Like most technology geeks I was excited to get my hands on the Vista SP2 beta. I was betting that this was finally the Vista that we’d all been waiting for. The Vista that makes good on so many Microsoft promises. I am now officially disappointed.
I followed the directions from lifehacker’s excellent website, downloaded the little batch file, ran it as administrator and added the super top secret registry entry that allows Windows Update to download an update my computer to Windows Vista SP2.
After a download of more than 200mb and an install that took about 30 minutes I rebooted into the world of Windows Vista SP2, the windows Microsoft should have shipped to begin with!
It’s faster, it’s better, it’s not complete yet……..but it’s close!
All my games run a lot faster and just everything is smoother, quicker and nicer…. except one thing.
The problem with Vista SP2 Beta right now is that on 4 of my 7 computers I installed it on, it broke the Windows Audio Service.
This is interesting because my computers contain a variety of sound chips/cards. The problem is not specific to any particular sound card hardware. It just crashes and asks if you want to restart Windows Audio Service. You answer ‘Yes’ and audio is happy again for about 10 minutes.
It also became confused when it saw two network adapters. I found an installed one and would not allow me install or activate the second adapter. Oddly, when I disable the on-board ethernet adapter, it does find and installs the PCI based second adapter. In no case and through no amount of tweaking can I get that computer to access the internet or ping the DSL router. After removing the secondary adapter, I placed it in a Windows Vista SP1 machine. It has zero problems in that machine. It’s a networking bug in Windows Vista SP2 Beta.
Updates on all 4 computers affected to the audio drivers have had no effect.
Popularity: 10% [?]
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. I am happy to research all technical questions - Just contact me. Thanks for visiting!
Related posts:
- Windows 7 Beta Review - Already more stable than Vista SP2 Beta I’ve got two computers here running Windows 7 Beta. They...
- Windows 7 Beta 1 Audio Driver Problems - BIOS Update and SoundMAX Audio Driver Update Fix After you install Windows 7 Beta 1, you may start...
- Windows 7 Beta 1 Download - Fast and Stable Windows 7 Beta Shames Vista SP2 Beta Windows 7 Beta 1 was released to developers at WinHEC...
- Free Online Backup Service Review - Mozy Wins as Best Backup Online Solution Windows 7 and Windows Vista SP2 Tested It’s been an interesting day. I’ve had a job related...
- RegClean - The Speed BOOST! Just Like a Fresh Install of Windows Vista - Scan Clean Repair Defragment Your Registry It really does clean the registry, defrag and compress the...
