Vista changes desktop if I change processor/memory speed in BIOS

[MxM]

Hello!
I have the following problem. I have a desktop with lots of icons/folders on
it. However when I change processor speed in BIOS and login back to the only
account I have on my computer, Vista shows "preparing desktop" and then gives
me the default desktop with "what's new in vista" window, as if I just have
installed it. Also some programs are not running that I run by default in my
account. If I change processor speed back (through BIOS and windos restart),
the desktop recovers.
How can I change processor speed and still be able to see my old desktop and
configutatin? I did not have this problem in the past (about 1 year ago) and
was able to change processor speed and still see my desktop.
I have Vista 32 home professional. I do not know if it is important, but my
account name and folder name under "Users" folders are different, because I
have changed my account name in the past.
Thanks.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Changing Processor speed, Hmmmm Maybe you should be trying a gaming forum for your
answers on your issue (s). Sorry

 

[MxM]

But that has nothing to do with games. It is vista behaviour. I suspect if I
upgrade processor I will have the same issue.

 

[MxM]

The question is still not answerd, somebody please help me!

 

[Earle Horton]

Changing processor speed is not a typical user operation. Please indicate
how you are doing this, and which if any software you are using to do it
with. My MSI mobo came with a desktop application to tweak the cpu speed,
for example. If you are changing it in BIOS the best bet is to use the
actual speed of the installed cpu or to set cpu speed to "auto" and leave it
alone. You really aren't including enough information for people to provide
an informed opinion. Are you trying to overclock the system? That is the
genesis of the comment about a gaming forum.

From your description of what is happening Vista doesn't like it when you
change the cpu speed. So don't do that.

Earle

 

[MxM]

Earle,

I am changing it directly in BIOS (as I said in the thread title). I
actually was overclocking processor for some time (in the past there was no
problem to change CPU clock speed) and now I am trying to return it to auto
or default speed. But it looks like I cannot do it because Vista now thinks
that it is new computer or something and uses default desktop.

So, what should I do to return my desktop when I put my processor to auto?
As for gaming, I did not do it for games, I run some simulations and I
simply wanted to run it faster. But nevertheless, my ASUS motherboard BIOS
provide very convenient interface to change processor speed, so I do not
understand why Vista cannot deal with it and puts default desktop.

What other information do you need?

Regards,

MxM

 

[Apache -=CW=-]

Well I'm sure you already figured out that Vista thinks it's been installed
on a new machine when you change the CPU speed.
Don't do that too much, or you will start to lose data, not just from
hardware issues, but file access from within Windows etc...

The user thing you describe is a good example of a disaster waiting to
happen. You might one day find your files all of a sudden are no
longer accessible to you, that is, not without a lot of ownership headaches
etc..

Depends on how overclocked you are. I'd probably say leave it as it has been
working well and screw the auto setting.
Or just deal with the task of migrating, re installing and making Windows
work again as a new user.

BTW, overclocking doesn't do anything except stress out components and
subject them to a lot of un-needed heat.
If you want some speed invest in a good pair of drives and a raid
controller. The bottleneck in a pc has always been the
hardrive, never the cpu.

I've got a super socket 7 amd K6/3-400 on a Tyan Trinity with 4 megs of
level 3 cache and a raid array with a promise
controller and 256 megs of ram on the controller. And it doesn't crunch
numbers like this one does, but that setup
will smoke this pc when it comes to accessing/moving/copying files.

 

[MxM]

Apache,

I already have Raid 0 setup. But I do want to increase processor computation
speed - it helps in particular simulations that I do. I was thinking about
even upgrading processer, but reinstalling windows to do that? That sux!

I thought there may be some simple command or something that I could migrade
user data and settings. After all it is still somewhere on hardrive. Plus, it
does recognise my account and password, it simply puts different desktop,
when I change speed in BIOS.

Regards,

MxM

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I already have Raid 0 setup.

In my experience, that does next to nothing to improve performance,
and adds an extra risk to your data. For those reasons, I recommend
against using RAID0.

But I do want to increase processor computation
speed - it helps in particular simulations that I do. I was thinking about
even upgrading processer, but reinstalling windows to do that? That sux!

You hardly ever need to reinstall Windows if you upgrade the
processor. In most cases, a simple Repair Installation (which isn't a
real installation) takes care of the situation.

 

[MxM]

So how do I get my old destop back if I change CPU clock in BIOS or upgrade
processor. Do you sugest that runing Repair Installation shoud give me old
desktop?

 

[Apache -=CW=-]

I've never tried it with Vista, but with XP you used to be able to save the
folders desktop/programs/favorites etc...) then copy them into the new user
folder.
Depends though if the software you installed was for everyone or just for
you installed. If you installed just for you, well then you're kind of out
of luck. I think I would try
to transfer files etc...might be an option. Log in with the cpu set at what
Vista was used to, create a new user but don't log into it, reset the cpu to
where you want it, then
log into the new user and copy the saved folders over. Good luck

 

[MxM]

OK, I found a solution. As I mentioned I changed my user name in account
manager, so my account name and folder name in c:\Users were different. So I
changed the name back to be the same, and now can over/underclock CPU and
Vista is not confused any more.

I suspect it is a Vista bug, becasue Vista were looking for folder with my
account name for some reason, not the one which I actually had in c:\users.