When I built it, I decided it should have a 64-bit processor. Of course, that’s 32 bits more than anyone actually needs at the moment, but it’s the way forward. Allegedly.

I also decided I should try out Windows Vista. It looks great, it performs brilliantly, and, again, it’s the way forward.

Those two decisions obviously weren’t risky enough, because I threw in a third; to run the 64-bit version of Vista.

As if Vista’s lack of maturity alone wasn’t enough–with prolific reports of hardware manufacturers failing to release stable Vista drivers in time–I had added that extra 64-bit dimension to the situation. Maybe I was hoping manufacturers hadn’t released Vista drivers because they were concentrating on the 64-bit versions of the Vista drivers…

Anyway, Vista 64-bit is a bitch. It’s soooo beautiful, but… such a bitch.

Vista 64-bit will sporadically crash/fail to boot with 4GB of memory installed. The biggest hardware advantage of a 64-bit system is that it can use more than 4GB or memory. How could Microsoft possibly overlook this bug? It can’t possibly be down to lack of testing, surely? Fortunately Microsoft knowledgebase article 929777 fixes it. Ironically the problem occurs with 32- and 64-bit versions of Vista.

Then, of course, MSI decided not to develop 64-bit drivers for my motherboard; specifically, for the on-board audio. The motherboard supports a 64-bit processor. I know this, because it’s doing so right now. Clearly, it being a 64-bit motherboard, and this being the age of the 64-bit processor, there is no reason why MSI should even contemplate the laughable notion of developing 64-bit drivers.

And then the icing on the cake: Office 2007. Considering it costs more than an office suite should, I was disappointed to learn that several Office 2007 features aren’t available on a 64-bit operating system. Really obscure things are missing, like the Send to OneNote print driver, the Office Clean-up wizard, and Internet Fax. Not a catastrophe, but bloody annoying.

It took a little while to unpack all the parts, throw the packaging into the corner of the room, and put it all together. And then I was ready for that nervous moment, the first power-up of a freshly-built computer! I pressed the power button, and… nothing. Bugger.

All was not lost, however – a little diagnostic accessory on the motherboard promised insight through its four little LEDs. Each LED can glow green or red, and the combination of lights indicates the stage at which the start-up process failed.

It’s basically a shining diagnostic thing. A shining, LYING, diagnostic thing. Except I didn’t know it was lying at the time. It was pointing at the RAM, saying “Ummm, I’m telliiiiiiiiing”. All the while, the CPU chuckled at getting the RAM into trouble.

After the purchase of a small (and thankfully cheap) stick of different RAM, I cottoned on to the shining diagnostic thing’s game, and stumbled across the CPU’s troublemaking. The bastards. In frustrated anger I did something–I really don’t know what–and it started playing properly.

A few more niggles later–Windows Vista 64-bit blue-screening with 4GB of RAM, the on-board audio causing lock-ups, and having to RMA one of the hard drives–my computer is up and running. I daren’t think how many times I reinstalled Windows!

And it only took two weeks(!)