Capt_KickzUrAazz9900 knows his stuff!!!


RE: Maybe I missed it
By Melricx on 3/20/2008 1:44:46 PM , Rating: 5
The difference though, is that the blogs have ready access to sites that are magnets for complaints. So you go hit up the Vista blog site and lo and behold there are 20 people complaining about updating to Vista SP1. Well the 20K other people that successfully updated are not heading over to the Vista blog to post their success stories.

It's analogous to a newspaper that heads to a AA meeting, ask questions about alcoholism, and then publishes a story that alcoholism is on the rise. The sample is not random so the results are in now way predictive of a trend.

And face it, you want a juicy story that Vista SP1 is breaking everyone's computer. So you get a few comments that back that up and then run with the story.


RE: Maybe I missed it
By jtesoro on 3/20/2008 11:49:48 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
The difference though, is that the blogs have ready access to sites that are magnets for complaints.


Isn't that a good thing? Absent these venues, there could be major trouble and few would hear about them. Be happy that you can see the problems that people say they have on their systems, but use proper perspective on assessing their validity or applicability to you.


RE: Maybe I missed it
By timmiser on 3/20/2008 8:06:34 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
While you raise somewhat of a valid point about sources, however, print news is not much different in using quotes from random sources (ie. guy on the street says this about the mayor). While you could argue that there is some anonymity granted by username blog posts, who could possibly be trolls, print and video news often cite individual's comments.


The big difference is when the TV news crews interview the 'guy on the street' there is more of an element of a random, neutral answer. When you go to a forum for a quote, you, the editor, are picking and choosing the quote you want to use from many posts.


RE: Maybe I missed it
By Domicinator on 3/20/2008 2:55:23 PM , Rating: 5
I'm totally with you on this, and not only do you have to take online bloggers and forum trolls with a grain of salt, you also have to take Jason Mick articles on DailyTech with a grain of salt. He loves to come up with misleading headlines and couple them with freakish pictures of Balmer (ok, maybe Balmer brings that on himself) in order to make the situation look much worse than it really is.

I happen to think Vista is a wonderful OS. I game on it, I work on it, I use it all over my house, and it runs my home network. I've had very very few issues, and the ones I did have were in the first month of launch, usually dealing with Nvidia drivers. Those got better quickly and I haven't had a problem since.

SP1 has improved my experience even more. Boot up and shut down is faster on both my machines, file copying over the network is faster, the defrag tool is better (though still a bit gimpy), and both machines seem even more responsive than they were before. I think SP1 was a success.

Now, giving some credit to Jason Mick, I think he did treat Vista fairly in this article and even gave it some props, but did you see when SP1 RC came out? His headline was something along the lines of: "Windows Vista SP1 kills computers!!" And of course it had a scary Ballmer picture next to it. What he was referring to was the installation loop, which certainly isn't widespread and most definitely does not have the ability to "kill" a computer.


RE: Maybe I missed it
By jtemplin on 3/20/2008 10:59:02 AM , Rating: 2
spicy.


RE: Maybe I missed it
By crystal clear on 3/20/08, Rating: -1
RE: Maybe I missed it
By Xodus Maximus on 3/20/2008 11:26:01 AM , Rating: 5
I guess I did miss it, thanks :)

However reading the actual comments from those users make me sad, just because some of them are written obviously because that person had nothing better to do, probably read some other forum and regurgitated their own version in the "vista blog", true or not, I doubt we'll ever know...

Like this SeppDietrich:
quote:
It exiled all of my Nvidia drivers to the Bermuda Triangle..
the install fails...every time,without fail.(Pun intended)
Good Ol' Code 80070005...
So I'm sitting here with my lovely 24" WFP2407 monitor at some asstacularly low resolution


maybe I am wrong, and that is how that person talks in every day life, but I doubt it...(why do people love to make up crap?)

Its like a person who just gassed up a Ferrari then it explodes for some unknown reason and all the person says is:
quote:
Well it was a cool fireball.
Dang, and I just bought some new Goodyear 4000X tires for it.
Oh no, I had a turkey sandwich in the glove compartment, why must all the good sandwiches die young.
I should call my mother and see if Scruffy got his shots


I could go on but hopefully you get my point, which from the comments on this thread, you do :)


RE: Maybe I missed it
By prenox on 3/20/2008 11:11:38 PM , Rating: 2
If Microsoft owns the blog they could always do like Apple and delete the posts


RE: Maybe I missed it
By mercilessming on 3/20/2008 11:03:43 AM , Rating: 2
Exactly, I haven't gotten SP1 yet. Because of all the whiners, I let Microsoft update do everything, just so I can say to the whiners and doubters, Every update (hotfix,patch,hard ware driver update) Microsoft sends gets installed and no problems, and "I turn around and say to the whiners and doubters maybe if you get off the 32bit celeron from 1994 you to could run the best OS Microsoft has produced".

I have a old 64bit Dual Core with 4gigs of ram and love the feeling when I use Vista that my hardware is being fully utilized. I hope Microsoft only continues the great work. If only we could get (Western Digital, Maxtor etc) to speed up hard drives now, since they haven't REALLY sped up hard drives in like a decade now.


RE: Maybe I missed it
By Xodus Maximus on 3/20/2008 11:33:50 AM , Rating: 2
I wish people would stop thinking that a 32bit version is without its place, the HTPC with SP1 I mentioned has Home Premium 32bit on it. Its a P4 3Ghz with an ATI X200, and it runs the "Aero Glass" experience with no glitches or slowdowns.


RE: Maybe I missed it
By FITCamaro on 3/20/2008 12:32:35 PM , Rating: 2
Well considering the only thing they can do to "speed up" h