I've had a hard time making up my mind lately whether I want to switch from XP x64, which is real nice and fast, and Vista Basic x64. I chose Basic since I dont run Aero or media center anyway and it really saves on resouces.

The problem has been that I have been picking some motherboards that are not compatable with Vista. It's like, when Vista first came out, nobody mentioned that, besides all of the hardware requirements you had to have, your motherboard needs to be compatable also.

I've already been burned once when I bought an ABIT KV-85 board a month ago. Their tech assured me it was compatable. It wasn't, and I had all kinds of problems. It's on it's way back to the factory now for some kind of replacement, hopefully.

Next I bought an MSI board, the K8MM3-V, that the vendor assured me would work with Vista. I never got around to offcially checking on that but it didn't matter, because after I installed it, it was dead on arrival. So I sent it back to MSI and basically had to beg them to send me another one without charging me any extra money. Long story there. But basically what I ended up with was, since they don't make these boards new anymore is a refurbished K8MM3-V. Wow, lucky me!

At this point, just to cover myself, I also went ahead and ordered my old standby brand, an ASUS K8V-MX. I should add, at this point, that the reason I keep ordering all of these older Socket 754 motherboards is that allows me to continue to use my AMD Athlon X64 processor and I don't have the money to go out and spend on a new board with an updated socket, processor, memory etc.

So anyway I decided for now, just to stick with ASUS, throw Vista Basic x64 on it and declare myself good to go. But I immediately started getting a few glitches after installation. After a half a days worth of phone calls, I finally learned the truth about the ASUS from one of their more smarter techs. It just wasn't compatble with Vista! My heart sank.

So I went to plan B and threw on XP x64 on it and it ran great. I then figured I could run with that maybe for at least another 5 years before I get to a point where I have to decide on the latest crap that Microsoft comes out with or maybe go Linux.

But having had enough dealings with Vista, especially the x64 Basic, I had kind of learned to like it, even with all of it's faults. And the Vista basic x64 ran much faster than the x32 versions I tried. So I started looking around the internet try to find a Socket 754, Athlon x64 motherboard that was Vista compatable. I never did find one, or ran out of time or maybe just gave up.

Then it hit me. I had just gotten the refurbished MSI board back and I thought "I wonder if this thing is Vista compatable" So I called their tech support and he assured me it was and even showed me on a web page that K8MM3-V was indeed VIsta compatable. Just Vista Basic compatable, but that was fine. That's what I wanted to run.

I installed it yesterday, then spent all morning today, downloading all of my Windows updates and SP1. I thought I was finally on my way. Then I noticed that windows update, never did install any drivers for my Creative Labs Audigy SE sound card, and it always had before. I didn't panic, so then I just ran the x64 Audigy driver I downloaded. I thought maybe it was just a glitch that Windows missed it.

But halfway through the installation, I got a message that said "cannot proceed with installation because there is no device installed" I thought, what the heck?, then quickly proceeded to check in device manager. Sure enough, it wasn't even in there.

Still I didn't panic. I tried puttting the sound card in another of the three PCI slots. No go. It still didn't recognize it. Then I tried the third slot. Same thing. My heart sank even further. I immediately called MSI tech support and they walked me through a few things, like clearing the CMOS. Yeah big deal! That did nothing.

To top it off, I must say that the MSI techs didn't really seem totally interested in helping me solve my problem with an old board. So I called Microsoft. They were very helpfull but still didn't have many clues as to why I was shipped a board with three possible dead PCI slots and one that would not recognize my sound card.. By the way, I did test my sound card in another PC, and it's fine. I also tried throwing in an older PCI sound card in my machine, to see if that would do it, but then Windows wouldn't even boot. The only thing the Microsoft guy could come up with was that maybe the sound card was incompatable with the motherboard. He said "It does happen".

So now I'm back on the phone with MSI tech support and they basically are saying, "Uhhhh, I don't think that could be it, uhhh!". So that's where I am at now. The MSI guy gave me an RMA number and told me to go ahead and send it back and he'll personally test another refurbished board including the PCI slots. What a guy huh?!

Do I trust them or this board at this point...No! Do I really want to pull out another board, wait a few weeks for MSI, then in the meantime, stick the ASUS back in for at least something to have, only to have to take it out again, when I get the MSI back?...Not really!

Final gripe....I just can't believe they would send me a board with three dead PCI slots. I did check out some settings on the BIOS, and saw nothing that I think would make those PCI slots live. I'm stumped! I've actually been able to find the same MSI board brand new at Provantage, so I'm kinda leaning on just going ahead and buying that, since I beleive, it is is a good board, if I can just get one to work right. And I really don't like using refurbished anything. That way I can still send back the broken MSI and have another sent to me that I can use as a backup.

At this point, any and all comments and suggestions are welcome. Also if you see any decent Socket 754. AMD 64, VIA chipset, Vista compatable boards out there, please let me know!

Wow, Jan, I am sorry you are having so many problems. I admit, I have not messed with 64-bit Vista. 64-Bit XP yes, but even that was a hassle as not everyone makes 64-bit drivers - for any OS. Over the last several years, I've been sticking with Gigabyte boards, although I like ASUS too.

Vista has certainly had some problems, some that should have been foreseen, IMO - but all-in-all, the vast majority of users are very happy with it. And to be frank, those with the most problems are those that attempt to install Vista on equipment designed for an 8 year old OS. Yes, Vista is a resource hog, but that's what was said about every version of Windows since 3.0. I note 256Mb (the standard from most new computers back then) of Crucial RAM cost $90 back in 2001. Today, you can get 4Gb for less than that from more than a dozen makers. And graphics technologies have moved faster than CPU and RAM technologies - but again, Vista was designed to support both the demands, and the hardware (and software) to take advantage of today's graphics technologies - XP, and the hardware of the time, was not.

I think you are setting yourself up for a fall no matter what you do as long as you are stuck on the 754 socket. That architecture came out in 2003 and has been superseded several times now, with the 939 AM2, AM2+, and soon again with the AM3 due out in the next couple months. Legacy support (a bane to XP) is not one of Vista's strong points - and in terms of security, that is good.

I recommend you stick with XP, then when ready for Vista, build a "new" system with hardware that was designed for today's technologies, for Vista - and not on a platform that was designed to run 10 year old hardware and software.

As for any recommendations, there seems to be few. Newegg does not even offer 754 boards anymore.

Hey Digerati, Thank you for replying,. I'm new here and that immediatelly impresses me that someone out there in this land of clunky hardware, that somebody cares!

Your exactly right on about the Socket 754's. I initially bought my first Socket 754 board several years ago and it came with the AMD Athlon 64 processor, which I've liked, so I've always wanted to get the most life out of it that I could. Problem is, as you know, once you make that choice of processor socket, you have to stick with that kind of board, and that's what I've done. Through many bad boards I might add.

Also, this is all before Vista came out and now I'm really learning about the true meaning of that word "compatability". Basically there just aren't many Socket 754's that are compatable with Vista, all except the one I'm dealing with now, the MSI K8MM3-V. Problem is, like I mentioned in my "overly-long" initial post, the first board that I was sent was DOA. I sent that back, then they sent me a replacement, but a refurbished replacement. And I usually do not trust refurbished.

That is evident right now as I have just proven that the three PCI slots that I thought were dead, actually are. What I did was pop in a couple of other types of PCI devices other than a sound card, to see if Windows would recognize them. It didn't. So now I know for sure.
This totally ticks me off about the quality of components coming out of the factory these days.

To top it all off, now MSI wants me to send this one back and they will send me another refurshished one. Great huh? But I have found that this board runs Vista Basic pretty good. So I just need one that runs perfectly. And I did some searching today and actually have found a few new ones left and at a reputable dealer, Provantage.

Although I have hardly much more money that I want to invest at this point, I think it might be worth the risk to go ahead and buy this new board, making sure that the vendor will refund me if I have a problem. That way, if it fails, or I run into more problems like I have been having, I can get my money back and just back to plan B. Which is putting XP Pro x64 on the new ASUS Socket 754 board I also bought. It's not Vista compatable, by the way.

And your right. I can run with that for awhile, until such a time when the financial resources are better (though I think that's gonna be a long way off) and I can buy a nice updated system. But I just can't help myself on giving up on this one last chance to run Vista, even if it's on a machine that only accepts Vista Basic, which is what I have. I mean that's why I went to all that trouble this past year to upgrade my RAM to 2 GB's, upgrade my AMD processor to 2.2 GHz, put in a nice 256 MB NVidia graphics card and nice Creative sound card. I did that all in the hopes of powering Vista.

An I think I've learned my lesson in finding out if a board is Vista comptable or not...the hard way! Thanks again for your input.

I'm new here and that immediatelly impresses me that someone out there in this land of clunky hardware, that somebody cares!

Thanks and welcome, BTW! This is a good site and all the staff and regulars care a great deal about helping folks with their computer problems.

I understand completely what you mean about upgrading - I stretch the technologies for as long as I can too. I was just discussing that very thing yesterday, here.

I have been holding off myself because there is always some new technology I want my new motherboard to support is just around the corner.

Your next upgrade is going to hurt - the new motherboard will not support your existing RAM, CPU, or AGP graphics card either. It will only have 1 EIDE port so you will be forced buy new SATA drives. You may have to buy a new case to support the increased cooling requirements, and of course, a new, more powerful power supply to run all them.

If lucky, you can bring your mouse, keyboard and monitor forward.

This is the first I've heard of Provantage. I tend to do 99% of my business with Newegg, Mwave, and ZipZoomFly.

Have you checked eBuyer? I know they are not the most *thinks of a word* "technical" people, but they are friendly and do have a bit of stock.
I bought an MSI board that was faulty, and the MSI people are useless. I found the MSI boards to be poorly made, so it wouldnt suprise me at all if it had dodgy PCI slots.
I find Foxconn to be very good.. (thats just my opinion tho)

I found the MSI boards to be poorly made, so it wouldnt suprise me at all if it had dodgy PCI slots.
I find Foxconn to be very good.. (thats just my opinion tho)

Hmmm, not sure I would agree with that. Foxconn is not noted for high-end boards while MSI has both budget and high-end boards. However, after-sales service is certainly a valid criteria when judging a company and if you had bad service from MSI, I can understand your rating.

The MSI board I had was one of their budget ones - £40 ish
Apple equipment is made by Foxconn, so I would expect they do make some decent stuff, but then again, price always seems to come in to it :/
So far, I havent had to contact Foxconn, I just hope if i ever have to that it will be better than MSI's

Apple equipment is made by Foxconn, so I would expect they do make some decent stuff, but then again, price always seems to come in to it

Well, like MSI, ASUS, and General Motors they make a wide range of products from feature rich, top-of-line cutting edge stuff, to cost-cutting no-frills, budget models. I am not criticizing Foxconn, BTW, I have used them often with no problems. That said, most electronics is reliable - if it fails, it typically does so at first power up, within the first few hours of use, or after a long productive life. If all you need is an office machine, budget models are often the way to go.

General Motors?? How did they come into this
Yeh, I had a very limited budget when I bought it, and I paid the price by it having an ATi X1200 which is very poor. I guess ATi are another company who do some good stuff, but also budget stuff :/