Windows 7 x64 Stability

[Greg B]

Yesterday I installed win 7 x64 on an empty partition, retaining my XP OS in a dual boot configuration. I had previously downloaded drivers from ASUS for my MOBO, bought prior to ASUS developing the Win 7 drivers. When I began to install the ASUS drivers I had trouble. I installed the VIA driver, and then the ASUS chipset drivers. After installation of the chipset drivers Win 7 suddenly shut down, and when it restarted no desktop shortcuts or taskbar were present. I booted up in safe mode, used recovery, and reset to the point before the driver installation. Win 7 booted up as expected. I decided to reboot after each driver installation to isolate the event, but this time it occurred right after VIA driver installation. I recovered once more, restarted Win 7, and just opened a browser window and began doing things with that. I left the computer for a few minutes, and when I returned Win 7 had shut down on its own again, and upon reboot had no taskbar or shortcuts. Now I doubt there are ASUS driver issues, but more likely Win 7 issues.
I'm wondering if anyone else has had similar stability problems, or if there is some fix I need to implement.

 

[gregrocker]

The problem is loading in the chipset drivers.

Windows 7 installer is driver-complete. Any newer will quickly be delivered by Windows Updates.

Only the most exotic software will not have drivers provided during install.

This is because MS funded the partnership with all manufacturers to develop Windows 7 drivers (WHQL) and thus has the drivers first.

I have done dozens of 32 bit Win7 installations within the past year and it improved steadily to the point that there is almost no driver that is now not supplied by Installer.

 

[Greg B]

That's interesting. On the ASUS forums this isn't known. Perhaps ASUS was posting the drivers for download to support the trial versions of Win 7, but I thought these were only for 64bit. It also seemed that there was no problem with the VIA sound support prior to installing drivers. I'll not install them any more....
Thanks again