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The perils of upgrading to Windows 64bit

Had trial copies of Windows Vista 64bit and Windows XP 64bit for some time now. Since both my laptop and my PC are on 4GB of RAM, the 32bit versions of XP and Vista can only use around 3GB. Was wondering if it’s worth to try the 64bit versions to maximize the available memory on board.

So, I tried installing Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit in another partition on that rig Intel lent me.

Installation was fast and without any hiccups. Drivers for the motherboard, video card and other peripherals worked without any problems. And yes, my Windows can now use all of the 4GB RAM installed in it (I added another 2GB RAM stick).

Except for one — the Compact Wifi USB Adapter (Linksys WUSB54GC). Linksys did not have any drivers available for Vista 64bit. I’m stumped. All of the desktops at home free from wires and depend on a USB WiFi adapter.

That’s just the beginning. I haven’t installed the 3 printers and a very old OCR scanner yet — I don’t think there any luck with that scanner.

Looks like there’s no bright future for 64bit Windows OS until the driver problems are addressed. And, we’re talking about thousands and thousands of drivers here.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

7 Responses

  1. Avatar for vern vern says:

    Peril? Doesn’t that sound overly dramatic? I haven’t used a 32bit OS since I got a 64bit processor (64bit Linux and Windows) … that was years ago. The problem is less to do with Windows Vista or any other 64bit OS, but people’s insistence to keep using older hardware.

  2. Avatar for Lucien Dominick G. Tiojanco Lucien Dominick G. Tiojanco says:

    Or try the 64 bit version of OpenSUSE 11.0 instead. :-)

  3. Avatar for Abe Olandres Abe Olandres says:

    @jez – nice meeting you also!

    @hamilton – will try that one too. thanks for the tip!

  4. Avatar for Hamilton Chua Hamilton Chua says:

    If you’re only goal is to utilize all 4GB of your RAM.

    You might have better luck with 64bit linux. I’ve been using the X86_64 bit version of OpenSUSE since 10.3 on my ThinkPad and desktop PC and I’ve had no problems with hardware so far.

  5. Avatar for Jomark Osabel Jomark Osabel says:

    Interesting development for the 64bit windows but while waiting for the drivers to make it so and before jumping to the 64 bit bandwagon I think I would still have to enjoy my fully functioning hackintosh.

  6. Avatar for Jehzeel Laurente Jehzeel Laurente says:

    hala patay.. i’m planning to upgrade into a 64bit tx2000 laptop pa naman.. huhuhu.. pang games lang muna cguro ang 64bit at pang photoshop.. then copy mo nalang sa 32bit windows pag e piprint mo na… :D haha

    p.s.: nice meeting you kanina yuga! finally :P

  7. Avatar for BrianB BrianB says:

    Nah, I’ll wait for the 128 bit.

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