I've made some progress on my M2010 HD Raid 1 and clean install of Win7 32 bit from Vista. I'll post a shortened version of the "process".

The worst part was the HD upgrade. You can swap the HDs one at a time and the Intel Matrix Raid controller will rebuild the array each time. But the result will be a 250 GB array on a pair of 500 GB drives (in my case, Seagate Momentus 7200 RPM), and the raid controller cannot increase the size of an existing array, even if there is empty space on the HDs.

So if you just want a bigger C:, you need to grab a disk image, create a new array using the full HD capacity, then restore the disk image.Thus the next adventure.

I found out the hard way that in moving from v14 to v15, Norton Ghost lost the ability to do a full disk image. So I went with Acronis True Image Home, made a bootable pen drive, saved the C: image onto an external USB drive, created the new array by using ctrl-I to enter the Raid setup during the boot process....and then when I rebooted with the pen drive to restore the image onto the new array.....I find it can't locate or read from the external USB drive.

At this point, I had an empty 500 GB array and no way to restore a useful image onto it. I rebooted and used the Raid controller to remove disk 2 from the array. Then I swapped out the 500GB drive 1 for the original 250 GB drive 1, which came up showing a 250 GB degraded array. Used Windows disk management to partition the 2nd 500 GB drive and format it with its own letter. Copied the image file from the external USB drive to the new internal drive 2. Swapped out the 250 GB drive 1 for the 500 GB drive 1 (which reported a 500GB degraded Raid array), booted from Acronis pen drive, restored the image from the 2nd drive onto the empty Raid volume. It worked! Only remaining step was to tell the Raid controller to rebuild the array back onto drive 2.

Win 7 adventure in the next post.

OK...Win 7 32 bit clean install (from upgrade disk, already had Vista in the machine) was more straightforward.

Make sure you have all your user files backed up on an external HD - including any downloaded software files. Have all your application CDs/DVDs handy, and make sure you have all your all the software keys and other registration info for all software on CD/DVD or which you downloaded. If you are using Firefox, make sure you backup your bookmark file and save that backup onto the external HD so you can restore it after your new Firefox installation.

Also, just to be save, download all the drivers that support.dell.com says apply to your machine, plus all the drivers mentioned in the links CRC2 mentioned a few messages ago.

Remember that you will need to have a USB keyboard for this process as well as for the disk upgrade process I described in the previous method. Also good to know, if you don't have a USB mouse, or your USB keyboard doesn't have a touchpad, is that the Dell Premium Remote Control can be used as a substitute mouse until you get your bluetooth keyboard running again. The cursor movement, left and right click on the remote will function even without the software.

Getting the camera running is done by following the procedure in CRC2's links. The driver is OK, it's just that the setup program won't find it, so you have to point it at the driver through device manager.

Function keys work fine, just by installing Dell QuickSet.

Win 7 is running well and running fast, booting is a pleasure, and for reasons I don't understand, the bluetooth keyboard becomes active much earlier in the booting process now, so I can even use it to muck around with the Intel Matrix Raid Manager, or when I have had to do a hard reboot, to bypass the 30 second countdown to select safe mode or normal.

Still looking for a solution to get full functionality out of the Premium Remote Control. Haven't seen a solution on this forum. Program/driver on the Dell support site does not work in Win 7.

Also a strange one...assigning a custom keyboard shortcut key to open an application directly (right click on the shortcut, properties, assign a shortcut key using Ctrl+ Alt + [your choice]) works OK. But in Vista, I used to be able to make a shortcut for a file, assign a shortcut key (as described above), and when I use it, it would open the program associated with that file type (Adobe Acrobat, or text reader, for example) which would then open that file. It doesn't work in Win 7, it just sits there and ignores the shortcut key, although the value has been saved in the shortcut's properties. Any ideas?

Hi Bob_Telecom, and thanks for the input. Personally, never used shortcut keys, but tried following your procedure and failed at the first hurdle. Typical novice really you know!  Also, don't have the DELL remote so assume you have the M2010 Media version whereas I have the standard (as in boring) version. I note you have a few functional issues after the upgrade as tpo be ex[ected, but it seems you may have reached further progress than I. Can I ask you to check Device Manager to see if you have the infamous one and only 'unknown device? This should be the infamous DELL ACPI/8010 that I could not resolve (right click the device- properties- driver).

If you have a clean sheet please verify the DELL QUICKSET version used, although I am not sure this will help because I found no evidence (so far) that the DELL QUICKSET package installs anything associated with 'CSR plc' drivers. If only DELL contributed something to help us all out eh?

But at least we have another WIndows 7 up and running. Magic!

Cheers.

Hey crc2,

Happy to help. I have one new quirk which I'll mention at the end.

Yes, I have the fancy remote control. Hopefully, all function can be restored eventually, though I don't really use all the media center stuff.

Only driver I have with a yellow triangle is Network adapter, "Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface"...whatever that is. Driver is up to date, but "This device cannot start (Code 10)". I suppose I should fix that if I ever need it, whatever it is.

My ACPI Function Key Handler is indeed the CSR plc thing. All I did was run R156212.EXE from the Dell Driver and Download page. Before running it, I had no function keys to (for example) switch to external monitor, and hitting the volume up/down keys on the keyboard worked, but there was no onscreen volume bar while doing it. Running that QuickSet program resolved the issue.

My new quirk is that I can't play commercial blu-ray discs now. Can write and read BluRay, DVD, and CD RW, can play commercial CDs and DVDs, but when I start running a bluray disc, PowerDVD v7 give me this message:

"Fail to initialize content protection - (error Code - 0122) You may try the following resolution to solve the problem. 1) Incompatible graphics driver. Please make sure your graphics driver meets minimun {their spelling!] requirement criteria. 2) Do not use dual-monitor to playback this movie (Clone Mode)."

It all worked OK in Vista..using the latest vid driver R153383 (ATI Catalyst Control Center, etc).

I may post that in a separate thread, as this one is getting complex.

Let us know how it goes with the function keys!

Bob

Hi Bob,

Am busy getting ready for my daughter's wedding but found a moment to spare. The Teredo Tunneling thing seems a mystery. I just wonder it is a part of VPN that is tied to either the wireless Intel driver, or the Tosh Personal Network device that may/may not run a domestic network through your M2010? Anyway, the BROADCOM NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller is listed in Windows Properties as  version 10.100.4.0, whereas the DELL Download site (32bit Vista) is version 9.7.5b. Suggest you keep hitting the windows update button.

I used the same Quickset   R156212.EXE but you installed 32bit while I installed 64bit. I am sure this is why I am stuck with our friend DELL8010/ACPI but I can live with it.

Windows gave me ATI Mobility Radeon X1800 driver version 8.561.0.0 whereas Dell gave you under R153383 version 8.36-070314a. Perhaps (again) you need to keep hitting Windows update? PS make sure you tell windows to deliver driver updates as well as their own stuff.

I also use Power DVD and have the same problem- after a long series of exhanges they served me the ultimate solution - matter reported to Quality Assurance who may resolve the issue in a future upgrade. We suggest you check the web site periodically. Helpfull or what- but still better than you know who's cold shoulder!

Hope this helps a little for now. By the way I use an external Blu-Ray read/writer that works fine with my Sony VAIO laptop, but not with my M2010.

Best wishes.. 

Hi crc2,

Hope it went well with your daughter's wedding.

As far as I can tell, Teredo Tunneling is related to some Win7 PC-to-PC communication facility.

I do have the updates set to check drivers also, but nothing found so far.

I think the problem's may be in Power DVD, as it all worked fine with the existing vid driver in Vista. Please let me know if you hear from them or find anything.

Bob

Sorry to butt in, but this may assist you:-

Google "teredo tunneling wiki". Wikipedis explains that teredo tunneling is to do with the ipv6 network protocol - I very much doubt there is any connection to Power dvd.

An extract from Wkipedia item is:-

"The Teredo protocol performs several functions:

1. Diagnoses UDP over IPv4 (UDPv4) connectivity and discovers the kind of NAT present (using a simplified replacement to the STUN protocol);
2. assigns a globally-routable unique IPv6 address to each host using it;
3. encapsulates IPv6 packets inside UDPv4 datagrams for transmission over an IPv4 network (this includes NAT traversal);
4. routes traffic between Teredo hosts and native (or otherwise non-Teredo) IPv6 hosts. "

Hi Bob and nice to hear from you again wtg40w.

The wedding went very well and the local press rolled up hearing there was a bit of a Nania theme going on.  Something to cheer up their readers during the ice age apparently. Must admit though my daughter looked brilliant- just like a snow queen!

When I started to download the wedding videos I had great problems linking up my aged Panasonic DV Camcorder with Adobe Premier Elements 8. For all the years past this has never been a problem.  In the end I concluded that the lack of a Windows 7 driver was the cause. The same problem was found trying Windows Movie Maker instead of Adobe.  I then dug out my quite old DAZZLE device using analogue cables, but still nothing until I thought of upgrading DAZZLE and logged on to find  the latest  64bit Vista version. I finally managed to capture and save the video (VOB) file.

Relevance to which is that Windows 7 (maybe just 64bit) seems to be lagging behind development when it comes to handling Video (i.e. VOB files). And of course, ADOBE have upgraded their programs by cutting out all but the latest video cameras. The jury is out about whether or not this underlying shortcoming is why Power DVD is also playing up.

Although not an expert in Networking issues I can see where wgt40w is coming from. After searching VPN I found the following statement from Microsoft-- You can use a virtual private network (VPN) to connect components to one network by using another network, such as the Internet. Virtual private networks do this by "tunneling" through the Internet or another public network in a manner that provides the same security and features as a private network..-.

My guess is that the "Toredo Tunneling" is not an important driver issue, unless otherwise a VPN is needed. As for Power DVD- still no upgrade yet released so in the meantime keep chewing a wasp same as me. Best wishes.

Greetings again crc2,

 Decided to post on this thread to bring it to the forefront again. Might start some more thought on this process to get some more insight. There are alot of good minds out there. Someone may have a solution to the bluetooth issue.

Have a great day

I have my m2010 set up on 1.5TB raid1 w/win 7 64bit.

the guy i bought the system from set up the entire thing, and it works like a dream with one problem that i feel really slow not knowing how to fix myself..... the clock refuses to keep the correct time.

I have absolutely zero bluetooth compatibilities issues, nor is there a problem with the raid1.

the clock, its haunting me!!!.....

just wanted to add that I too cannot get the dell premium remote control to work. It took me (literally) 3 years to even try to use it on Vista, so obviously it's not a mainstay of my daily life. the one i was shipped (and the mouse i was shipped, honestly) were defective. and thank god for my huge warranty because they were both replaced for free (and worked). the software for the remote installed on windows 7, despite all the dialogue boxes telling me it wouldn't work, and I got the little icon on the bottom of the taskbar to show up (in red, not green), and anytime it switched to green (turn on) it would crash. i wound up uninstalling it as it would mess with my startup... and I honestly don't need/use the remote, but that IS another thing that I did not find a fix for, though I'm not sure anyone is really hurting for a fix on a clunky remote that came bundled with a computer that has a detachable bluetooth keyboard with pointer pad.

i have also never used mediadirect (ever) so don't know (or even care) if it works or not. i don't own any blu-ray movies so i haven't tried playing them.... not a priority for me.

I am running an XPS M2010 that I bought with Windows Vista 32.

I have recently upgraded to Windows 7 64-bit using the guides on this website.

Certain things worked and didn't work.

No logitec drivers or applications downloaded from the dell website would work, not in ANY compatibility mode. I can't remeber explicitly, but whenever a device failed to install drivers correctly from the dell site (Sigmatel Driver, chipset driver, and logitec quickcam driver), I just googled "product name + 64-bit + driver" and (either using the installer i found through sigmatell (for example) or dell) I would simply unzip the driver package and point device manager to that folder to update the driver... rather than trying to install the drivers through a .exe. This worked instantaneously.

My bluetooth connectivity for keyboard had been JACKED on Vista. For some odd reason, the mouse would stay paired, but the keyboard's pairing would reset itself every time i restarted. It would load through the log-on screen (and even work during cmd prompts if windows didn't start up/shut down properly), but as windows loaded itself, the blue lights on the keyboard would start blinking like they were waiting for the pairing code until i removed the device and re-added it in the bluetooth devices menu.

However, they both retained functionality the entire time while installing windows 7. Odd. I did still do the trick from bluboy (or whatever) that was added to the x64 bit installation guide.

Now, I have my camera working, my bluetooth working (though not through dell's bluetooth, they are both paired as XPS Keyboard/XPS Mouse via "Bluetooth Devices" - and now remain paired at all times, my audio working, etc. - all except the "FN + x" functionality that is the "unknown device" that appears to have no hope on x64.

I note someone said they had an issue trying to connect multiple monitors on x64. I connect my device to my TV using the S-video > VGA (yellow) adaptor and it recognizes my "2nd monitor" just fine. Instead of pushing Fn+F8, i simply press (windows symbol)+P to "connect to projector" but i choose "Extend desktop". It's actually eaiser than the old way. The only function i truly miss is Fn+up or Fn+down for brightness.

I have noticed, however, that certian scripts and plugins, when missing, or when running high quality streaming video in full screen, can "break" my video card driver. From the moment I formatted, my computer ran at a snail's pace. Like, slower than i've ever seen a computer run in the past 10 years. It was not until I finished my clean install of Windows 7 (which took like 3 hours because of how slow it was running) and the ATI Mobility Radeon x1800 driver was installed that my computer ran at normal speed.

Sometimes, when I have this video problem, it appears that the driver is "broken" - i say this becuase the same thing happens - it gets super slow, doesn't work right, and takes forever to do everything. It doesn't fix itself until i do a system restore. I am looking into getting a more stable, updated driver for the ATI Mobility Radeon X1800. ATI just released a new "legacy" driver that is meant to encompass all old OEM drivers. There is the yada-yada disclaimer of "this is not meant for windows 7, but may be used on windows 7" so I'm hoping it will provide some more stability. I guess adobe flash is also being blamed for being a "buggy" release, causing mandy radeon mobility cards to crash on HD streaming video.... so It may not be the driver itself, but rather the version of flash that was available at the time of my upgrade.

I just wanted to offer that my installation did not take 25 minutes, more like 3 hours, and was terrifyingly slow, but remedied itself once windows update ran long enough to get my ATI driver installed. Also, if anyone cannot get the logitech/sigmatel/quickset/chipset drivers to work via their installers or the manufacturer's driver installers because they "are not windows 7 compatible," simply look for the most recent .x64 driver package, unzip, and point your device manager's driver update to the unzipped folder. it was extremely easy.

If anyone else has any problems similar to my video card driver crash, please let me know.

Also, just to throw this out there so it's in an XPS M2010 thread, although the motherboard cannot accept more than 4GB of physical memory, you can boost performance and memory function by utilizing Windows 7 ReadyBoost by using any Flash Drive or Memory Stick/SD Card (not sure if SDHC works on M2010). Also, give yourself a bigger paging file than windows 7 defaults to (at least 1.5x the amount of physical ram - windows will suggest this but not default to this). For more information on ReadyBoost, read the wikipedia. Today I bought a SanDisc Ultra Backup 16GB flash stick that I plan on dedicating entirely to ReadyBoost. I'll let you know how that goes.

Hi Joey Jackpot and greetings bellboy3.

Thanks for the input. I read through your experiences with much interest.  Quite a bit to walk through so here goes:

Logitech installation does play up sometimes but as you say if the unzipped program that DELL provides does not install succesfully then use the Device Manager facitity to search for a driver update and then steer it to your unzipped folder. This also works with the sound dirver if needs be. Incidentally I noted of recent that Win7 reports DELL SIGMATEL AUDIO CODEC failing and requiring an update, even though the sound output works fine. I looked at this and found DELL R171786 contains version 6.10.0.5614 whereas the previously available R147073 contained version 6.10.0.5343. I decided to let Win7 choose what to do by unzipping both downloads into one folder and steering DEVICE MANAGER to explore the folder. Win7 took 6.10.0.5614 without hesitation and since then no more flags. So far so good anyway but before I amend the Win7 64bit installation procedure I will wait a while longer.

Installing bluetooth is weird but it works. Typing in the pairing code blind is the fun bit.  But in time the Win7 drivers will prove to be more stable (as regularly reported) than anything previously installed from you know where.

Your snail pace installation of Win7 comes as a surprise. This is difficult to pin down retrospectively but you are clearly a knowledgeable person with proven capability to work your way through whatever was the cause. I must congratulate you on this success.

You are absolutely right about Ready Boost which I use on my laptop but not the M2010 because I don't think it has a compatible slot, but I have never really looked closely. I am not convinced there is much to gain in terms of raw performance, but sorting out page files is very useful and highly recommended. I have a system managed page file on both internal HDD's and a SATA external. Memory is rarely a problem, and I suppose a Windows rating of 5.4 is not bad for an old M2010 that can only use 3.25GB of the 4 installed (thanks Dell). Anybody achieved anything better?

As I don't have the media version of the M2010 I am sunk discussing remote and media issues. I would say that if you can pin down anything particular in the WIN7 64bit installation procedure that needs revision, then for the good of all forum memebers, I am more than happy to update it. I have had a lot of support from bellboy3 about doing a revision some time soon, but what we really want is some Device Manager screen shots to justify any amendements.

Finally a word of warning about searching for drivers outside of the DELL site. Sometimes these are wrapped up in magnetic appeal but from past research they are not any different to the available DELL downloads. Unless you can pin down the manufacturer of the compoment (all done and dusted previously) then proceed with caution before paying up for what may well be a dissapointment. At the end of the day Windows 7 is looking for updated drivers 365x24 and when the time comes we should see the one and only explanation mark against our ACPI shortcoming finally dissapear from Device Manager.  Best wishes, CRC2.

The snail's pace thing is just me then? Odd. I don't know what it is. Perhaps because my video card broke at one point and was replaced, the configuration wasn't as smooth. Whatever the case, it's working now.

Just to clarify your point, ReadyBoost is completely compatible with the M2010! You can combine up to eight SD/MemStick (anything that fits in the card reader) or USB flash sticks/flash-based hard drives (literally any flash storage device with a read/write rate of (approx) 2mb/sec) for a total of up to 256 GB of extra memory (though I can't imagine what the average user would gain from that). I have noticed DISTINCT speed up in sign on/shut down (which seems to be the biggest promise for ReadyBoost). From forums i've sifted through, ReadyBoost is essentially a way to page short term I/O requests to your flash based media in efforts to reduce the hard drive from spinning a thousand times for 200 tiny files.... and is essentially there to facilitate SuperFetch, which takes time (ie, a month or two) to fully develop as it's quite adaptive and user-specific to only preload files you use frequently as opposed to every file you use and then weeding out ones that are used infrequently as Vista did. However I need to find a USB keyboard so that I can change my boot order in BIOS... it keeps holding up when I restart because it's trying to boot from the USB, so I have to remove it and then plug it back it once the windows starting screen loads - simply, but annoying right now.

I have FINALLY got a Driver from ATi to work! Thanks to the Mobility Modder project (created by Driver Haeven with help from AMD/ATi) and their forums. This is the procedure for removing the Windows Update ATi Mobility Radeon X1800 Driver and installing a fresh driver WITH CATALYST CONTROL CENTER (ie, your 3D Graphics Support program straight from the GPU Manufacturer). ATi has finally started taking care of its older drivers with a "Legacy Driver Support System," ie, we don't really get new drivers, but we get updated versions of the programs that work with our drivers. The following steps are what I took to facilitate this update, as described on the Driver Heaven/Radeon Mobility forums in a thread promising "Ati Mobility Radeon x1xxxx on Windows 7 Proper" and quite frankly it worked.

Downloads Required:

(1) Driver Sweeper 2.1 - freeware that cleans up all remaining files and registry entries around a manually uninstalled driver to prevent driver bits hanging around after a supposed uninstall

(2) Mobility Modder tool 1.2.1.0 (- freeware created with help from ATi themselves because ATi can't legally release such a project because they are in agreement with the OEMs like Dell to not release Dell-nonspecific updates - so stupid

(3) ATi Legacy 10.2 Catalyst Software Suite - this is the most recent (Feb 2010) driver package direct from the GPU manufacturer and contains the support software your card was intended to have along with the most recent drivers for each card that has been delegated to "legacy" status, including mobility and all-in-wonder variations (our lappy here being a Mobility variation).

This is exactly how I did it. I think there is a more optimum way, but in case my way had something to do with it, I will describe it exactly. I did this all while my video card driver was "broken" (ie, installed but not functioning so my monitor was treated like a Generic PnP VGA monitor w/ no video card - ie, snail's pace - took four hours!!)

(1) Run Driver Sweeper and select "ATi - Display". Click "Analyze". Wait for it to load. Check every box. Click "Clean". Reboot.

(2) Go into device manager. Go to ATI Mobility Radeon x1800. Delete the driver/device. Then, search for new hardware. Under "Other Devices" you will see a Video Display Device. Windows will try to re-download and install its version of the driver from Windows Update. You can see this happening in the bottom right corner. Tell it to stop. After a short time, It will recognize it as a VGA Display Device and move it back to the Display Device category on your Device Manager. Run the Driver Sweeper software again to delete all remaining instances of ATi files. I did not reboot a second time here.

(2) Run the ATi Legacy 10.2 Catalyst Software Suite installer to unzip to c:\ati\support\(file name). Once the file unzips, the installer will load. Cancel the installer.

(3) Run the Mobility Modder tool. Click "Disable User Account Control" (it will only disable for that program). Navigate to the folder that your ATi Bundle unzipped to. Click "Modify" and wait for it to Modify the Drivers (this step is what makes it possible to install and run them even on a Windows 7 enabled Dell that does not have official driver support from Dell)

(4) Navigate to the folder where your ATi Files unzipped to. Click "Setup" to run the setup. You can choose custom or express, but either way, you should be installing everything that comes bundled (ATi Installer, updated Visual C++ (i think), ATi Catalyst Control Center and Video Device Drivers. It will analyze your system and determine your graphics card for you. When I started this, my monitor was "Generic VGA Compatible Display" and all traces of ATi were gone from my system. When I finished, my device driver was now "ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1800" (all caps - different from the windows update generated driver) - so it successfully identified my graphics card (thank you ATi!). It will take a while, your screen may go black or blink, and then after the Video Device Driver is installed, it will install Catalyst Control Center. After that is done, click finish, and reboot.

You should now have a functioning CCC on Windows 7 and a driver that was released (gasp - Feb 2010) by the GPU's Manufacturer that has been modified to function on Windows 7.

All the programs I've included in this are open source freeware by people who are just as frustrated as us that their laptops are considered "obsolete" from the minute they're manufactured and have tried - in this case, with the cooperation of one of the component's manufacturers - to help our systems stay relevant with the advent of windows 7. I will write again if I have any problems with my new driver in case people would rather wait to see how it fares for me before trying it themselves... but this is a modified, trial & error based version of a method i found worked for many ATI Mobility Radeon X1xxx video card enabled users on the Driver Heaven forums, so I believe it's good solid.