June 2005 - Posts
So, I’m building a new test machine tonight, since my old one has been having problems. Could have been related to the pre-production nature of some of its components, so I decided to just go get a new one.
So, recycle the DVD, floppy, a GB of RAM that was a pull when I upgraded the server, the HD (a decent 80GB IBM IDE drive) from the problem machine, and a year old AGP card. Hmmm. AGP, so that pretty much controls my choices of a new motherboard. Well, my existing ASUS A8V Deluxe has been well behaved and solid, so I’ll go with that. Money’s a bit tight, so I went with a Venice core 3200+ — not exciting, but solid. This is only a test machine, after all. A quick run down to NCIX, since I need this box up and running ASAP, and I’m back home with a new motherboard, processor, and I couldn’t resist: a new case, the Antec Sonata II. I have to work in the same room as this machine, so the old case just wasn’t cutting it — way too noisy.
Get it all home, open the boxes — the case is a beauty, really. Everything you could want (but only a “fair” manual, and I’m being polite). No screw driver required except for two screws to remove the passive cooling tunnel and one for each PCI/AGP card you slot in. Everything else is thumb screws. Plenty of power cables, including SATA connectors. no sharp edges, and mounting the parts is a joy. Ready to put the DVD drive in, and I’m looking for the 5 1/4” drive rails. Then I pop out the blank cover in the front — and there they are, slotted in to the front panel blank, hiding but ready whenever you need them. A nice touch. And I love the Sonata’s side mount HD trays. Complete with noise damping rubber grommets for mounting the HD to the tray, they are a joy to work with. They slide right in and out with no muss, no fuss. And all I ever need to take off is the one side cover.
So, open the box with the motherboard – nice. Again, no missing parts you need to run back out for. Even two pair of red SATA drive cables. Mount the processor, slot in the two RAM modules, pop the I/O cover plate that comes with the Sonata out, and put in the one for the A8V, and drop the mobo into the case. Screw it down, slot in the second NIC and the video card, plug in all the (well marked) cables to the motherboard, put the various drives in, and I’m done. Total time? A couple of hours, since I actually read through the ASUS manual. And now I’m ready to power it up and install Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. But I’m going to do it all automatically, using a Windows PE boot disk and a remote installation directory.
Question in the newsgroup this morning:
“Can the x64 version of windows support 4 processors? (I'm assuming the dual core AMDs are treated as 2 physical processors.)”
First, Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions can support a lot more than 4 processors, but I suspect the user was really asking about Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, not Server 2003. And the answer is that XP Professional supports 1 or 2 processors only. However, it does support 2 dual core processors. But isn’t that the same as 4 processors, you ask? Yes, almost. But to understand the issues here, we need to look at how Microsoft counts processors for licensing purposes, as opposed to how they count them for threading and processing purposes.
The Microsoft licensing scheme counts processors as one processor per processor socket. If that processor socket has a quad core processor in it, it still counts as a single processor. The origins of this really go back to the Intel processor hyperthreading technology, that allowed a single processor to mimic a dual processor for some things. Hyperthreading could actually give end users some of the benefits of multiple processors without requiring completely new motherboard designs. And a decision was made at Microsoft then (or at some earlier time and implemented then, for all I know), that MS wouldn’t try to claim that a hyperthreading processor is the same thing as two processors. Which is certainly true, since it really is only a single processor.
Then along came dual core processors. Now we have two complete processors running on the same physical chip. Here, Microsoft stuck with the premise that a single physical processor or piece of silicon was what mattered. Even though, for almost all purposes, the dual core processors from AMD and Intel are very much separate processors, and provide all the multitasking abilities of two processors. Personally, I’m glad they did, since it means that if I can ever manage to get my hands on one of those great new dual-Opteron boards, and can plug in a pair of dual core Opteron chips into it, I would have the equivalent of a 4–way box. Given the kinds of multitasking I’m always doing (and the number of Virtual Server sessions I generally have open), that would be a really sweet machine. For the moment, however, I’m still trying to figure out how to justify the money for one of the new Athlon 64x2 chips to plug into my ASUS A8V motherboard.
Author of >25 books on computers, operating systems and enterprise environments
For those of you wanting to use your Wacom tablets, if you have one of the USB Intuos or Cintiq tablets, there’s finally a driver available. It’s listed as a beta driver, so use at your own risk. But a good sign at least. (note: it looks like no serial port tablets will be supported under x64 Edition.)
http://www.wacom-europe.com/uk/downloads/driver/driver.asp
Driver 4.87-2 beta for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition:
Quote from the Wacom description:
“This driver was built for the USB versions of Intuos3, Intuos2, Intuos and CintiqPartner pen tablets and the Cintiq 21UX, Cintiq 18SX, Cintiq 15X and PL-500 pen displays. Note: Serial tablets are not supported on Windows x64!
Improvements/bug fixes: - Introduction of new Intuos3 control panel Note: This driver requires a computer with 64-bit processor(s) running Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. Do not install this driver on standard 32-bit Windows systems! “
OK, here’s another little workaround for the 32–bit Explorer extensions problem. This one is version independent, and works with all sorts of things that don’t normally add themselves as extensions — add your favourite little utilities to the SendTo menu!
All right, but how to add something to the SendTo menu? Easy.
- Open Windows Explorer and navigate to Documents and Settings\<username>
- Right click on SendTo and select Copy. (if it’s hidden, you’ll need to change your Explorer settings to be able to see it.)
- Double click on SendTo to open up the SendTo folder.
- Right click in the folder window and select “paste shortcut”.
- Rename the short cut to “Add to SendTo Menu”
- While you’re here, add a couple of other shortcuts — one for WinZip, and one for Notepad.
Now you have three new tools on your SendTo menu – one that opens the file(s) with WinZip, one that edits the file with Notepad, and one that can add an additional tool directly to the SendTo menu.
Now, all you need to do to use WinZip directly from 64–bit Windows Explorer is highlight a group of files in Explorer, right click, and choose WinZip from the SendTo menu.
Author of >25 books on computers, operating systems and enterprise environments
We all have our favourite Windows Explorer extensions — you know, those little things that add themselves to the right mouse button click. My two favourite are WinZip and GVim, my editor of choice. I really miss having those two available directly from Explorer, but they simply don’t work. The problem is that WinZIP and GVim are pure 32-bit applications, and the extensions are 32-bit as well. But Windows Explorer is 64-bit, and 64-bit programs can't call 32-bit dlls (and 32-bit programs can't call 64-bit dlls). There is a workaround, however:
See KB #895561 Some Windows Explorer extensions and some Control Panel items are not available in x64 Edition.
a.) create a shortcut to:
"%windir%\syswow64\explorer.exe /separate"
(remove the quotes) and place it on your desktop
b.) Use this version of Windows Explorer when you need to use your extensions.
Meanwhile, let the folks at WinZip know you don't like that workaround and want a real 64-bit program.
Author of >25 books on computers, operating systems and enterprise environments
There have been a lot of questions on the Newsgroup about what printers are supported in x64. And while there is no comprehensive list all in one place, HP deserves kudos for transparency across their entire printer line. Check HP Printer Support for XP Professional x64 Edition for a complete list of where they are with printer support for x64.
Beyond what’s officially supported, however, there are a whole range of printers that work quite adequately in x64 Edition, even though there aren’t any official drivers yet. They may not include all the functionality of specifically engineered printer drivers, but they will be able to perform basic printing functions. The first thing to understand is that there are two basic printer control languages — “Printer Control Language” (PCL) and Postscript. PCL has been the core of the HP line since the earliest days of Laser Jets Basic printing functionality with PCL will support virtually all HP laser printers. If your specific model isn’t there, just choose the closest model that is supported
Postscript is more than just a printer language, and has been primarily used by Apple and high end graphics and design users because of it’s wealth of very high quality fonts, and platform independent support. This platform independence continues into the x64 world, with excellent drivers for Postscript printers built into the OS. The specific driver for your model printer may not be there, limiting your choice of controlling which paper tray is used, and possibly which fonts are available, but if your printer supports Postscript, you’ll be able to print.
On connectivity — I strongly believe that TCP/IP is the way to go for printer connectivity. If you are buying a printer, make sure it has a network card in it. If you already have a printer, take a look at one of the many TCP/IP network print server appliances available today, including wireless ones. If you use TCP/IP to connect to your printer, you again gain platform independence.
Finally, in my next post I’ll cover how to add x64 support to your existing 32–bit print server (well, if it’s running Server 2003, at least.)
Charlie Russel
Microsoft MVP for Server, Security and Tablet PCs
Windows Expert Zone Columnist and author of >25 books on computers, operating systems and enterprise environments
Microsoft recently announced the availability of 64-bit Windows, with dramatic improvement in performance and reliability. In this episode we talk with Larry Sullivan, Volker Will, and Kevin Frei to learn more about the move to 64-bit, and what it might mean to your development efforts.
 |  | | Larry Sullivan and Volker Will explain the benefits of moving to 64-bits. | Don't blink, or you'll miss how quick and easy it is to move your application to 64-bits! |
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Christian Hougardy (MS XP MVP)
I saw a newsgroup post this morning on this and wanted to re-iterate the point here.
Starting with the release of Service Pack 1 for Virtual Server 2005, you will be able to host 32bit guest operating environments on x64 hosts. What this means is that you will be able to utilize all the features of the Virtual Server product in their current form on the x64 operating system.
This also means that we currently do not support virtualizing a 64bit guest, so you wont be able to do any virtual testing of x64 inside of these VMs. That wont happen until later releases of the Virtual Server product as they are going to need to recode the application to simulate a virtual 64bit machine instead of the 32bit environment we simulate now.
Joseph Conway, x64 beta lead, Microsoft
According to The Inquirer, AMD is close to releasing new Sempron microprocessors with iAMD 64 bit support.
That could be mid July
Christian
Many of the 64–bit machines being built and sold today come with Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) drives, which is a good thing – SATA is a better technology than standard IDE(Integrated Drive Electronics) or ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment). Some day maybe we’ll blog about why SATA is better — there are lots of advantages, but right now I want to talk about what SATA might mean to you if you’re trying to install Windows XP Professional x64 Edition on your computer.
On most computers and motherboards today that support x64 processors, the controller that connects to the SATA drives is also a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) controller. Even if you’re not using the RAID functionality of the controller, you still can run into a problem when you go to install x64 Edition – in most cases, there are no built in drivers to support the drives. You’ll put the CD in the drive, boot to the CD, and it will go through all the process of loading its drivers and then give you an error message:
Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your system
This means you’re going to need to install drivers before Windows can be installed. To do that, you need to:
1.) Download the latest drivers from the manufacturer – either of the computer or motherboard, or of the specific RAID/SATA controller you are using.
2.) Copy the drivers to a blank, formatted floppy disk. (Some OEMs have a program that will format and copy the drivers all in one step, some don’t.)
3.) Reboot your x64 computer with the installation CD in the CD-ROM drive, and when the screen first turns blue, press the F6 key repeatedly. (OK, OK, I know, it only takes once. But it’s just like when you’re waiting for an elevator — everyone knows it comes faster if you press the up or down button repeatedly.)
4.) Now, when setup can’t find drivers for your controller, it will prompt you to put a disk in the floppy drive to load additional drivers.
For more on this, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
314859 - Limited OEM driver support is available with F6 during Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 setup
Finally, a comment to those of you who have used one set of drivers during the beta or CPP period, and now are having problems. Microsoft made changes after RC1, and drivers that were good enough during the beta might not work correctly in the final product. (VIA RAID controllers definitely have this problem, because I got nailed with it!) If you use F6 and install your drivers, and everything seems to go OK, but then when it reboots at the initial GUI setup screen or fails with a Stop 0x0000007B error, this is a sure sign of incorrectly decorated INF files. You’ll need to download updated drivers from either your OEM or my favourite – PlanetAMD64.com. For more on this, see Changes for Vendor-provided Storage Drivers Loaded Using F6.
Charlie Russel
Microsoft MVP for Server, Security and Tablet PCs
Windows Expert Zone Columnist and author of >25 books on computers, operating systems and enterprise environments
The Windows XP Professional x64 Edition trial software download is available at no charge. After you have completed the download registration process, you will receive an e-mail message with a link to the download page. The download page will include the download file and a product key for the trial software. The file will be in ISO format and must be burned to a CD or DVD before you can install the software on your computer.
The download file is large—over 550 megabytes (MB)—so the download may take considerable time to complete. We recommend downloading the trial software only if you have broadband, ADSL, or other high-speed Internet connections.
Note: If you choose to register to download the software, you will not receive the product CD.
Order the trial CD online
The trial CD software kit is available only in English when you order it from this Web site. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for shipping CD orders.
There is no fee for the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Trial Software kit; however, all orders are subject to shipping and handling charges. International orders may also be subject to import duties and taxes. If ordering from this site to a location outside of the United States, you are considered the importer of record and must comply with all laws and regulations of the country/region in which you are receiving the shipment.
Source: MS
Christian Hougardy, Microsoft MVP for Windows XP
As part of my daily routine, since the announcement of the new AMD Athlon 64 x2 dual core processors, I took a swing by the ASUS site this morning to see if they were going to support dual core processors on my A8V Deluxe motherboard. No public announcement one way or another, but when I did a bit of digging, I found the notice that, starting with BIOS version A8V1013, the dual core processors are officially supported. Note, however, that the A8V-E Deluxe, the VIA chipset PCI-Express motherboard, uses a different chipset and doesn't yet support dual-core.
So, when will I get a new processor for this machine? Well, it may have to wait a few weeks, since the initial prices on these dual-core Athlon 64 processors is rather steep. But I am really glad I made the decision in the first place to go with a Socket 939 motherboard, instead of a Socket 754. At least this way, I have the choice to change out the processor.
This is a really good time to make an important point. When you're buying a new system, whether you build it yourself, or buy from a dealer or OEM, always think about the future. Don't just take the absolute cheapest system, but actually do a bit of research to help you make intelligent choices. Maybe you can only afford 1GB of RAM today, but if you use four 256Mb DIMMs to get your 1GB, you won't have room to add more later. But if you use two 512Mb DIMMs, instead, you can upgrade by adding two more memory modules later, when you can afford it. (This assumes a 4 slot motherboard, of course. Always check how many memory slots your motherboard will support before you buy it!)
By choosing a Socket 939 motherboard, instead of a Socket 754, I paid a little bit more for my system originally, but it wasn't really very much. But now I have the return for that -- I have a motherboard that can easily be upgraded to the latest processors, including the dual-core ones. And all I have to do is upgrade the BIOS. Well, that and find the money for a new processor, of course.
Charlie Russel, Microsoft MVP for Server, Security and Tablet PCs
Windows Expert Zone Columnist
This blog will serve as an unofficial FAQ for the x64 line of operating systems recently released from Microsoft.
This site will be maintained by active members of the x64 community, as well as some Microsoft employees, with a passion for the technologies that x64 provides.
Keep in mind that this is an unofficial site. As such, Microsoft and its subsidiaries bear no responsibilty for the validity of the information posted here. While every poster will try and be as technically accurate as possible, we're all humans and are prone to make mistakes.
So in closing, welcome to the unofficial FAQ for x64 operating systems, I hope you find a wealth of information here.
Joseph Conway, Microsoft x64 beta lead