Followup article about Windows Vista SP-1 release problems

On March 20, 2008, I published an article on my blog about the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and problems it was causing for some customers. Today, I learned some specifics about one of the pieces of hardware which is especially problematic for SP1 upgraders. That hardware is the Intel 945G Express series chipset that is found in thousands of computers that are being distributed and have been for the last year or so. I was building computers with Intel motherboards containing the 945G chipsets last summer. Most of these computers were loaded with XP Professional, but many were getting Vista Business installed. They all worked fine with the initial release of Vista, but that has come to a sudden halt, with the release of Vista SP1, for those machines.

The 945G Express chipset driver versions between numbers 7.14.10.1322 and 7.14.10.1403 won't work with Vista SP1, according to Microsoft. These chipsets are found in Asus and Intel OEM motherboards, and major name brands, like Gateway, Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard and others. The 945G Express chipset includes Intel's GMA 950 graphics core, which also won't work with Vista SP1 if those drivers are used. Intel has released updated drivers for the 945G Express chipsets, to the manufacturers of the motherboards and computer builders using them. You should visit the support website for your computer builder, or motherboard, to update all of your hardware to the latest drivers before even attempting to install SP1. Note, that in the case of certain drivers, Microsoft itself may release updated versions that are compatible with Vista SP1, via Automatic Windows Updates, or manual Microsoft Updates. If all else fails and your motherboard is made by Intel, go to their website, input your motherboard part number and look for the latest Vista drivers. The Intel 945G chipset information page is here.

Admittedly, this is a bunch of techno-babble to most people, but, if you attempted to upgrade to Vista SP1 and your motherboard hardware has all yellow exclamation marks next to each chipset, in Device Manager, you will want to understand what is causing it and where to start looking for solutions.