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#290578 - 22/11/2006 01:30 Vista RTM
oliver
addict

Registered: 02/04/2002
Posts: 691
Has anyone else tried out the RTM build of vista yet? I downloaded it on Friday and installed promptly.

I've had tons of BSOD in every single beta release, at the RC2 milestone they removed the text from the BSOD screen. Under the RTM build, I'm still having spontaneous BSOD's, it seems like they're completely random. I've been playing BF2 for hours, without a single problem, so I'm pretty sure it's not the ATI video drivers. I have a hauppauge 250 card, which I'm guessing the the root of my problems, but vista will still crash while MCE is not active. Half the time it will crash while browsing various websites like engadget, g'news, the empegbbs, etc. Other times it will crash when closing an application (like task manager for example).

Is there any other tools I can use to help figure out where this problem is coming from?

I just received an awesome response from the Problems and Solutions app, the problem will be fixed in a future build of vista.

Anyways, I figured because we have our own resident microsoft employee, i'd see what Tony thought.

I'm also attaching a few pictures of the crashes I've experienced.

Problems and Solutions list


Attachments
290757-Untitled1.jpg (184 downloads)



Edited by oliver (22/11/2006 01:33)

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#290579 - 22/11/2006 13:39 Re: Vista RTM [Re: oliver]
Taym
carpal tunnel

Registered: 18/06/2001
Posts: 2504
Loc: Roma, Italy
I just got the Business version, but I am actually waiting that the (slow) download of the Enterprise one from the Microsoft VLM website completes, and I will be testing that, next week, on two or three laptop models. We'll see...

I experienced no crashes with previous beta versions, though, on Thinkpad R50e, R52 laptops, fortunately. I did experience some random crashes on older R40s, though. I was testing one of the first betas, at that time, however.
_________________________
= Taym =
MK2a #040103216 * 100Gb *All/Colors* Radio * 3.0a11 * Hijack = taympeg

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#290580 - 22/11/2006 16:01 Re: Vista RTM [Re: Taym]
oliver
addict

Registered: 02/04/2002
Posts: 691
I've only tried the Ultimate Edition. I'm getting it directly off my MSDN developer account. I actually re-installed lastnight because the system started to completely lockup on every startup. Explorer was hanging all over the place. It's weird, all my hardware is pretty much brand new, and XP would run for weeks and weeks without a reboot.

I think this time, I won't be installing vs.net 2003 directly on vista. I need to setup a stupid VM machine to load XP and all my developer tools.
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Oliver mk1 30gb: 129 | mk2a 30gb: 040104126

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#290581 - 22/11/2006 16:24 Re: Vista RTM [Re: oliver]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31549
Loc: Seattle, WA
I hate this BBS.

"The form you are using is no longer valid"

I had a really long response typed up here. Fuck it.
_________________________
Tony Fabris

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#290582 - 22/11/2006 16:32 Re: Vista RTM [Re: oliver]
Waterman981
old hand

Registered: 14/02/2002
Posts: 804
Loc: Salt Lake City, UT
I also installed my MSDN on Friday on my Inspiron 6000. I've had no problems so far (except a couple program compatibility issues), and it is running much faster than RC1 did on the same laptop. As it is a slow day on the IT help desk here I'm doing some video editing on it to pass the time.

I'll be loading my T40 with it come Nov 30th when we get our volume key at work. (Of course I may need to wait and see what the company is planning for activation.)
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-Michael

#040103696 on a shelf
Mk2a - 90 GB - Red - Illuminated buttons

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#290583 - 22/11/2006 18:09 Re: Vista RTM [Re: tfabris]
oliver
addict

Registered: 02/04/2002
Posts: 691
Quote:
I had a really long response typed up here.


Makes me wonder what that post contained.
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Oliver mk1 30gb: 129 | mk2a 30gb: 040104126

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#290584 - 22/11/2006 18:47 Re: Vista RTM [Re: Waterman981]
oliver
addict

Registered: 02/04/2002
Posts: 691
Quote:
and it is running much faster than RC1 did on the same laptop


I completely agree, when it's working for me, it's blazing fast. The memory usage is much lower than all the previous builds, UAC works alot better while multi-tasking. Now if I could only figure out why my machine loves to BSOD I'd be all set.
_________________________
Oliver mk1 30gb: 129 | mk2a 30gb: 040104126

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#290585 - 22/11/2006 21:10 Re: Vista RTM [Re: tfabris]
tanstaafl.
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/07/1999
Posts: 5538
Loc: Ajijic, Mexico
Quote:
I hate this BBS.

"The form you are using is no longer valid"

I had a really long response typed up here. Fuck it.


I have gotten into the habit now of automatically putting everything into the clipboard before ever trying to save any response on the bbs.

Last night I had to re-paste one of my posts four times.

tanstaafl.
_________________________
"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

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#290586 - 22/11/2006 21:34 Re: Vista RTM [Re: oliver]
Taym
carpal tunnel

Registered: 18/06/2001
Posts: 2504
Loc: Roma, Italy
Is it true that one Windows DVD contains ALL versions, and depending on the SN the correct one gets installed? That was my understanding, but on MVL website I saw two separate dwnload pages for the Enterprise and the Business...
_________________________
= Taym =
MK2a #040103216 * 100Gb *All/Colors* Radio * 3.0a11 * Hijack = taympeg

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#290587 - 22/11/2006 22:01 Re: Vista RTM [Re: Taym]
oliver
addict

Registered: 02/04/2002
Posts: 691
Quote:
Is it true that one Windows DVD contains ALL versions, and depending on the SN the correct one gets installed? That was my understanding, but on MVL website I saw two separate dwnload pages for the Enterprise and the Business...


That's also my understanding, however I have both the Business and Retail editions. The Business DVD doesn't prompt for a product key in the intaller, it also installs alot less software, and requires activation with the MVL product key within 3 days. The Retail edition I'm currently using, has an optional product key screen in the installer, I haven't tried leaving it blank but after entering my Ultimate key, it gives me 30 days to activate the copy. I haven't activated a single copy yet, because I can't get it to stay functional for more than a week, let alone 30 days. We'll see how this install holds up.
_________________________
Oliver mk1 30gb: 129 | mk2a 30gb: 040104126

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#290588 - 22/11/2006 22:02 Re: Vista RTM [Re: oliver]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31549
Loc: Seattle, WA
Quote:
Makes me wonder what that post contained.


Short version:

Monkey love vista.

Monkey thinks BSODs not Vista's fault and you need to locate the crappy driver or malfunctioning RAM chip. Monkey had BSODs on XP, too, until he disabled the crappy $10 unbundled-oem soundcard whose drivers hadn't been updated with bugfixes since its original 1.0 release.

Monkey gushed about how great Vista is, and and why he wishes there were some truly compelling reasons for people to switch to it from XP (there aren't any that Monkey can see).

Monkey assured folks that he wasn't coerced into saying nice things about Vista by his new employer.

Monkey listed some of his biggest gripes about vista but noted that he has to do fewer annoyance work-arounds on Vista than he did on XP.

Monkey agreed most of the good stuff in Vista was already done on OSX years ago.

Monkey mentioned his home system might have to go Vista if the rumors were true that Halo 2 is coming to the PC as a vista-only app.

Monkey presses ctrl+a and ctrl+c now.
_________________________
Tony Fabris

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#290589 - 22/11/2006 22:18 Re: Vista RTM [Re: tfabris]
oliver
addict

Registered: 02/04/2002
Posts: 691
Quote:
Monkey thinks BSODs not Vista's fault and you need to locate the crappy driver or malfunctioning RAM chip. Monkey had BSODs on XP, too, until he disabled the crappy $10 unbundled-oem soundcard whose drivers hadn't been updated with bugfixes since its original 1.0 release.


I'm guessing it's my TV Tuner, as every time the system BSODs the tv tuner driver is uninstalled and vista wants me to locate new drivers, a quick reboot after canceling that driver prompt gets the system to recongize the tv tuner again.

However, I also have a bundled sound card. Hopefully my creative soundblaster will work better. We'll try that out right now.

It could also be a stick of memory, I have 2 different brands, hopefully it's not in my 1gb sticks, lets hope it's in my 512mb chips.

Anyways, I just got home from work, went into the device manager to check on which drivers were installed by default. Opened up my ATI 9800xt device, went to the driver tab, and ummm nifty BSOD.

BCCode: a
BCP1: 0406000A
BCP2: 0000001B
BCP3: 00000000
BCP4: 8186B5D5
OS Version: 6_0_6000
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1
Server information: a986125a-1ff4-4459-8973-cb5836c7aa3d

Not sure if that helps at all, but it's just numbers to me.

Thanks for typing up the response again, I really do appreciate it!
_________________________
Oliver mk1 30gb: 129 | mk2a 30gb: 040104126

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#290590 - 25/11/2006 01:46 Re: Vista RTM [Re: oliver]
oliver
addict

Registered: 02/04/2002
Posts: 691
Quote:
Hopefully my creative soundblaster will work better.


Well, that isn't the case. It looks like Creative wants everybody to upgrade to one of the latest and greatest sound cards. All my soundblasters are about 4-8 years old, and I'm sure Creative wants to capitalize on the "new" windows release. So, I tried out the CMD (Creative Modded Drivers) and they wouldn't install (windows told me that issue would be solved with the final release), I googled a bit more and found the kXproject which seemed like it installed, added the soundcard and mixers but gave me no volume. After adjusting the kXmixer because all the gains were set by default to off, rebooted the machine, and vista hung on startup.

So, I'm on my 5th install in 7 days.


Edited by oliver (25/11/2006 01:50)

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#290591 - 25/11/2006 11:58 Re: Vista RTM [Re: oliver]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14466
Loc: Canada
Why even bother with all of this? ???? Masochism????

Seems like a lot of fuss just to be able to download the latest spyware, trojans, and botnet client software ?????

-ml

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#290592 - 25/11/2006 13:52 Re: Vista RTM [Re: mlord]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
To tell you the truth I don't know what's worse at this point. The garbage system vendors put on top of XP, the complete unsuitability of XP for a notebook type system or the garbage hardware 90% of PC makers design and release.

My GF just got a new notebook with her recent promotion, an Acer Travelmate of some sort. If you were to read the spec sheet it sounds nice. It has all the ports and bells and whistles. But when you take stock of the physical machine it's a design nightmare.

Why would anyone put ports on the FRONT of the machine? I haven't seen physical switches for Bluetooth and WiFi do anything but cause people problems. Who needs so many LEDs on a notebook?

The thing that's pissing me off the most right now is that at some random point after closing the clamshell, the machine will seemingly wake up and start playing some tune. Or just sit there on the desktop ON. The power settings have been taken over by some Acer application (so that you can no longer see the default OS UI for it). But the power option for clamshell close is definitely set to Standby (sleep).

When the machine was first turned on there were no fewer than 15 icons in the tray and another 3 or 4 next to, but outside of the tray. Who was it that said most applications don't install stuff to the tray on Windows? Yeah right. ATI's own craptastic tray icon was there - but at least that one can be disabled from Catalyst Control Center (a huge pile of steaming usability crap itself).

I do two things with Windows right now. One is run my SageTV in my living room (it's the only TV tuner & PVR I use - media PC case with 800GB of HD). The other is to run Canada Post shipping software for my business which is done on a Shuttle system. If I could buy an Intel Mac notebook today I'd be running that software inside a virtual machine.

But these days, the only thing I hate more than having to run Windows is installing Windows. So I don't see Vista in my immediate future. Down the road if I can keep the business going and eventually exppand into some Windows-based software I'll no doubt also do some development/testing with it - likely on Apple hardware.

Looking forward to moving one of my servers to Linux and eventually being able to move my TV/PVR system to Linux as well.
_________________________
Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#290593 - 25/11/2006 14:04 Re: Vista RTM [Re: hybrid8]
BartDG
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/05/2001
Posts: 2616
Loc: Bruges, Belgium
Quote:

The thing that's pissing me off the most right now is that at some random point after closing the clamshell, the machine will seemingly wake up and start playing some tune. Or just sit there on the desktop ON. The power settings have been taken over by some Acer application (so that you can no longer see the default OS UI for it). But the power option for clamshell close is definitely set to Standby (sleep).


Ah, that is indeed a very annoying problem! I have the very same problem with my travelmate, and it pisses me off immensely too. I've got a habit of doing some late-night surfing in bed before going to sleep, and then I put the machine back in standby mode, besides my bed. Then, all of a sudden, about 10 minutes later when I've *just* fallen asleep, the machine wakes up again and goes *TADAAAAA* (or some tune like that). I almost put my foot in it the first time that happened.

Now I always completely shut the computer off. No more sleep mode for me. I know that's not a true solution, but I don't know what else to do.

If you ever come across a solution for this, I'd be very happy to hear it! Thx!
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#290594 - 25/11/2006 14:09 Re: Vista RTM [Re: hybrid8]
g_attrill
old hand

Registered: 14/04/2002
Posts: 1172
Loc: Hants, UK
Quote:
The thing that's pissing me off the most right now is that at some random point after closing the clamshell, the machine will seemingly wake up and start playing some tune. Or just sit there on the desktop ON.


Ah-ha! Last week I was staying with a friend in a hotel room, and at about 2am his Vista notebook (lid closed) made some funny noise and the screen came on. Must be the same "feature"!

Gareth

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#290595 - 25/11/2006 15:57 Re: Vista RTM [Re: hybrid8]
wfaulk
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
Quote:
Acer

Well, that's your problem right there. It hardly makes sense to buy a Yugo and then complain about the entire automobile industry.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk

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#290596 - 25/11/2006 17:39 Re: Vista RTM [Re: tfabris]
drakino
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
Quote:
Monkey mentioned his home system might have to go Vista if the rumors were true that Halo 2 is coming to the PC as a vista-only app.


It's not a rumor, H2V has it's own FAQ about it and why it will be Vista only.


Also, found this article about the development of this "feature" a handy reason never to go to work for Microsoft on their Windows team.

*edited to space out the two separate thoughts a bit more*


Edited by drakino (29/11/2006 16:32)

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#290597 - 29/11/2006 14:44 Re: Vista RTM [Re: drakino]
wfaulk
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
I don't understand the relationship between the shutdown menu and Halo 2.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk

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#290598 - 29/11/2006 14:50 Re: Vista RTM [Re: wfaulk]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
Bitt, the Acer is about 10 times better than any Dell or Toshiba and generally Acer systems are also better than anything from HP. What does that say about the PC industry?

To me is says that Apple is making the only BMW and Mercedes class machines and everyone else is making Ladas or GM vehicles (ie. the bottom of the barrel).

Most PC notebooks aren't worth the cardboard they're shipped in.
_________________________
Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#290599 - 29/11/2006 15:25 Re: Vista RTM [Re: hybrid8]
wfaulk
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
I've had no real problems with either my Sony or my IBM laptops. I'll agree that Dell isn't the best choice in the world, but many of their business-class laptops don't suck.

Basically, the problem is with consumer-grade computers. They're simply not made well. But the quality of the entire line generally seems to increase with the ratio of business to consumer computers they make. That is, Acer, a consumer-only company, makes crappy laptops. Dell makes better ones, but not that much better, as they're still primarily consumer, even if they do a reasonable amount of business sales. IBM seems to make the best laptops, and they have the highest business to consumer ratio.

But there are exceptions. Apple is largely consumer, but make good laptops. And I've had no problems with my Sony, which is very consumer, too. (But many other people have had problems, and their support is lousy.)
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Bitt Faulk

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#290600 - 29/11/2006 16:09 Re: Vista RTM [Re: wfaulk]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
Well, Acer is the corporate notebook supplier for the company my girlfriend now works at. The machine is built much better than the Toshiba she had before.

The high-end IBM Thinkpad she had a couple of years ago was by far the best, but none of them come close to the build quality and ruggedness of this 15" aluminum PowerBook. I'm not even talking about the OS now.

Of course the problem I mentioned earlier are caused by these OEMs patching garbage on top of Windows, including custom device drivers and all sorts of other little dodads that are supposed to control their bells and whistles. All those little toys/tools absolutely kill Windows every time. The difference between a notebook and desktop in this regard however, is that you can't do a clean wipe or you will probably lose some of the hardware functionality.

Her company would be better off buying Macbooks and installing Windows via Bootcamp. of course her IT department has issues of its own. They run a Novell network for starters. Hello, 1986 called. They want their netware back.
_________________________
Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#290601 - 29/11/2006 16:47 Re: Vista RTM [Re: hybrid8]
wfaulk
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
Well, I find that the crappier the hardware, the more random useless software comes installed.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk

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#290602 - 29/11/2006 17:05 Re: Vista RTM [Re: wfaulk]
matthew_k
pooh-bah

Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
Quote:
and their support is lousy.

Well, I'd take the position that Apple's support is lousy compared to Dell's. When buying a dell, you can select a Complete Care warranty. You can step on the laptop and break the screen, and they'll be out the next day to fix it. With a Dell Server, they will be out within 4 hours. (Literally. The server knocked a drive out of an array twice, and the new drive was shipped sonic air same day delivery. that's service.)

With apple, the best you're going to get is taking it to the apple store and waiting in line. Well, you might be able to Make An Appointment Online IF we're allowing that for people who didn't buy our $99 extortion fee for the same genius bar service we used to provide for free. Then, you'll drop it off, and they'll fix it in store or ship it to their repair depot. You might get your machine back this week week, or you might get it back in three weeks once we've got the part back in stock. None of this is any use if you dropped it, as coverage for that is not an option.

Apple's software support may be good, but I wouldn't know as I've never tried it.

Matthew

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#290603 - 29/11/2006 17:22 Re: Vista RTM [Re: matthew_k]
wfaulk
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
I was referring to Sony's support, but point taken.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk

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#290604 - 29/11/2006 17:52 Re: Vista RTM [Re: drakino]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31549
Loc: Seattle, WA
Quote:
It's not a rumor, H2V has it's own FAQ about it and why it will be Vista only.

Well, in my particular case it's now a moot point because I bought a 360 on Black Friday, along with a used copy of Halo 2. As much as I dislike playing FPS games with a joystick, I've been enjoying it. Played though a big chunk of it during my Snow Day yesterday. Visuals are slightly glitchy due to the emulation (it *looks* emulated, even, if that statement makes any sense), but I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Separate thread on 360 games coming up.
_________________________
Tony Fabris

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#290605 - 06/12/2006 23:14 Re: Vista RTM [Re: tfabris]
oliver
addict

Registered: 02/04/2002
Posts: 691
I'm having another issue with vista now that it's actually running for weeks without crashing.

When I RDP into my vista machine, and disconnect before leaving work. I'll get home and my machine will have the monitors in powersave mode and moving the mouse or hitting keys on the keyboard won't get it to wake back up.

I know the machine isn't sleeping or anything like that, because I can still RDP and be at my desktop. The only way I can get back into the machine is to reboot it via RDP.

Anyone else notice this?
_________________________
Oliver mk1 30gb: 129 | mk2a 30gb: 040104126

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#290606 - 07/12/2006 15:19 Re: Vista RTM [Re: oliver]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31549
Loc: Seattle, WA
When you "disconnect" are you specifically logging out via Startmenu/Clickonthelittlearrow/Logout, or are you just hitting "close" on your RDP client?

I know that those two things are different actions and that you might be deliberately *not* logging out, I'm just wondering if the other procedure produces different results.
_________________________
Tony Fabris

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#290607 - 07/12/2006 15:56 Re: Vista RTM [Re: tfabris]
oliver
addict

Registered: 02/04/2002
Posts: 691
Normally I'll either just close the RDP client window, or click on the Start Menu, then click the "X" (which is disconnect in vista when you're connected via an RDP session)

I've also tried to Logoff (by clicking the arrow, then the logoff item from the start menu), and nothing will get my monitors, keyboard and mouse to response (note, the capslock light works at home, but the screen still won't wake up)

The only way I can get back into the system, is to goto the command prompt and type shutdown -r.
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