Tag Archives: “Windows Vista – Service Pack 2”

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Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and SBS 2008 with Service Pack 2 – You may find that applications stop responding, delays occur during resume from standby and/or files may become corrupt when the computer goes to sleep/hibernate and/or poor AMD processor/chipset performance

A variety of issue exist post service pack 2 with Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Small Business Server 2008, a variety of hotfixes have been released since 2008 to address these issues but you only need to apply the latest to ensure that all subsequent issues are addressed.

 

You should only need to apply the hotfix from KB 980080 to ensure that all the issues below are addressed as this contains the latest versions of the affected files, this can be obtained from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980080

 

KB 980080 – Files may be corrupted when a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 enters the sleep mode or the hibernate mode

Info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980080

KB 977323 – After you change the SATA mode of disk devices to use the AHCI specification on a Windows Server 2008-based or Windows Vista-based computer, the computer or certain applications randomly stop responding for 60 seconds or longer

Info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977323

KB 974073 – An update for the Msahci.sys driver has been released for AMD chipsets

Info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974073

KB 971390 – A minor delay occurs when Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 resumes from sleep if the hard disk is attached to a secondary ATA port

Info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971390

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Windows Vista and Windows 7 – USB Audio Device or USB Headset can cause High CPU Usage and you may notice skipping in the sound playback

If you use a USB Headset, USB Speakers or USB Sound Card under Windows Vista or Windows 7 you may notice that the CPU Usage is very high when you are listening to sound, music or gaming.  You may also notice that the audio lags or skips as a result, this will normally occur every 10-20 seconds and may get worse over an extended period of time.

This is most likely to occur when the device is connected to a USB 2.0 EHCI (Enhanced Host Controller Interface)

The issue is caused by a problem with the usbport.sys driver that is part of Windows

The issue can be addressed in Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 by upgrading to “Service Pack 1”

The issue can be addressed in Windows Vista – Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2008 – Service Pack 2 by applying the hotfix from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/981214 which includes an updated version of usbport.sys

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Microsoft Windows based Computers and Laptops – Slow System Startup with Realtek HD Audio Chipset

You may find that Windows based computers and laptops are very slow to startup and in some instances slow to shutdown.  This has been witnessed when out dated drivers are installed for the integrted Realtek HD Audio Chipset.

The Realtek HD Audio drivers offered on Microsoft Update are often dated 2005 and are many years behind those available directly from the Audio Chipset manufacturer.

You can verify your current Audio Chipset and Driver version from “Device Manager”

Please visit http://www.realtek.com/downloads/ to find and download the latest applicable drivers for your Windows system.  They will usually reference the drivers as “High Definition Audio Codecs (Software)” and then under Windows the list Operating System Compatability for each system and provide several download links based upon locations around the world.  Downloads from the Realtek site can be slow at busy times of the day so you may need to be patient and/or download outside peak hours.

As you can see from the table the current drivers from Realtek Support are dated 21st October 2011 and are usually updated every 1-2 months, it would be worth updating to the latest release to resolve your slow startup times and then add updating your audio drivers into your usual computer maintenance schedule.  Once you have updated remember to check Device Manager to ensure that the latest drivers are actually installed and that the device is operating correctly.

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Microsoft Windows Vista – SP1 or SP2 and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 – SP1 or SP2 – How to Easily Free Up Some Disk Space

Have you started to notice that C drive is getting a little full or do you just want to have a spring clean, well you may not realise it but when you installed Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2 onto your Windows Vista or Windows 2008 Server that Microsoft very sensibly backed up all the old system file before replacing them with new ones.

Assuming that you have had Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2 installed for sometime without issue it may be good to know that you might be able to reclaim some disk space by dumping these obsolete system files.

Simply launch an elevated Command Prompt by right clicking “Command Prompt” and selecting “Run as administrator”.  Once you are in a command prompt simply paste in the following according to the Service Pack you are currently running:

Service Pack 1 you need to paste: VSP1CLN.EXE

Service Pack 2 you need to paste: Compcln.exe

Be patient with these commands they will need time to enumerate a large number of files and could take up to 60 minutes to complete.  Once finished I would recommend a reboot.

With these commands we are telling the operating system to remove any of the superseded service pack files.  If you do not have any files to remove it might be because someone else has already removed them or your computer/server may have already come with Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2 pre-installed/integrated.