Vista SP1 Beta has Begun

Some of you will recall my previous entry regarding my enrollment in the Windows Vista SP1 Beta. The plan was to download the first available image, install three of the same video card (to acheive what Microsoft calls a “Homogenous Multi-Adapter Configuration” - That is, all three cards on the same driver), and use it from that point forward.

I installed Vista SP1 two days ago (the day it became available to Beta Testers), and the video cards today. Additionally, I installed a new CPU in hopes that would eliminate my freezing problems. So far it has.

So now I have Vista installed, though it’s a dual-boot to XP because I remain ever skeptical that Vista is good enough. I am fairly suprised by the results. My mouse cursor is no longer laggy and all six monitors run successfully. The only problem is that I can’t get Aero Glass to work.

Aero Glass was the reason I bought these three Sapphire ATI Radeon X1650 cards in the first place. I listened to Microsoft. I bought three of the same WDDM-compliant video card. I ensured they were on the MS Hardware ACL. I set up the big, fancy, homogenous multi-adapter multi-monitor configuration. I installed WDDM drivers instead of XPDM or LDDM drivers. Is it so much to ask that Aero Glass works on my multimon system as the MSKB article claimed it would?

I am suddenly reminded of last night’s car problems. Why must everything around me break? Why is it when I buy nice things they don’t work?

So now my system has a brand-new OS, motherboard, CPU, 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, and 3 ATI Radeon X1650’s (512MB PCI-Express x16).