Windows Vista Ultimate - 64bit

Would anyone know when or if DELL will ever offer a set of DELL chipset drivers for their DELL version of Vista Ultimate  -  64bit on their drivers and downloads website? Thank you. Robert_Allen

Hi Robert, Can you tell us what model you have.

Hi Robert, I would agree with msgale, your better off buying the retail version where you will get the drivers. Also, wait untill Vista SP2 comes out, that wont be long now. 

The version I have is not a retail version. It is a Dell disk with their disk label on it. I probably should have made that clearer in my post(sorry). They sent it to me free of charge stating that since I initially ordered my system with Vista Ultimate - 32bit I would qualify for Dells copy of Vista Ultimate - 64bit SP1 at no charge. However they said since it is not a Microsoft full retail or oem system build version their are no chipset drivers on it. Also I was told that at this time Dell has no chipset drivers available on their drivers and download website for my 720H2C 680i SLi chipset but that in the near future(3 to 6 months) they might. I did check the Dell drivers and download website, entered my service tag,clicked on 64bit, entered English, and then chipset, and it stated none. It seemed a little odd because their are 64bit video drivers, ethernet, and Soundblaster X-Fi audio drivers etc. available for download for my system. At this time I downloaded these 3 sets of drivers and went to the Nvidia website and got their set of nforce chipset drivers for my 680i sli chipset. I then did a clean install of the Dell Ultimate  64bit SP-1 OS, then installed the Nvidia nforce chiset drivers, then Dells vidio drivers, then the ethernet driver. The results have been anything but favorable. I have reinstalled the OS and drivers several times with pretty much the same results. Several blue screens, crashes, and random reboots. I suspect it is of course the nforce chipset drivers not being specifically set up for Dells oem 64bit Ultimate SP1 disk I was sent. This was also stated by Dells XPS tech support as being the most probable cause of the unstableness. I thougt I'd check the forum(the best place of course) and see if anyone might know about Dell 64bit chipset future driver availability. I really would like to stay with 64bit because I believe it is an awsome  OS and very fast as opposed to 32bit and XP. If I have to go retail which would you suggest? Full retail or oem build?

720H2C

Intel Core2 Extreme QX6850 (3.00GHz overclocked to 3.67GHz)

8GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 SDRAM at 1066MHz

Dual 768MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX

Dual WD160GB NCQ 10k SATA HD RAID-1

Dual WD7500AYYS 750GB SATA 7200 RPM HD RAID-0

etc.,etc.

Thank you all!!

Robert_Allen

I'm not sure how to navigate this new forum but I'll try again replying to your post to my initial post. The version I have is not a retail version. It is a Dell disk with their(Dells) label on it. I probably should have made that clearer in my initial post. Sorry. They sent it to me free of charge stating that since I initially had ordered my system with Vista Ultimate - 32Bit I would qualify for a Dell CD of Vista Ultimate - 64bit at no charge. However they said since it is not a Microsoft full retail or oem system build version their would be no chipset drivers on it. I was also told that at this time Dell has no chipset drivers available on their drivers and download website for my 720H2C 680i SLi chipset but that in the near furure(3 to 6 months) they might. I did check the Dell drivers and download website, entered my service tag, clicked on 64bit, entered English, and then chipset, and it stated none. It seemed a little odd because their are 64bit video drivers, ethernet, and Soundblaster X-Fi audio drivers etc. available for download for my system. At this time I downloaded these 3 sets of drivers and went to the Nvidia website and got their set of nforce chipset drivers for my 680i Sli chipset. I then did a coean install of the Dell Ultimate 64bit SP-1 OS, then installen the Nvidia nforce chipset, then Dells video frivers, then the ethernet driver. The results have been anything but favorable. I have reinstalled the OS and drivers several times with pretty much the same results. Several blue screens, crashes, and random reboots. I suspect it is of course the nforce chipset drivers not being specifically set up for Dells oem 64bit Ultimate SP1 disk I was sent. This was also ststed by Dells XPS tech support as bieing the moost probable cause of the unstableness. I thought I'd check the forum(the best place) and see if anyone might know about Delll 64bit chipset future driver availability. If I have to go retail which would you suggest? Full retail or oem build?

My system specs.

720H2C

Intel Core2 Extreme QX6850 (3.00GHz overclocked to 3.67GHz)

8Gb Corsair Dominator DDR2 SDRAM at 1066MHz

Dual 768MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX

Dual WD160GB NCQ 10k SATA HDs RAID-1

Dual WD7500AYYS 750GB 7200k SATA HDs RAID-0

etc.,etc.

Thank you

Respectfully;

Robert_Allen

Hi Robert, Have you tried this driver HERE, its from the Intel web site.

I don't know if this will help you, but I too received a 64bit version for my XPS 720 Q6600 (Raid0) in the same manner as yourself.

I has no issues doing a clean install from the Dell disk, I had no need to install any drivers to get a working desktop.

I obviusly had to install GFX and sound drivers etc. but all in all the install should work with no additions.

I feel there may be another issue elswhere.

The chipset drive is built onto the install disk. If your are wanting to use the chipset driver for your system go to the Nvidia site and download it. The only thing you must do when using the Nvidia driver is do not install the network driver portion. When the install starts there will be an option of what parts to install you uncheck the network driver as the 720 system uses a Broadcom network contoller vice the Nvidia. All other parts are the same.

In the FWIW department there really is no reason up date the chipset anyways. Windows will push a new driver during the update process. One thing that is now different with Vista over XP is the drivers that Microsoft offers in the windows update are full vendor drivers that have been certified. This was not the case with XP so that is why they are normally not recommended to use in XP.

Having just re-read you last post again I would suggest you not install the chipset drivers from the Nvida site and let them be pushed in an update.

Robin

Please research a bit before you post the 720 use a Nvidia Chipset not an intel one.

I did another clean install and did "NOT" install the chipset drivers,only the 64bit NVIDIA graphics, ethernet, X-Fi sound drivers from the Dell drivers and downloads website. How has your system been, stability wise, since you installed the 64bit OS - i.e. blue screens, crashes, random reboots, etc. ? Thank You!

Respectfully,

Robert_Allen

Unfortunately, I do not have my system as Dell are in the middle of replacing it for "other" reasons. So I will carry out this procedure myself, again, when the replacement arrives.

However, I ran it for nearly 6 months with no issues what so ever. To be honest I found it more stable than 32bit.

32bit would throw nvidia driver errors for me every now and again, I never saw these issues under 64bit..

Good luck, I suggest update you GFX, sound and peripherials and let windows update do the rest.

What updates are you refering to? GFX and sound?

My system has been rock solid. It runs so much faster and when the rare problem does occur which are so few can hardly remembe what they were, that I am totally impressed. I have found nothing that I have thrown at it that it cannot handle. I really like it.

And to top that off I even like windows 7 x64 even better. so much so that I actually spend more time in win 7 then vista. But since win 7 is not a full release all my import work and such i do in vista X64

What updates are you refering to? GFX and sound?

It is not a necessity, especially if everything is working fine, but as I like to game I prefer to be fully updated..

You can get the latest drivers, (normally newer then Dells) at the manufactures website,

So nvidia and creative in my case

I would also recommend that you go to the nvidia site to get the latest video driver as well as the sound card. I have found that the Nividia graphics driver pushed by the updates works as well as the driver from the nvidia site.