Windows XP 64bit beta...drivers???

[Kuasimodem]

Windows XP 64 bit version will be released in the near future for those running AMD Athlon 64 and Intel Itanium processors. In my humble opinion, there’s a bit of a ways to go before it’s ready for prime time (let alone beta testing).

I signed up for and downloaded the beta version, build 1059 over the weekend to try it out on my new eMachines M6805 laptop. I figured that there might be a driver problem with one or two of the devices on this lappy, like the 6-in-1 memory card reader, but I was unpleasantly surprised after spending 2 hours ghosting my hard drive, formatting, and installing.

The list of missing drivers was much more than expected, here it is:

ATI Radeon Mobility 9600
Realtek AC97 sound card
VIA Firewire adapter
Smartlink 56K modem
Broadcom 54g wireless adapter
VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter
PMCIA cardbus controller
VIA Rev 5 USB Universal Host Controller

None of the Windows XP 32-bit drivers will install on the 64-bit operating system, I just get the warning “These drivers are not designed for this platform.”

I’ll admit that the Smartlink 56k modem is a bit of an oddball, but the rest of the components are pretty standard fare when it comes to modern boards. I guess I will have to wait for either a newer more complete beta version with better driver support, or wait for the full version to be released and buy it then.

[Starfury_2260]

no you have to get 64 bit drivers for all your stuff. the ones you had from before wont work. if there isn't a 64bit driver for something then i guess you're out of luck.

[Ultima]

Just to let ya guys know, XP-64bit does NOT run on Itaniums, it'll run on Athlon64, FX and Opteron, that's it.

Maybe later it'll support the 64bit enhanced Xeon's, but no Itanium support whatsoever.

[Kuasimodem]

The beta version doesn't run on Itaniums, but...

Microsoft has now introduced Windows® XP 64-Bit Edition Version 2003, with support for the Itanium 2 processor, to meet the demands of technical workstation users who require large amounts of memory and floating point performance in areas such as mechanical design and analysis, 3D animation, video editing and composition, and scientific and high-performance computing applications.

From this Microsoft page