New Win 7 install on D630

Question

Hi,

Have a few questions I'm hoping you folks can help me with.

Recently picked up a Dell Latitude D630 that had no HD - was going to install Win Vista Business (on COA) with Digital River .iso & in fact had burned it to DVD along with the .iso (burned to CD) for the Drivers specific to service tag on this laptop.

Well I now have a OEM Windows 7 Home Premium disc. I wasn't sure if this machine would run Win 7 but it loaded just fine & we are up & running on the generic windows drivers. Here is the machine info:

Processor, T7300, 2.0, 4MB, Core Merom, E1 & 2 GB RAM installed. BIOS = A13

OK now I am back to the Clean Install of Win 7 with regards to the drivers & have some concerns:

first - tried to let Dell analyze the system & see if it would suggest drivers. Told me it was unable to do so.

1) I see a note =Note for several new systems inputting a Service Tag has lead to a wrong and/or incomplete set of system drivers. Does that mean I should not use the drivers CD created for Vista install & go thru the list of 65 or so drivers for D630 (no service tag) & decide which are valid?

Edit: finding a number of driver downloads in the non-specific service tag D630 listing that apply to this machine. So question #1 is answered.

2) In the service tag specific drivers only BIOS A17 is listed. In all D630 drivers there is also BIOS A18? Do I only install A17 or jump right to A18? A18 looks very important & ties into the next question about the video driver.

A18 = Intel GM965 Graphics Video BIOS version 1588, NVIDIA Quadro NVS 135M Video BIOS version 60.86.68.00.16

Edit: Am wondering if I should install the chipset driver before anything else.

3) Getting a flag that a Video Card Driver is required. Found a thread that indicated the R180864 Intel driver needs to be installed in Windows Vista compatibility mode. This driver only shows up in All Files for Latitude D630, does not show up in drivers specific for this service tag. That would be the Quadro NVS 135M. Do I then only install the nVidia Quadro in compatibility mode?

4) Bluetooth (If applicable) - Under Network. For systems with only Windows Vista Drivers available: Latitude systems use R231570. Guess that is pretty straight forward.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Philip_Yip · Accepted Answer

First question 32 or 64 bit Windows 7?

Dell System Software should be installed before the chipset R260746 (64 bit) or R260745 (32 bit). I assume 64 bit because of the drivers you have mentioned so far.

The BIOs Update A18 does not require A17 and should be valid for all D630 systems. Take care when you install the BIOs update, a failed BIOs update can brick a system but this happens only on a very rare occasion.

You should attempt to input your service tag into the original system configuration to see what it was shipped with. www.dell.com > support > system configuration (on the left hand side)

From this you may be able to find out what wireless card and what video card you have. The only other drivers should be those for the mobile broadband.

You should have:

1. Dell System Software (1) R260746 (64 bit) or R260745 (32 bit)

2. Intel Chipset (1) R153997 (64 or 32 bit)

3. nVidea or Intel Video (1) R224649 (64 bit), R224635 (32 bit) or R180864 (64 bit), R224635 (32 bit)

4. SATA (4) R154201 (64 bit), R154200 (32 bit), R154164 (32 and 64 bit), R154198 (32 and 64 bit), R167146 (32 and 64 bit)

5. Conexant Modem, Application and Utility under Comms (3) R150157 ( 64 bit driver), R150152 (32 bit driver) R147123 (64 and 32 bit app) R148605 (64 and 32 bit utility)

6. Broadcom Ethernet (1) R151326 (64 bit) R151327 (32 bit)

7. Dell Wireless or Intel Wireless 2 options (1) R295615 (64 or 32 bit) or R239284 (64 bit), R239283 (32 bit)

8. Audio (1) R171788 (64 or 32 bit)

9. Dell Quickset (1) R182249 (64 bit) or R180762 (32 bit)

10. Bluetooth (1) R231570

11. Security UPEK and O2Micro (2) R182329 (64 or 32 bit), R167686 (64 bit), R173506 (32 bit)

12. Touchpad (1) R165805 (64 bit) and R165804 (32 bit)

daemoncycler · Answer

Hi natakuc4,

thanks for outlining the process for me. Yes on 64-bit. Thought the video driver might be an issue but it installed very well.

One probelm - the SATA drivers? I was never prompted during Windows install & according to the device manager installed 'IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers' are

ATA Channel 0

Intel(R) ICH8M 3 port Serial ATA Storage Controller - 2828

Intel(R) ICH8M Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 2850

not 'Intel(R) 82801HBM AHCI I/O Controller' - so this system is not running in RAID or AHCI mode. According to the deice manager the new Western Digital HD looks like it has a good driver even though I never installed one. That must have occured during the OS install?

R154198 is not compatible with this version of Windows & looks like it wants me too install in Vista mode. But once I do that it apparenlty cannot be removed. Do I need this driver?

R154201 - I followed the instructions in Clean install of Windows 7 as well as I could (both using 7zip & just allowing windows to unzip) but the readme file has Me a bit perplexed.

From: 5.1 General Installation Notes

1. If you are installing the operating system on a system
    configured for RAID or AHCI mode, you must pre-install
    the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager driver using the
    F6 installation method described in section 5.3.

2. The 'Intel(R) Chipset Software Installation Utility'
must be installed on the system after a supported
Microsoft* Windows* operating system has been installed.

3. To install the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager,
double-click on the self-extracting and self-installing
setup file and answer all prompts presented.

4. By default, all installed files (readme.txt, help, etc.)
    are copied to the following path:

    \Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager

Before I proceed to section 5.3 = Pre-Installation Using the F6 Method. I was hoping you could provide some clarification.

I installed Chipset R153997. Is that the Utility from #2.

#3 - I cannot find the self-extracing & self-installing setup file in R154201 - & there is nothing in pgm files\intel except wifi. Perhaps becuase the extraction hasn't run.

Guess this system is capable of AHCI/RAID or the drivers wouldn't be listed. Since the Western Digital HD has been detected am I still to proceed with the AHCI/RAID install?. Will that make the HD faster? What I'm asking is the system OK the way it is or am I supposed to see the 'Intel(R) 82801HBM AHCI I/O Controller' ?

Sorry I am not very good @ this - Yet!

thanks

edit: Except for the SATA (RAID/AHCI) - driver install pretty seemless. Quite impressed how well this 5 year old PC is running Win 7.

Thankyou.

Philip_Yip · Answer

R154198 is the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. I have found a later version that is compatible with the Latitude D530 even though it isn't on the Drivers and Downloads page (Dell have really messed their Drivers and Downloads service up).

Anyway scrap R154198 (A01 7.0.0.1020) and instead try R232158 (A06 8.9.0.1023) which is several versions more and Windows 7 compatible.

R154201 is the preinstallation SATA driver (I should of listed it as 0.) likely it is included on the Windows 7 DVD/USB and so you shouldn't bother with it.

Yes R153997 is the same driver as the chipset I mentioned. Although in looking around you might want to try R302424, its an updated version for newer Latitudes and is Windows 7 compatible. You should be able to install it at the end (no need to start over) as it will just update the chipset driver you have installed if it works.

P.S. let me know if these drivers work for you and I will add them to my wiki of unofficial driver sets.

Once all the drivers are installed you should refresh the Windows Experience Index (I haven't mentioned this in the wiki, I will need to update the wiki). Press [Windows] and [Pause|Break] and then click Windows Experience Index, then eitherrun it or re-run the assessment. Memory upgrades are available for your system here, upgrading your system to 4 GB will make it run a bit better, 8 GB upgrades are also available but the 8 GB is a bit pricy and probably not worth it.

Windows 7 is a very robust Operating System. It would probably work okay out of the box without installing any of the system drivers. The drivers do offer some enhancement in particular for the video and for use of the Fn buttons for example. Windows 7 is very similar to Windows Vista and as Windows Vista is supported on this system then Windows 7 will work better. Windows 7 is slightly less demanding than Windows Vista and far more efficient. As you have seen, I have listed some Windows 7 drivers which are generally taken from other systems but will work with your own i.e. Dell do have working driver sets available but you have to hunt a bit for them.

As an aside Windows 8 will also run on this system (I have tested it on a Latitude D620) although as neither system have a touchscreen. I advise against installing it as Windows 8 with keyboard and mouse is far less productive than Windows 7 and its interface is very much designed for use with touchscreens.

daemoncycler · Answer

Hi natakuc4, R232158 told me that my 'Computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing software.  Will now exit.' I updated the chipset (R302424) & re-ran, same msg.  The WEI is not too bad.  Processor = 5.1,  RAM = 5.1,  Graphics Windows Aero = 3.9,  Graphics 3D performance = 4.9,  Primary Hard Disk = 5.9. Somewhere here on the Dell forums I read that you can't get the WEI above 5.9 for the Hard Disk with a spinning HD.  You had to have a SSD or maybe a Western Digital Velociraptor?  Which spins @ 10,000 RPM.  Does that sound right?  I was already installing drivers when you responded to my thread yesterday & didn't do them the way you ordered above.  Perhaps this is an issue?  I could start over & do it in the right order.  In fact the Internal Network Card activity Settings keep changing from on battery to off battery & causing the screen to dim & then brighten.  Actually that probably has more to do with the battery.  Maybe the PC keeps thinking it is on battery when it's not.   Yesterday the battery was acting a little funky but I thought that might be because it was a new battery & I had not installed any drivers yet.  Probably not huh?  I will try re-seating the battery. I set the Internal Network Card activity Settings to always on & since then the screen has not dimmed. Everything else looks great.  Order a 2x2GB RAM upgrade.  Thanks again.

daemoncycler · Answer

I saw the Internal Network Card Status changing from on to off & back while I was adjusting the settings.  Must be the Card. I will use the wizard to uninstall/re-install the card & see if that helps.

Philip_Yip · Answer

The 2 drivers I mentioned were taken from newer models, there was a good chance they wouldn't work. You can try downloading the Intel Matrix Storage Manager directly from Intel here and you have a chipset driver installed so it should be fine.

The internal network card i.e. the ethernet adaptor usually powers off on laptops while on battery. This is because when people are on battery they generally don't have an ethernet cable plugged in and instead use wireless therefore there is no point in enabling it. Its just a Dell power savings. The Windows Experience Index seems right. The conventional hard drives give that a rating of 5.9.

Here is my XPS 8300 desktop, I installed a Solid State Drive (also bought by crucial) and installed Windows 7 on it last month.

The performance increase of the system was significant.

Installing the OS on the solid state hard drive has advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage is price and the second one is capacity. In thime both these disadvantages will diminish. In my desktop I installed a 60 GB Solid State Drive and Windows 7 and Office 2010 on it. This is far too small for me, so I have 2 1 TB hard drives also installed to meet my storage requirements, that way I get performance and storage. In your case i.e. a laptop you can only get one hard drive will need to figure out what you want i.e. performance or storage. Hopefully however both will come together soon at a decent price.

daemoncycler · Answer

Originally purchased a Crucial SSD for this laptop & then decided it was overkill & we would be better served by a 320GB conventional drive, less cost too. Then paid $8 to send the SSD back. Knew I was going to regret that. Still getting "Computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing software. Will now exit." from download @ Intel. I assume that would be the case with a SSD as well? Can you tell me what about this PC is not up to snuff?

I am missing something? Can the Intel Matrix Storage Manager be installed if I don't see AHCI in the 'IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers' listing? Or if the Manager installs will I then see AHCI in the listing?

On another note:

We have an XPS 435MT & wanted to get the WEI above 5.9 & that is where I read that conventional drives won't allow that. Didn't think the small capacity drive had purchased for the laptop would be sufficient for the desktop but sounds like you made it work. Should have kept that Crucial SSD. I read a number of threads both here & @ Tom's hardware (Amazon too) that seemed to indicate installing the SSD in the desktop was not all that easy.

Problems again with AHCI vs IDE. Getting the PC to recognize the new SSD as the primary, perhaps having to unplug the 1TB conventional drive to allow the PC to recognize the new SSD as primary/system. The transfer kit wouldn't work - almost certainly had to remove the anti-virus/spyware software before attempting transfer. In fact several posters said don't even attempt the transfer just do a clean install. Then there was something about enabling Trim.

We have way too much stuff (Music, Movies, Pics, files, etc) on this desktop for me to go about mucking it up. Thus - bought the extra laptop on eBay to break/play with. Turns out probably a good idea seeing how much help I have to rely on, for instance, you in this case.

Maybe next winter I'll give it a shot. When we're stuck inside. Perhaps I'll know a bit more about this stuff by then.

Thanks again, right now the D630 seems to be running great. Did uninstall / re-install 57xx Integrated Controller & plugged in a Ethernet cable to make sure it worked. It does & no more dimming, yet anyway.

Philip_Yip · Answer

I wouldn't worry too much about the Intel Matrix Storage Manager particularly if your system is running so well without it.

However there is one other thing you can try. Go to C:\Dell\Drivers\R154198. In this folder, right click the setup file and select properties.

Select the compatibility tab and select to run in compatibility mode for Windows Vista then install it.

The solid state drive I have came with dataplex software, it was awful. I done a clean install. Windows usually gives you the option of picking the hard drive to install so it was pretty easy. The XPS 8300 had 2 SATA 3 and 2 SATA 2 ports so I had to use the SATA 3 ones.

I then had to mess around with the registry/folder settings to move, documents, pictures, music folder(s) etc. onto the normal harddrive. Its easy enough but takes a bit more thought. Also for installing programs you should specify where you want to install them. It is worthwhile doing on the desktop I would say as you can have the other drives present also.

I would advise buying a large external harddrive and keeping a back up of everything on your desktop just in case.

You will probably have learned a fair bit through purchasing this system, installing some parts and installing the operating system. Once you have done it once, it is fairly easy to do similar things again. Some people managed to do it in your system without too much problems here.

daemoncycler · Answer

Tried Compatibility Mode for Windows Vista, Vista SP1 & Vista SP2. Same result "Computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing software. Will now exit."

Ran also both R232158 & IATA89ENU (from Intel) in compatibility mode with same result.

All is good as is.

thanks.

daemoncycler · Answer

Updated 9/6/12:

Video card nVidia Quadro NVS 135 crashed (there is a known problem with these nVidia GPU's - some users even cooking the system board like a pizza in the oven to reform the solder. Apparently the solder holding the GPU to the system board dries & cracks causing voltage spikes). So I purchased on eBay & installed system board with Intel video card, works great now, slightly lower WEI tho :-(.

See this thread:

nVidia Quadro NVS 135M Crash

thanks

waterloo65 · Answer

My D630 works well under Win7 Pro (32 bit) using the driver guidance from natakuc4, with one exception. The Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller only operates at about 10% efficiency under Win7 compared to XP. Using Internetfrog I can clock downloads around 13 Mpbs under XP, and similarly with my Dell wireless connection under XP or Win7. But under Win7 the Broadcom RJ45 LAN connection only gets about 0.15 Mbps downloads, dog slow. :(

I even tried using the latest Broadcom Vista/Win7 driver dated 10/1812, version 15.4.0.17, and the download performance does not improve. Upload performance is unaffected and works well all-around, regardless of O/S or network interface selected. I see others mentioning this same issue with Win7 and the 57xx Gigabit Controller on the net and in these Dell forums, but never a viable solution identified.

Any ideas, anyone?

daemoncycler · Answer

Perhaps try this one? Mine is working well with the 64-bit version of this driver.

waterloo65 · Answer

Interesting. R151327 was the first driver I tried with Win7 32b, it didn't work either.

This D630 was originally shipped as Vista 32b, T7500, 2.20 GHz, 2.00 GB. I downgraded the O/S to XP when I got it, all other specs have remained the same over the years.

Do you think I should try R151327 with Win7 64b, can this D630 configuration handle a 64b O/S? What specs does your D630 have?

daemoncycler · Answer

My specs:

T7300, 2 GHZ & I installed an additional 2GB for total of 4GB RAM.

I purchased this D630 (no Hard drive) off eBay 6 months ago, it originally had Vista Business - but I went straight to Win 7 Home 64-bit. Ran great for two months & then the Nvidia Quadro NVS 135 GPU crashed. Well documented problem with these video cards a few years back. People were actually cooking the system boards like a pizza in the oven for 9 mins @ 395 degrees to reflow the solder joining the GPU to the board. I guess the card ran so hot that it dried & caused the solder to crack which led to voltage spikes. Anyway I didn't do that, instead I replaced the system board with one that had an Intel GPU (advice per ejn63) & so far no problems.

According to intel.com your T7500 has a 64-bit instruction set. Wonder why it shipped with 32-bit originally? Check out your service tag here & under System Configuration it should indicate 32 or 64-bit. My guess is 64.

I don't think this is set in stone as 2GB RAM is the minimum recommended for 64-bit but I believe you wold be better off with 4GB RAM. Does your copy of Win 7 come with 64-bit too? If so I would run that - will make better use of your hardware. Still learning my way around computers so as far as my advice is considered, Google twice & install once (hopefully).

Edit: something else to mention is the BIOS. As you can see above I too had a great deal of assistance from natakuc4 & installing the latest BIOS might be of help.

If you decide to install Win 7 64-bit follow the installation procedures he laid out too - in that order.

waterloo65 · Answer

Bios A18 has long been installed on my Latitide D630 T7500, with 2.20 GHz and 2.00 GB RAM.

Win7 64b does install but performs a little sluggish in general comared to Win7 32b. Probably 4GB RAM would help that. This particular unit was configured with Intel Video, never had any overheating issues.

I also went back and followed natakuc4's driver instructions for 64b, in that order, and made sure to install R151326 (Vista 64b). No improvement in download speed from the Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller, still around 0.15 Mbps per InternetFrog.

I went into Device Manager and had Win7 do its own auto-update for the NIC driver, no change.

Finally I downloaded the latest driver specificed on the Broadcom site, Vista/Win7 x64, dated 10/2912, version 15.4.0.17, no change in performance. The Dell WiFi adapter continues to function well, even better than under XP or Win7 32b.

Any other ideas? Do you know how I can find the exact model number of 57xx I have? I want to submit a trouble ticket on the Broadcom site and they ask for specifc NIC numbers, such as 5700-5784, but everywhere I looked in Windows it keeps saying 57xx.

Windows General

New Win 7 install on D630

nVidia Quadro NVS 135M Crash

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