Well I've got Vista Ultimate 64bit installed in a dual-boot with XP. And I've not actually used Xp for over a month now.
Vista boots up in about 1 min.
I did have some fairly major problems getting it to run stable initially, but once the motherboard manufacturer brought out a BIOS update, all those problems went away.
Most of the problems people are having with Vista are driver related, once the manufacturers get their act together and sort out the drivers, it'll be a decent OS. Pretty much the same as when XP first came out, with the difference that fewer of the XP driver's work with Vista than the 2000 drivers worked with XP.

You really do need 2Gb of RAM though before Vista starts running at anything like properly usable speeds.

Jakg - don't you have SLI'd 8800's? I'm not sure SLI is supported properly by the nVidia drivers within Vista as yet. Haven't looked into it recently since I've only got a single 8600 myself, but I'm sure I read recently that that ws the case.

JTbo - as Al says - I'd think about getting that system looked at, 10 mins to boot up suggest's somthing is wrong, either hardware, or software. Maybe as simple as the install not being quite right, or too many programs trying to start at boot, but no system should take more than a couple of mins to start up.

Hmmm, Div 9 for me now, just over a second off the pace in the first race there, and the same again in quali for the next race. So finishing towards the back of the field
Should have my chassis developed to the point of using my own next season, although it'll still need some more work done on it. However, improvements on that are going through every 3 races appprox.
Engine improvments are every 8 races at the moment. Current project takes it to 100%, 100%, 100%, 56%. That should come down a bit though, as I'm currently ploughing money into getting my Design and Tech departments up to level 5. Still going to need to get an engine in for next season though, as mine's not going to be quick enough / reliable enough as yet.
Next on the list for money is the Chassis and Engine departments to Level 5, then it's finish the Research and Engine facilities, which are both at Level 3 just now, then the Test Track.
Commercial department is currently almost at Level 4, with enough money in the pot to take it up to Level 5.

OK, stats for this season, don't seem to be able to look back at previous seasons very easily, I'll maybe take a look later and see if they are still there to look at.
I'll add in race 10 - USA tomorrow.

HQ, CAD, Construction & Motor Home are at Level 5.
Design - Level 2
Technical - Level 2
These have been at these levels all season.

Race 1 - Bahrain - 57 laps
Driver 1 - Fastest Lap - 1:33.517
Driver 2 - Fastest Lap - 1:33.512

Driver 1 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 20 - 14:0925
Driver 2 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 21 - 14:0925
Driver 1 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 39 - 14:0925
Driver 2 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 40 - 13:3525

Race 2 - Sepang - 56 laps
Driver 1 - Fastest Lap - 1:36.596
Driver 2 - Fastest Lap - 1:36.587

Driver 1 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 20 - 14:0925
Driver 2 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 21 - 14:0925
Driver 1 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 39 - 13:7225
Driver 2 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 40 - 13:3525

Race 3 - Melbourne - 58 laps
Driver 1 - Fastest Lap - 1:27.725
Driver 2 - Fastest Lap - 1:27.734

Driver 1 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 20 - 14:0925
Driver 2 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 21 - 14:0925
Driver 1 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 39 - 14.4625
Driver 2 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 40 - 14.0925

Race 4 - San Morino - 62 laps
Driver 1 - Fastest Lap - 1:23.698
Driver 2 - Fastest Lap - 1:23.763

Driver 1 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 20 - 15.2025
Driver 2 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 21 - 15.2025
Driver 1 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 42 - 14.8325
Driver 2 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 43 - 14.4625

Race 5 - Nuburgring - 60 laps
Driver 1 - Fastest Lap - 1:21.686
Driver 2 - Fastest Lap - 1:21.716

Driver 1 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 21 - 14.4625
Driver 2 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 22 - 14.4625
Driver 1 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 41 - 14.4625
Driver 2 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 42 - 14.0925

Race 6 - Catalunya - 66 laps
Driver 1 - Fastest Lap - 1:18.013
Driver 2 - Fastest Lap - 1:18.060

Driver 1 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 23 - 15.2025
Driver 2 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 24 - 15.2025
Driver 1 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 45 - 15.2025
Driver 2 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 46 - 14.8325

Race 7 - Monaco - 78 laps
Driver 1 - Fastest Lap - 1:17.649
Driver 2 - Fastest Lap - 1:17.687

Driver 1 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 27 - 16.6825
Driver 2 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 28 - 16.6825
Driver 1 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 53 - 16.6825
Driver 2 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 54 - 16.3125

Race 8 - Silverstone - 60 laps
Driver 1 - Fastest Lap - 1:20.984
Driver 2 - Fastest Lap - 1:21.058

Driver 1 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 18 - 14.8325
Driver 2 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 19 - 14.8325
Driver 1 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 39 - 15.2025
Driver 2 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 40 - 14.8325

Race 9 - Gilles Villeneuve- 70 laps
Driver 1 - Fastest Lap - 1:16.020
Driver 2 - Fastest Lap - 1:16.092

Driver 1 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 22 - 15.9425
Driver 2 - Pitstop 1 - Lap 23 - 15.9425
Driver 1 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 46 - 16.3125
Driver 2 - Pitstop 2 - Lap 47 - 15.9425

Race 10 - USA - 73 laps
Driver 1 - Fastest Lap -
Driver 2 - Fastest Lap -

Driver 1 - Pitstop 1 - Lap -
Driver 2 - Pitstop 1 - Lap -
Driver 1 - Pitstop 2 - Lap -
Driver 2 - Pitstop 2 - Lap -

Well it sounds like there's some sort of problem with either the DVI output on the card, the DVI cable, or the DVI input on the monitor.
Try checking them each out if you can.
If it's the DVI output on the card then you could get the card replaced.

Did you update the BIOS?

New season now and I'm up to Div 10.:jawdrop:

Still working on getting my Research & Engine Facilities up to level 5, and only just put in my first level of Test Track a couple of races ago
Going to finish the Research and Engine facilities first before looking to move up the Test Track levels. The prices for them are steep!!!

Try checking if there are BIOS and driver updates for the motherboard.
I had quite a few problems in getting Vista to run stable before the motherboard manufacturer brought out some updates.
Now it runs fine, and it's not crashed in over 6 weeks now.

The latest nVidia drivers are working fine for a lot of people, so I'd guess it's more likely to be something to do with the motherboard BIOS/drivers.

Core2Duo 6600
2Gb DDR2 800MHz RAM
8600GTS nVidia
24" widescreen, running at 1920x1200
AA & AF set to max

I normally get around 60 FPS on the grid and it fluctuates between 90-200 during a race if I don't limited it.

Currently in the 21st Division, just got a Pro account.
Just starting to get my Research Facility under way, haven't yet got my test track going
Of the initial 5 facilities, I've got all but the engine one up to 5 stars.
Currently getting £2.4 million profit a race. Almost half-way towards being able to use my own chassis. And just over half-way to having a worthwhile engine of my own to use.

As far as I'm aware, the G25 works fine one Vista 32bit.
I'm having a few issue with it on Vista 64bit, where the software doesn't keep it's settings. So I have to reset everything each time I load it up to go racing. Other than that though it's fine.

XP 32-bit only "see's" up to the 3GB of RAM, but it does use up to 4GB.
It's just a reporting discrepancy within XP

XP 64-bit is pretty solid these days, been running it myself for the last 3-4 weeks on this system without any issues at all.
The only concern with it is drivers and other software. Check if there are drivers for all your hardware, and if the programs you'll be wanting to run work on it.

Hmmm, not sure where AMD/ATI are going with these new cards, given the extra specification they have over the nVidia you'd have thought they'd perform better.

The 2nd level card - the XT, looks roughly on a par with the GTS
The top level card - the XTX, gets soundly beaten up by the GTX

Guess I'll need to wait a bit longer and see if things improve on the ATI side by the time they are actually released before deciding whether to go ATI or nVidia.

Well it's not exactly usual, but I guess if it fit's what's happened then it does indeed sound like the board has killed the stick of memory. Of course it could just be coincidence that it's chosen just now to fail as well

As Jakg mentions, you could check the voltage settings in the BIOS to see if they're too high, but if you're changing the board anyway.....
I'd leave the CPU till you've got your replacement board and then test in that. If it fails in that, then check it with your mates board before splashing out an new CPU.

Yep, sounds like either faulty memory, or a faulty motherboard.
If your other computer has the same type of memory in it, try swapping the memory to see if it'll work. If not, it's the motherboard itself and you'll need to a new one

From the fact that it's an intermittent issue, I'd be inclined to think it's the board, but try and rule out the memory first if you can.

I'd give Vista a miss if you're planning on this system being your main one. It's still not really stable enough for that for my liking.
If it was a for a 2nd system for playing around on, then go for it, but if you really need it to working without any problems 99% of the time, stick with XP untill after the first Vista Service Pack comes out.
I've just finished building a new system, and set it up with 2 seperate installs. 1 of XP, 1 of Vista. The XP install is fine, hasn't crashed once in over 3 weeks now. Vista is falling over every other hour.
All the hardware is 'Vista Certified' and came with Vista drivers, and I downloaded updated versions of them where they were available and did all the available Vista updates as well. Still falls over every other hour or so.
Doesn't bother me, since it's only on so I can start learning the OS and where things are, what the common faults are, etc... so I can provide support to customers, but not what I'd call suitable for a working system.

Back left - I think it's 'goode400', and not sure but I'm fairly sure it was Dave.

Well I'm finally home
I see I don't have to upload the replay's now :P

Had a great time, was good to be able to put faces to some of the names at last.

Cheers to Bob for the organising, and to Adrian for putting such a great place together
Here's the results spreadsheat for the day btw.

http://www.caledonianracing.co ... ting 14th April 2007.xls

Yep, sound's like an overheating graphics card and/or driver issue to me. The warning during the race sounds like overheating, the rebooting when minimising/exiting a game sounds more like a driver issue. Try uninstalling the driver and re-installing the lastest version.
Check all fans/heatsinks inside the system for dust / obstructions, give them a clean with a soft brush if needed. Make sure there's enough room around the case vents for proper airflow in and out of the box.

What I did last summer with my Athalon system when I wanted to play a game, I placed a fan pointing towards the PC so it had a constant flow of cooler air moving over it, stopped the overheating problem I had with it at that time.

I'll confirm attendance, don't have a cheque book, but I'm sure we could come to some other arrangement for a payment, PayPal, etc... maybe.

Mine should be here in the next couple of days as well
Got mine via Dabs.

If it's for work purposes, you're probably better off buying one to be honest, and taking an on-site support package along with it.
Don't know about other companies, but Dell's Business Support is next day, some others are the same, but some are Return to Base.

A Core2Duo machine with a couple of Gig of Ram should be more than good enough to run most work related software for the next 3-4 years. By which time you'd be thinking of replacing it anyway.

Norton finally have an update available for it.

Norton has this listed as a significant threat, but as of the moment they don't appear to have any update to protect people against it.
Either that, or their servers are currently messed up, and have been for the last 6-7 hours.

If you're using Norton and don't want to switch to something else, you've no option but to wait for them to sort it out I'm afraid.