i7 iMac: Windows XP Drivers Fail (Video and Audio)

Upgrading Boot Camp before the end of the year, yes.

Windows 7 has much better memory support, threading, support for multi-core (remember an i7 has 4-cores/8-threads).

I doubt XP will get more or better support. They never did anything in two years other than an iffy patch that "may" and was "suppose" to improve support for upgrades to XP SP3, and once SP3 was out on CD??

You are also limited to XP address space, and I suspect many will have 4GB or more.

iMac in the past never did get any official support for Windows 64-bit even when the 2008 Penryn-based processor, true full 64-bit hardware, was used.

zigkthx,
Same issue here, just installed XP on my nice new (2500+) iMac and I have no sound at all. You aren't alone, if it's happening to two people it's happening to a lot more I'd think.

I'm having an almost identical issue but with different OS, only I seem to have even more issues. I first tried installing Windows 7 Pro 64bit -- the computer would just hang on a blank/shutdown screen forever. So Windows 7, 64Bit a no-go. I tried again with Windows 7 Home Premium, after removing the partition, recreating the partition and formatting, again. Same situation, blank/shutdown screen forever, but the computer is clearly still running -- HDD was still being accessed. Then after about 10 minutes, nothing except the fans. I tried BOTH versions in 32Bit following same pattern... no luck.

I tried one more time with just Windows Vista Home 32Bit -- recreated the partition, reformatted, and at first the same thing happened -- I rebooted in safe mode and it worked. Then I rebooted in normal and it didn't work. I eventually got it to boot -- then I installed BootCamp -- the Video drivers would not install, the audio drivers didn't seem to work, the Network drivers never loaded. Many, many issues.

Apple, I need you to help us out here, please. I need this machine to run Windows. I am going to wait for the BootCamp updates and hope that the new i7 machines are thoroughly tested.

By the way, 2 things: 1) Yes, all my Windows OS installations are bought and paid for legitimately. 2) these new Apple iMac 27" i7 machines are AWESOME!

Take care and best wishes to all encountering these issues,
Quark

I'm having almost identical problems on my core i5 with XP. Same video problems as zigthx, but my audio problems are worse... I have no sound whatsoever. The boot camp installer seems to hang on Cirrus Audio.

Same video card problems though, with the dots and the black screen. Gonna be ****** if I have to upgrade to windows 7... what a hassle.

Got my i7 today, installed XP, and I have no sound also.
Also the Magic Mouse is not working at all. had to plug in a usb mouse.

So do you have a working mouse in XP?

I just got a top of the line i7, and also installed XP SP3 on bootcamp, and also have no sound. It was a bit odd though:

1. Driver install failed on sound drivers
2. Rebooted and tried again. All drivers installed and sound worked
3. Next time I booted into windows, no sound again.

Garr... this is highly irritating. Two Macs, with two different major failures 😟

I hope this is not like my other mac that after 3 years, STILL can't use sleep mode because it kills airport... even under 10.6.2

I have the exact same audio problem as the OP. I haven't encountered the visual glitches yet, but I only started working with it today. Thanks for the fix regarding changing the default playback device to Cirrus, it cleared things up for me. I don't use the microphone on the PC side, and I spend most of my time on the Mac side anyway, so I think I'll be able to endure for now.

Even if support for XP is dwindling, basic driver capabilities regarding audio and microphone operation seem like they should be a no-brainer. It's not like Apple to release anything that just doesn't work, when applied under the conditions it was designed for. Hopefully we'll see these resolved in the next BootCamp update (although there's a good chance I'll be upgrading to Win7 when I can find it just a bit cheaper).

That got my sound working... defaulted to ATI which didn't work. I don't think I need the mic, so good enough for now. thanks!

Geez I thought it was only me being the unlucky one with a failed sound card and video card or something. Zigkthx, I have 100% exactly the same problem as yours! These yellow/blue/pink dots/boxes flash up on the screen at random which I thought is the video card (seen something similar when the cards or video ram on the card gone nuts on PCs) so I reduced me res to 1920x1200 (instead of the max 2560x1440) then the flashes stopped. But it is really demeaningful on a 27"! I feel completely ripped off. Then the sound card, same, play back got ATI set in 1 box and Cirrus in the other. Changing both to Cirrus got sound came out. But recording is a joke. I tried using the "Sound Recorder" app to record meself. Then I realise it's playing it in slow motion. So I increased the playback speed by 100% and then it play back normal. But there's no way to fix it. Mate, I paid 3.5K for this box. I want me money back!!!!

Just got the new 27" i7 and love it. I did install windows 7 with VMFusion. I wasn't able to load the 64bit it just kept locking up. Then tried 32bit and it loaded had trouble with code but called windows and they fixed it right up. So far ir works great I can run both os's at the same time went on line with each and ran a video. Ran video in full sreen and also had the audio for both at the same time. I do have a lot more I want to do with this system next I will try to edit and render vidoe at the same time as I do a lot of that kink of work. Anyone that can give me hints about better ways I am open to the help. My goal would be to get ride of my quad core window and run just the Mac. Thanks

This is actually happeninig to mee too.

i7 with XP pro SP3

The sound is ok, haven't tested the microphone.
The VIDEO!!! well, it crashes. It creates artefacts red and blue at random places on the screen.

I tried to install the latest drivers from ATI for the video, but it doesn't seem to take...

I think it might be a widespread thing.

Lets work together on a fix of some sort.

T