Introduction

Floating The Line

Over the last few months, I’ve been criticized for being paranoid in my articles, particularly in regards to Microsoft and Windows XP. I rant about secrecy, privacy, security and things like Passport and Messenger, and I get a flood of mail taking me to task for being so unreasonable with no actual foundation. But experience has taught me to trust my instincts, so I usually hang in there and wait for the dust to settle. In this case, now that the dust has settled, I think it is time to take a look at the industry and see what lines these companies have been floating, and seeing how many consumers took the bait.

Words Of Prophecy

The Scorpions are one of the best rock bands I’ve heard in the last 30 years. Of course you have Zep, Van Halen and others, but the lyrics of the Scorpions seem to sum life up so perfectly. In this place we call the Zoo, there are bad boys running wild and sometimes, revelations can rock you like a hurricane.

Lame sentiments aside, there have been some stunning discoveries in the world of Windows XP. Windows XP was supposed to be the most stable, most secure, most user-friendly version of Windows ever released, but as we all should now know, those claims did not pan out. Windows XP was built on the Windows 2000 foundation, but somehow, the initial release has been rated as being less stable and less secure that its predecessor. Luckily, Microsoft is preparing the first service pack and is hoping, I’m sure, that it solves the majority of problems that people seem to be having. What problems you ask?

Documentation

Well, Windows XP seems to be rebooting randomly on some systems. Instead of presenting the user with a blue screen that they may be able to recover from, XP simply restarts itself with no word to the user. Take the hard-to-diagnose but well documented “Infinite Loop” problem that people are having with their Nvidia drivers under XP. The problem has become so pervasive that an actual petition has been created so users can mass together as a force to ask Nvidia to correct the issue. Quoting from the petition:

There are many ways to spot an "Infinite Loop". The most common occurs when the computer freezes, sometimes with a "Blue Screen of Death" (BSoD), rendering all input useless. Upon reboot, entries in the system log indicate problems with i.e., nv4_disp.dll, spouting errors about getting "stuck" in a loop. Here is a typical example:

"The driver nv4_disp for the display device \\Device\\Video0 got stuck in an infinite loop. This usually indicates a problem with the device itself or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly. Please check with your hardware device vendor for any driver updates."

It is time for you, the vendor, to resolve this issue. We have worked on our own time to gather various "hypotheses" as to where the root of the problem lies. There are no solutions documented on your webspace, nor have you made any attempts to validate the existence of the problem to the public. Attempts to upgrade to the latest driver, flash to the latest bios, or download the latest service pack have proven fruitless.

As you can see from the text above, Windows XP can indeed be brought down by a simple driver issue. Nvidia has stated repeatedly that the problem lies with Windows XP, not their drivers. As much as I like to rag on drivers, Nvidia has a pretty good track record in being up front about any issues they may have. They also have a pretty good track record in terms of stability. Believe it or not, it may be that XP is the culprit here.