Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
ANy updates bgnacious ?

I am getting the same set up as you are this week and would love to use 64bit but it looks like I might not be able to
 
Slipstreaming means you take a system that has XP installed, with all the current updates, and create a install disk with all those updates still there. You can find instructions to slipstream XP here:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp


The INF is the chipset drivers. Here's a page from Intel:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=11454 (warning!- I have not verified this is the correct driver, but it looks OK)

I have a new MacPro, and it's currently running OSX and 32 bit XP. I will play around tonight with a 64 bit ver.

Something I found interesting.. I could not get XP 32 bit to install properly on a spare drive in my macpro. I ended up just grabing my XP hard disk and installing it in the 4th bay. Sure enough, on boot, and when holding down the "alt" key, it found my XP disk (HDD), and offered to boot from it. After re-installing all Windows drivers, everything works great.
 
FWIW, there is no SP2 update for XP64. It's a version separate from the 32-bit editions and hasn't had any service packs released AFAIK -- though there are updates to be had. Please be sure you have the 64-bit NET 2.0 CLR correctly installed before installing the ATI drivers -- you can use the link I in the first post. If you have problems with the ATI drivers, uninstall them and then install them (all four) again.

On a different note, IA-64 is Itanium; 32-bit programs should be no slower with the EMT64/AMD64 architecture -- this was one of several reasons why AMD64 took off while Itanium stalled.

Have fun! :)
 
Verdict on 64bit & Thanks for INF, Slipstream Help

Thanks for the replies. I did work out INF thing.
Slipstreaming would have been good!

Regarding the 64bit XP thang:
Well there's plenty of documentation to proove that it works but I had a few issues. Firstly I would have had to completely re-installed XP (with the F6 interjection just prior to install as listed at the start of this forum) just to get the Intel drivers to run the SATA HD at decent speed.
BUT - if you do that then it should work fine. I was also sceptical about the Firewire drivers working because my external HD was not connecting consistantly - but it seems something during the process screwed my drive or it is just not working properly now (anyone know anything about this sort of thing happening due to install process?) so that may have been fine in 64bit XP.
All drivers worked for me (after I used the correct link for 64bit XP under ATI site) except the sound drivers. - Oh and the keyboard didn't work properly either and you can't pick pieces from the Bootcamp to get individual drivers - nor does BOOT CAMP DRIVER installer run on 64bit at all anyway).

But my verdict is thus:

Reinstalled using 32Bit version and it was a much smoother process. The RealTek Audio drivers that are a part of the set work excellently and everything went well - of except the ATI grahpics one again - get those proir from ATI and have them ready & be prepared for low-res low colour until you've installed the ATI drivers.
I'd stick with 32Bit version as Speed advantage from 64bit for apps will be "0"!
Now all is good!

I'd like to hear from those who used FAT formatting - I still used NTFS as it's apparently more stable!

But all round very happy. Except need to find instruction on key-commands for shortcuts such as "Num-lock" to get keypad to work!

Have fun.
Apple Rules. Window's is just a follower!
I say buy as many Intel Mac's as you can get your hands on, then get an iTV, iphone, and increase the Market-share. Apple interface is non-linear and that is the way of the future! who would your prefer to be running the interfaces of the future??? Apple all the way!
 
Back to Pulling hair out!

Ok. Not happy.
Patching BF2 and it is taking FOREVER - this points to HD performance?
OR could there be another reason.
The patching exercise going on in the background is a full Patch for BF2 upto date (over 500MB) so that's not helping but geeeees.... it should be done by now but stuck on 8% after an hour.
When I ran BF2 before patch is ran fine.

I've established Maxtor External Firewire HD is running ok at startup of the Mac - but XP is having issues. can'tsee it anymore!!!! it is NTFS formatted!

Drivers Drivers Drivers! I don't know what to do because I'm a geek among friends, but amongst other geeks I know my place as a lessor geek! I've spent enough time already.

Just went to open HDtune but that didn't open properly. Multitasking is not working properly as little things are causing the system to hang whilst Patching. When I did open HD tune earlier I was getting a Max of about 7.4 mbps but whilst patchin at the same time performance was down at 0.35 or something! what should I expect tp get on 32bit XP?

IT seems to be a system cache thing? I think. the patching is so inconsistant & I am unable to register if it's getting better or worse but it seems to be getting slower. CPU is not maxed out, nor is memory usage patch is only using 16MB

could it be that I also need to install that driver at the F6 prompt before XP installs?
Aghhhhhh!
 
Don't Freak Out Bugnacious

I've written too much already but....
XP seems to run fine (i hesitate to say fast because it boot's up slower than my work PC) but I've installed further software and that is all running fine so I have no idea why that patch was so slow. I'll try to seperate patches for BF2 instead of 1 big 1.

Everything else seems groovy! I have no idea how many mbps I should be getting? Graphics are cool though Google earth is a dream to look at and use & only limited by my connection! 3D in Archi software seems relatively good but could be improved. I'll look at software options!

Oh and the external drive only want to recognise if it starts up in the correct sequence. IE. if on when in OSX It wants to be switched off before starting XP & then on again once started up XP ! Go figure!

It's alllllll OK!

B
 
Is there anyway we can start a post that is a definitive MUST DO list for installing 64bit on the mac pro.

Or is the first post it ?
 
Bugnacious said:
Just went to open HDtune but that didn't open properly. Multitasking is not working properly as little things are causing the system to hang whilst Patching. When I did open HD tune earlier I was getting a Max of about 7.4 mbps but whilst patchin at the same time performance was down at 0.35 or something! what should I expect tp get on 32bit XP?

Sounds like the slipstreamed SATA drivers didn't work right. You should be getting around 60 MBps in hdtune (in either 32 or 64 bit). BTW, with Far Cry you get a 5+% increase in FPS by going with the 64-bit edition. It's the future ;)
 
My results with XP x64

I'm up and running with XP x64 Edition for the first time ever on my Mac Pro. Here are my results; I have the 3.0 GHz Quad with the ATI card.

I got the system with the smallest drive (160GB) and ordered a 750GB drive. Rather than reinstalling OSX, I was glad I was able to move OSX to the big drive with Disk Utility, and pleased even more that I didn't have to move the boot drive to the 1st SATA bay. So I left the small disk in bay 1 with nothing on it and the big disk in bay 2 with OSX moved to it. Thankfully, it still booted.

With my ATI card I'm using two displays (identical Samsung 20" LCDs). When it boots XP, both are mirrored (or trying to be mirrored). The text-mode display for the install is corrupted, but barely readable. There is a lot of flickering of half the screen. I don't know if this is because I'm driving two displays, or if it's just the ATI card and nobody's tried this with the ATI card yet.

Even though the display is corrupted I can see well enough to proceed with the install. I find the small disk and format it NTFS, which seems to be going OK so I guess the SATA drivers are working. With the system up and running I get 72 MB/s with HD Tune. I used a pristine install disk (no slipstreaming).

Once it installs, here are the problems I've encountered.

- The XP logo screen is corrupted on both displays.
- The default video driver is corrupted just the same as the text mode during install once the desktop comes up -- but luckily it's enough to continue. Sounds like the ATI doesn't do VGA/VESA low res modes correctly.
- Once I install the ATI drivers, the corruption is gone for the desktop and I can continue. (The corruption is still there for the boot screens).
- The Network card isn't picked up automatically so prepare a disk with at least those drivers.
- The display order is reversed (the desktop comes up in my 2nd display). I can't do anything to force my 1st display to be the primary, so it's the opposite of how it was in OSX. I moved the task bar and desktop icons to display #1 but all my windows open on display #2. Anybody have any ideas as to how to force which display is primary? The Catalyst control center has this option but it's greyed out.
- Obviously the boot camp drivers don't work, but I wish I at least had the startup disk to go back to OSX by default.

Other than that, it's working pretty well. This is my first seat time with 64-bit XP, so I'm still getting used to the odd 32-bit incompatibilities herer and there; but I'll give it a try. The display corruption during boot and desktop order reversal are what's really annoying me.

EDIT: MacDrive doesn't work, so I don't have any way of sharing files between operating systems. Grrr, I might have to do 32-bit XP after all.
 
janstett said:
With my ATI card I'm using two displays (identical Samsung 20" LCDs). When it boots XP, both are mirrored (or trying to be mirrored). The text-mode display for the install is corrupted, but barely readable. There is a lot of flickering of half the screen. I don't know if this is because I'm driving two displays, or if it's just the ATI card and nobody's tried this with the ATI card yet.

I have been running XP 64 using the x1900 for over a week now, but I only have one display (Samsung SyncMaster 215TW), so I have not seen the display corruption you have seen. I would have spoke up if I did, but I can say that with one display it works just fine. I wouldn't be surprised if it was related to the CSM not quite knowing how to deal with two displays.

To go back to OS X by default, you can boot up OS X using option, and setting the preference there as well... just isn't as quick as having that option under Windows too.
 
XP on my MAC PRO Newbie

I just purchased the 2.66 Quad MAC Pro in hopes of making my life as a 3D artist using 3dsMAX easier. I did'nt do much research and just "Jumped In" so to speak and got the MAC Pro in hopes that:

1. The Quad Xeons would spead up my work in 3DSMax and PShop.

I did the minimum and used Bootcamp 1.1.1 to install XPhome and now have some problems:

1. SATA drivers don't work and I only get 3mbs (tested using HDTune)

I am NOT technically savvy and quite frankly do not know how to apply the advice on the board, on how to fix the SATA problem. I am frustrated and just want to either take the Mac to someone who will fix it for me or just wait until the next version of Bootcamp addresses this issue. Any advice from anybody? What would be great is a post that had the "SATA SLIPSTREAMING FOR DUMMIES" version of the fix.

Further to my confusions, I am wondering if I need to go to XP 64 as I expect it will further speed up my work in 3DS max and PS - does anybody have any info on that?

Please help if possible. I would be eternally helpful. Love this MAC PRO but can't really use it with the slow harddrive performance.

THX,:(
 
Hello 3dsMaxGuy,

The SATA performance problem is fixed with the latest EFI update. After installing it you should not have any problems with performance under Windows XP.

Check the other thread "Slow SATA performance". In the last pages there are, IIRC, references to the updates that I'm talking about. In any case, they should just appear in your Software Update. They came out IIRC last week.

Regards,
 
Performance in XP

3dsMAXguy said:
I just purchased the 2.66 Quad MAC Pro in hopes of making my life as a 3D artist using 3dsMAX easier. I did'nt do much research and just "Jumped In" so to speak and got the MAC Pro in hopes that:

1. The Quad Xeons would spead up my work in 3DSMax and PShop.

1. SATA drivers don't work and I only get 3mbs (tested using HDTune)

Further to my confusions, I am wondering if I need to go to XP 64 as I expect it will further speed up my work in 3DS max and PS - does anybody have any info on that?


THX,:(

Dear Mr MAX. 1stly. Jumping in is often the best way. you just become a nerd step by step by dealing with the frustrations.
2ndly. I think it's great that you've gone to a Mac for 3D. eventually you may be able to port your software & license's accross to Mac OS (who knows).

You should get excellent performance on the XP system. I have also posted stuff here about registering a slow mbps rate of 3 or 7 or something but what I have found is that the opperating system works fine & running apps within it is perfectly fine. I have run a couple of 3D apps & what I found was that they run fine. I am not convinced that HD tune is picking up true performance with the cross-over hardware & drivers - this is because the system runs fine as far as I can see. I have the situation where XP boots up slower than it does on my 1year old HP Laptop - which makes me question things such as HD performance - but the apps run fine once XP has booted up & I can't feel any performance difference. I did not use the F6 HD driver install option prior installing XP (which is advised to get good HD speed - or as advised you can now get driver update as in previous post)......... but if it's true that my HD is not running fast enough now then gees it must be lightening when it's running at 60mbps!

As for speed when running apps like PS & Max I don't expect you'll find a massive boost because you require 64bit software to take advantage of 64bit chipset. However the ATIx1900 should be wonderfull for rendering. I found when running 3D architectural software that the general performace was faster than my work PC (3.0ghz Pentium with 2GB RAM) by maybe 10% (I have 2.66 Xeon with only 1GB RAM at the mo.) - that includes panning around the objects in 3D views and general oppening of files and such - however as should be expected rendering with the ATI 1900 was very quick.

Someone explained to me the other day that rendering is driven by the graphics card where as all the other stuff is done by the CPU - so that explains the minor difference in speed when just using the software. I believe you'll experience the same but I don't know how MAX works!

Good Luck.
B
 
Display issues

janstett said:
With my ATI card I'm using two displays (identical Samsung 20" LCDs). When it boots XP, both are mirrored (or trying to be mirrored). The text-mode display for the install is corrupted, but barely readable. There is a lot of flickering of half the screen. I don't know if this is because I'm driving two displays, or if it's just the ATI card and nobody's tried this with the ATI card yet.
QUOTE]

I found that my screen was not supported with the defualt drivers that came on XP install too. when I got ATI driver's running everything was fine. But my experience was that the bad looking screen was just the lowest possible screen res & colour settings. It was displaying 16 colours & 640 x 480 or something rediculous that made it all seem inverted and F'd up!

Regarding the switching of the Main screen between OS's I would do the following untested theory. If you can't get the screen order set as you want in XP - go with the default of primary & seccondary screens in XP - swap the physical positions of the screens to what you want - and then in the Mac OS change the pref.s there - because the Mac doesn't care as much which screen you want as your Primary - I've just realised that there could be -Left - right workflow issues but I would say that you have more opportunity in the Mac to get that right!

Hope that helps.
Also set default start up in Mac OS if you want under startup disk there if the control Panel didn't install for in XP.
 
Thanks for the INPUT

rgomez said:
Hello 3dsMaxGuy,

The SATA performance problem is fixed with the latest EFI update. After installing it you should not have any problems with performance under Windows XP.

Check the other thread "Slow SATA performance". In the last pages there are, IIRC, references to the updates that I'm talking about. In any case, they should just appear in your Software Update. They came out IIRC last week.

Regards,

Could you help me out with the EFI update. I am not sure how to get it and how to run this. I also don't understand what the IIRC. U really am NOT a techie unfortunately. Thanks for the reply!:)
 
Could you help me out with the EFI update. I am not sure how to get it and how to run this. I also don't understand what the IIRC. U really am NOT a techie unfortunately. Thanks for the reply!:)

Hey MAXguy, I was not sure what this "EFI update" was either, but after a google search and some research I found it was the Boot Camp program. Felt a bit stupid after I found it ;) . Downloading this will fix your problem unless it isn’t linked to Boot Camp.

I have a question now as well. I have a Mac Pro and have ordered the 64-bit version of XP. I already have XP Home set up on my Mac Pro and am wondering if I can just upgrade XP Home to XP Pro 64-bit. I am also wondering if I need to do the whole slipstream thing or if I just install XP and put on the drivers. Thanks in advance.

-Enduran
 
I'd like to go to the 64-bit version if possible, however I have one thing I think is a hangup -

Airport networking & Bluetooth Keyboard/Mouse

Anyone getting those working?
 
The keyboard should just work off the top, at least mine did, but the mouse is not working for me or anyone else as far as I know.

-E

[EDIT] - Airport doesn't work either, needs a specifically apple made driver I think so until apple gets on the ball and makes x64 drivers Bluetooth and Airport are a no go.
 
I get "iirsp.sys corrupted. Installation cannot continue" during the first boot.
 
Steps that I took

For my machine, I loaded x64 directly onto a new, secondary, MBR formatted (in OS X first) 300GB HD. To get the machine to boot off that disk, I am kluging the start up (seems klugy to me to do it this way but it works if I get the timing right) by holding C down during startup but letting it go as soon as the CD ROM reader spins up.

Prior to this, I loaded x64 as if the machine were a PC and let it install itself without slipstreaming anything...selecting the second HD at the appropriate time. I then loaded the drivers for the Ethernet card, 7300 vid card and audio (locations obtained from this thread)

No word on stability yet...but all the MS components seem to work fine. There is very occassional and non annoying video blanking from time to time, but it's not a problem.
 
x64 install ... forgot one thing

when I installed x64, the reformatting of the HD took **FOREVER**; about 1.5 hours

Ethernet is wired and seems ok; keyboard and mouse also ok
 
performance of x64 on the Mac Pro

Passmark benchmarks are 1309.7 vs 582.3 in Parallels (Parallels score is partial as it had trouble with vid drivers in the VM)

...sorry for the multiple posts
 
Our 3rd & 4th Mac Pros arrived this morning (only ordered them yesterday) and are up & rendering in 3dsmax already under win x64 in less then 1.5 hours.

Setup is really simple but there are a few points to note:

1. Boot into OSX first & update the firmware
2. Remove the OSX disk during x64 install or you won't get a C disk
4. Install x64 onto a 2nd HD
3. Don't format the HD under OSX, let Windows do it during the install

Other than that it really is easy!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.