I re-compiled the windows wallet, no issues. I turned it on and it didn't crash (that comp doesn't have 16 GB of RAM), no blkindex.dat error, etc.
Good!
It found 5 connections but it still didn't sync, was stuck at 0. And I got that message "WARNING: Checkpoint is too old. Wait for block chain to download, or notify developers of the issue."
It can't sync yet, I haven't put the hash-signing node on the network yet, I will when it has caught up probably in 2-3 hours. The warning, as it says, "Wait for block chain to download". Will you be here in a few hours to test when signed hashes are in the network?
Also if anyone has any nodes which accept connections, please update them now so they propagate the signed hashes once the hash-signing node is up.
EDIT: Again if you have the RAM, your config should look like this (once you are synced):
gen=1
ramhogthreads=
usesignedhashes=0
This way your node verifies the proof-of-work hashes itself. But still it will relay the signed hashes so that nodes without the RAM can still be in the network.