Issues with running win2k rather than 98/ME???

WSquared

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I know there have been bits of this discussion here and there. But, with the newest versions of programs like WinDVD, PowerDVD, DVDGenie, etc, are there still any issues with running Windows 2000 Pro?

I'm considering using Win2000 rather than 98/ME from the stability, reliability, & security points of view.

I would like to hear(or read) your experiences with 2000 vs 98se/ME. If possible, please put the versions/patches of the software you are using.

To put you in context the kit I have is:
Abit KT7A, Athlon 1.2(266fsb), 256MB CL2 PC133, SB Live player 5.1, Pioneer 16x DVD Rom drive, Elsa Gladiac(GTS2) Ultra.
BTW, I only got all this last week, so I'm still tweeking, overclocking & downloading drivers etc.

Thanks,
WSquared

[ 30-05-2001: Message edited by: WSquared ]
 
I run Win2k also without any prblems apart from the fact it doesn't support S/PDIF out from your soundcard. Unless of course you go here :)

You'll find an unofficial patch to enable S/PDIF usage.
It's a problem with Creatives drivers and the fact that they wont update them.
There is more info on the page.
 
Athlon 900MHz
Asus A7V MOBO
IBM deskstar 46GB ata100
512M PC133
Asus V7700 deluxe
Memorex trimax 200 dvd/CDR drive

First major problem I had was with the graphics card. The initial asus driver and the Via 4 in 1 for the motherboard seemed to interfere with each other ( I suspect they had been installed in the wrong order if you will) Anything using OpenGL or D3D locked up the machine. Fixed with a newer driver for the card ( still using Nvidia 6.62 as it gave me good performance and good stability) and then reinstalling the 4 in 1 (more recent version improved performance). Manually changed the driving values for the card in the motherboard bios also)

Initially switching x4 AGP to x2 AGP gave better stability but by changing the AGP driving values and flashing the MOBO bios to a more recent version I was able to restore x 4 AGP and fastwrites without instability issues. (apparently you cannot restore this MOBO to an earlier bios firmware without corrupting the firmware: very bad news as a friend will attest)

Applied some microsoft patches to fix compatabilty with AMDs and W2K. (the graphics lock-up patch merely degraded the x4 AGP to x2 AGP so I removed this after fixing as above)

DirectX 8.0a seemed to improve 3d gaming performance a fair bit over 7.0

DVD playback was terrible using Powerdvd 2.5 (came with card). Tried changing DMA settings on relevant IDE port for the dvd drive: no effect, swapped dvd drive into secondary ata100 port: this didn't improve playback but the drive suddenly responded quicker spin-up times improved and drive selection felt a lot snappier) this also allowed me to turn off the IDE port detection in the BIOS: machine now posts and boots in about 15 secs whereas before it was taking approx 60 secs.

UDMA2 now shown as active next to dvd drive on detection phase. The onboard promise ata 100 controller seems to take over functionality from the device controller in W2K ( this may have been an issue with assigning DMA to the drive)

Top tip: w2K comes with a selection of device drivers on the disc but it didn't have an ata100 driver. When I got a BSOD and a terminal systems error ( whilst playing region1 gladiator : TWICE!) I had to do a clean install with the HD swapped into the bog-standard IDE port otherwise W2K couldn't see it. ( dump the ata 100 controller onto a floppy to avoid having to do this and insert it at the prompt) fine to swap back after you've got the ata100 driver reinstalled.

make sure you use W2K specific drivers for all your kit if available.

video capture under w2K is abysmal I think this is down to some unsupported codecs but I'm still looking.

Fixed dvd playback by using Windvd 2000 instead (difference was night and day!) Now pretty damn good occasional hang ( about every 30 minutes but I'll chase it down to some rogue process soon)

Machine is now very robust: hasn't crashed in recent memory (and I hammer it): ata 100 detection phase can hang occasionally (think this is a power supply issue as it only ever does it if the machine is switched on abruptly from cold)

However I have to use W2K for some of the 3d and 2D packages I use (it would have been NT but I wanted USB support) if you are not going to do anything exotic with yours I suggest sticking to ME or 98. When I initially got the machine late last year it took a couple of months before newer W2K specific drivers of sufficient quality came out. I am still unable to adequately use the video capture function on the card for example but this is down to Asus. (does say in the manual that capture under W2K is inferior to ME/98)

Apart from that I like W2K a lot more than I thought I would ( I use unix more prevalently at work)

Its DAMN! stable.
 
Woah!!!
I must be a lucky bugger to have just the one problem then :)
 

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