64-bit Processor Problems?

[Macbeth]

So, I'm runnign a nice new computer with an AMD Athlon 64 bit processor. It's great, except that I'm having some windows problems. Ever so often, Windows Explorer (the program you use to view folders and such) will just randomly crash, with Windows claiing it was stopped for accessing illegal memory locations. I never had this happen before I starte dusing a 64 bit processor, so could it be a problem with the longer word length? Some kind f address problem? I;ve scanned or viruses and adware, and found nothing, so I'm wondering if anybody else has had this problem, and if there is a fix for it.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

What version of Windows are you running? Standard XP or the 64-bit version?

 

[Macbeth]

Wow. Showing my ignorance here, but I believe its the standard version. Any easy way to tell?

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

If you don't know, then it's the standard version. The 64-bit version hasn't quite shipped yet, though it's been available in preview releases for quite some time.

A friend of mine has been running an Athlon 64 with standard XP for several months, and has more crashes than he did on the non-64 bit processor. Have you checked the motherboard manufacturers page to see if there are updated disk drivers? Also, I've seen issues with Norton Antivirus on the 64s, too.

 

[Macbeth]

Ah. So I'm not crazy to not know much about the 64 bit version. Well, I'll have to look into the drivers for the motherboard, but now that I know some other people have the same problem, I bet its an addressing issue. I'll have to look into the 64 bit version.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I just checked (was going to paste the link for you) but they've closed the preview program for the 64 bit version. On the plus side, that means it should be shipping soon. It will require all new device drivers, though, so it might be a while before everything supports it reliably.

Standard 32bit Windows *should* work ok -- they went to great lengths to make them backwards compatible. Intel even adopted AMDs 64-bit instructions, so the new Pentiums will be binary compatible with the Athlon 64s.

 

[Macbeth]

Well, thanks for the help. Good to know, good to know...

 

[trancejeremy]

Hmmm. I've had an Athon 64 for a couple months now, and if anything, it crashes less than my previous computer (a Duron). At least I've never had an error like that. I do get the occasional lockup when I insert a DVD/CD or USB memory stick, but only after the computer has been doing something strenuous with the hard drive.

I am still using Windows 98SE, though. I plan on getting the 64 bit version of XP when it comes out.

 

[Rackhir]

Two thoughts.

One, Windows does not "age" well. If it has been sometime since you last installed windows, you might want to just re-install windows and make sure all of your drivers are up to date. Frequently installing and uninstalling programs is especially bad in this regards.

Two. The 64bit version of XP is probably not a good choice if you have a lot of peripherials, since it is not likely that there are 64 bit drivers for many of them.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Two thoughts.

One, Windows does not "age" well. If it has been sometime since you last installed windows, you might want to just re-install windows and make sure all of your drivers are up to date. Frequently installing and uninstalling programs is especially bad in this regards.

Two. The 64bit version of XP is probably not a good choice if you have a lot of peripherials, since it is not likely that there are 64 bit drivers for many of them.

True. I'd wait for the 64 bit Windows when they start releasing drivers for all major brand peripherals. And when they work out the "kinks" (read: bugs) out of the software. Which could take months after the release.

And a fresh reformat and installation of windows will clean out alot of "crap" that's built up from many program installations/removals. Just make sure you do backups of vital data before doing so.