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66888
Windows 7?
With the launch of Windows 7 Beta today (either upgrade from Vista SP1 or go for a clean install) has anyone tried installing it on their Dell laptop? If so, what are your experiences?
zrtom
160 Posts
1
January 18th, 2009 07:00
Didn't Microsoft Update find the video and wireless drivers? On my M1330 the 4965AGN drivers were there at installation and MS update found the nVidia drivers right away.
Kelex24
2 Posts
1
January 18th, 2009 13:00
I see a few of you are having trouble installing stuff like the chipset driver that detects you aren't on Vista before even trying to install. Here is a fix for that:
Right click on the actual setup file that the .exe unzips to (the Rxxxxxx folder in C:\Dell\Drivers will have it) and then click on 'Troubleshoot Compatability'. That will bring up a wizard that will check on some known compatibility issues then give you some options, in which it includes 'This program installed or ran in a previous version of Windows'. Check mark that then click Windows Vista and then the program will run just fine and the driver will install correctly. I had to do this to install the chipset driver on my Vostro 1500.
Also Windows 7 is running great on my Vostro 1500, love the new taskbar and how efficient it manages RAM now. Plus my WiFi doesn't die whenever I come out of sleep anymore! Driver compatibility seems like its a top priority for MS this time around.
Also for any video issues try and run Window Update and install the beta Nvidia driver from there, its never BSOD or froze on my 8600mGT so far, which is a 100% change from the Windows Vista beta.
rsh2009
10 Posts
1
January 18th, 2009 21:00
Has anybody tried displaying the output on a TV? Basically use TV as external monitor? I do not see that option with the default display settings that come with Windows 7? Would like to know if there is any other video driver that I can use.
kora01
2 Posts
1
January 25th, 2009 12:00
Hello,
now I found the right driver for the NVidia go 5650:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/ForceWare-Vista-97.35-x86-(laptops)_d1530.html
With this driver I have a stable Win7-Installation! :-)
Performance-index is "3.0" for games and "3.2" for aero.
Greetings from Celle/Germany
zrtom
160 Posts
0
January 26th, 2009 07:00
Update on my two issues. Thankfully (I guess), they are NOT issues.... at least with respect to Windows 7. The nVIDIA BSOD issue was from my onboard video card dying, as all of them seem to do. New motherboard and it's back working great. It really bugs me that there is no permanent fix for the nVidia 8400M GS faulty chip. Knowing it will go again is unnerving.
The mouse pointer lockup was because I don't use the fingerprint reader (shares the same usb port as the Synaptics touchpad) so I didn't install the drivers. Installing the just released W7 drivers from UPEK drivers (even disabled, but installed) seems to have cured that problem.
47 second reboot times (using the reboot script from sevenforums.com) on a laptop! I ain't EVER going back to XP or Vista!
watyer
3 Posts
0
March 21st, 2009 04:00
I had a few issues after switching to Windows 7 on my Dell XPS M1330:
I think almost everything else works now...
Philip_Yip
9 Legend
9 Legend
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16K Posts
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March 21st, 2009 09:00
Windows 7 worked fine on my inspiron 6400, did not need to install any system drivers. Everything functioned even the wireless.
Installed mcafee total protection beta and the vista hp c6180 driver in compatibility mode, windows 7 seems to be going well but I am back on xp and vista for the moment.
Zura
1 Message
0
May 24th, 2009 17:00
I have been running Windows 7 on a Latitude D420 for 2 months now.
Everything is wonderful except the non compatible Dell video driver which is stopping me playing games (crucial then). I stuck in all the Vista drivers in order (my build was for XP) but it continuously baulks at the video one (grinds teeth).
I am sufficiently sold that I will go Windows 7 the moment it is released in Oct but possibly on another machine as I tire of the general graphics issues with this particular machine vs my personal needs, we are not a good match :s
Chief_Lieutenan
2 Posts
0
September 18th, 2009 00:00
So for users of Vostro 1500 you have almost no problems with the Windows 7 x86 or 32bit maybe a driver or two... Did the install find all your drivers automatically or did you have to install some manually???
mahtab_kd_2006
2 Posts
0
October 20th, 2009 05:00
Chief_Lieutenan
2 Posts
0
October 20th, 2009 19:00
With Windows 7 most newer drivers are already on the Windows 7 installation disk. And if Windows needs to it can try searching the internet or going to Windows update to find the drivers.
But I have installed Windows 7 on several White Box machines, HP machines, Compaq's, Toshiba's, and several Dell models without Windows telling me it could not find drivers. I think that if your computer runs Windows 2000/XP the drivers that your machine used for 2000/XP should work as the drivers for Windows 7.
I believe that Microsoft Is looking out for the 2000/XP users, and that Windows 7 is more geared for 2000/XP users so it will entice those users to upgrade. Now if you remember when Windows vista came out it was a 300 to 400 dollar operating system now if you want Windows 7 all you need is about 100 to 120 bucks. So I believe it is more for the Legacy OS users because Windows XP is already a legacy OS, and will still be around for at least a Decade before most users will stop using it.
Windows XP is the most stable OS to date and I also believe that when they were building Windows 7 all they really did was just enhance windows XP and gave it a Vista look. I enjoy Windows XP just about as much as Windows 7 But I Recomend to you if you play games on Windows XP and you want to play those games on Windows 7.
All games designed for Windows XP use DirectX 9.0 and games for Vista use DirectX 10.0, games for Windows 7 Will use DirectX 11.0. Now DirectX 10 Games will work on Windows 7 but DirectX 9 games will not you need to download and install DirectX 9.0 so you can play your Games on Windows 7.
mahtab_kd_2006
2 Posts
0
November 6th, 2009 01:00
I ran the Windows 7 upgrade advisor, and it said it needs to run Windows update for few of my hardware(see below). But in support.dell.com, my system (Vostro 1400 laptotp) was NOT listed as compatible with Windows 7 (http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?journalid=77A62C06A2328117E040AE0AB5E1579C&docid=364758). So will i be able to use Windows 7 or not?
Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor * { margin: 0; } html.WUA, body.WUA { height: 100%; overflow: hidden; } body { margin: 0; padding: 0; color: #000; } body.WUA { background: #fff url(img/totaltop.gif) repeat-x top; } img { border: 0; } #ReportTable { clear: both; } td, th { vertical-align: top; } a { color: #06c; text-decoration: none; } a:hover { color: #39f; text-decoration: underline; } #footer { position: absolute; bottom: 0; width: 100%; background: url(img/totalbottom.gif) repeat-x bottom; border: solid 1px #dfdfdf top; } #StartOverButton, #CloseButton { margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 7em; } #top-shadow { position: absolute; width: 100%; z-index: 3; } #bottom-shadow { position: absolute; bottom: 17px; left: 0; width: 100%; z-index: 3; } #top-shadow img, #bottom-shadow img { width: 100%; } #report { } #report th { color: #039; padding: 0.3em 1.5em; background: #e1ebff; } .SectionFooter { height: 1.5em; } #wua { position: relative; overflow: auto; } .ObjectDesc { width: 30%; } .ObjectBriefDetails { width: 20%; } .ObjectMoreDetail { width: 50%; } .StatusIcon { padding: 1em 0 0.2em 0; width: 5em; } .StatusIcon .Container { width: 5em; } .ObjectBriefDetails .Container { padding: 1em 0.6em 0.4em 0.6em; } .ObjectDesc .Container, .CompatibleTotal, .ScanError { padding: 1em 0.6em 0.4em 0.6em; } .ObjectMoreDetail .Container { padding: 1em 0.6em 0.4em 0.6em; } .ObjectDescCompany { color: #555; } .SpecifyEditions { font-weight: bold; } #SystemInfo { margin: 20px 30px 10px 30px; } #SystemTable { margin: 30px 0 20px 0; } #SystemTable th { padding: 0 0 14px 0; } #SystemTable td { padding: 0 50px 14px 10px; } h1 { margin: 0; padding: 0; font-weight: normal; color: #039; font-size: 13pt; } .Button { margin: 0 auto; display: block; text-decoration: none; color: #000; } .Button.hover { background: #ddf1ff url(img/ButtonBG.png) repeat-x left top; } .Button.hover .tl { background: url(img/Button_tl.gif) no-repeat left top; } .Button.clicked .tl { background: #d7eefd url(img/Button_tl_hover.gif) left top; } .Button.hover .tr { background: url(img/Button_tr.gif) no-repeat right top; } .Button.hover .br { background: url(img/Button_br.gif) no-repeat right bottom; } .Button.hover .bl { background: url(img/Button_bl.gif) no-repeat left bottom; } .Button h1 { margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; padding: 0; } #Toolbar { margin-top: 1.4em; } #Toolbar .Button { cursor: default; color: #000; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; } #Toolbar .Button .container { padding: 0.3em 0.7em; } #Toolbar .Label { display: block; padding-top: 0.1em; } #W7StatusIcon { padding-top: 1.6em; } #OverallMessage { clear: both; margin-top: 1.4em; margin-left: 1.8em; margin-right: 1.8em; padding-bottom: 1.4em; } #BackButton .Button .container { padding-top: 0.3em; } #BackButton .Label { display:block; } .ScanErrorSubText { margin-top: 0.1em; } .StartOverButton { margin-top: 1em; } body, td, th, button { font-family: Segoe UI, Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif; } body { font-size: 10pt; } td, th { font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; letter-spacing: normal; } .StatusIcon, #SystemTable th, #footer { text-align: right; /* Change to left for RTL languages */ } .Button { text-align: left; /* Change to right for RTL languages */ } #Toolbar img, #OverallMessage, #BackButton, #BackButton img { float: left; /* RTL: Change to right */ } #Toolbar { float: right; /* RTL: Change to left */ } #footer button { margin-right: 10px; /* RTL: Change to margin-left */ } #report th { text-align: left; /* Change to right for RTL languages */ font-size: 1.4em; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; letter-spacing: normal; } .ObjectDescTitle { /* This is the first column for system/devices/programs items (e.g. the product name) */ font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; letter-spacing: normal; } .CompatibleTotal .Container, .ScanErrorTitle { /* This is for the compatible summary text like "Passed # other system requirements." */ line-height: normal; letter-spacing: normal; } .CompatibleText { font-weight: bold; } .ObjectMoreDetail .Container { /* For RTL languages, change to padding-left */ padding-right: 4em; } #Win7Message { /* In Save/Print format, this is the Windows 7 compatibility message (e.g. You need to prepare your system before installing Windows 7.) */ font-size: 1.25em; line-height: normal; letter-spacing: normal; } #SystemTable th { /* In Save/Print format, these are the headers (or titles) for the system components such as "CPU:" and "Computer Name:". */ font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; letter-spacing: normal; } #SystemTable td { /* In Save/Print format, these are the values besides the headings. */ font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; letter-spacing: normal; } #Toolbar { margin-right: 1.5em; /* RTL: Change to margin-left */ } #Toolbar img, #BackButton img { margin-right: 0.6em; /* RTL: Change to margin-left */ } #BackButton { margin-left: 0.6em; /* RTL: Change to margin-right */ } #OverallMessage h1, .SectionHeader { /* This is the text such as "You need to prepare your system before installing Windows 7." under the Windows 7 Logo in the results page */ font-size: 12pt; } #BackButton .Label { /* "Back to overview" */ font-size: 11pt; } #BackButton .Button .container { padding-left: 0.7em; /* RTL: Change to padding-right */ }
zrtom
160 Posts
0
November 6th, 2009 07:00
From your specs the Vostro 1400 should run Windows 7 really well. When you install W7, you'll see that critical components are already installed by the install disk. Windows Update will pick up the Ricoh drivers. You can install Dell's Vista 32-bit drivers for whatever may be missing. If they won't install on first try, they'll usually install in Vista compabibility mode.
millinear
3 Posts
0
April 18th, 2010 22:00
I upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate on my Latitude E5500, and now I'm missing 2 gigs of Ram out of 4. Dell tech support says the ram is there, just not showing, but I'm always getting prompts that I'm running low on memory and need to close and reopen programs. My 2 gigs of ram is not being used or something. Anyone know how to fix that?
Travis299
147 Posts
0
April 19th, 2010 05:00
I have installed WIN7 32 bit & 64 bit on 2 DELL laptops without any problems what-so-ever. One is an INSPIRON 1525 32 bit & the other is a STUDIO 1555 64 bit.