Windows 7 Beta and Dell XPS Laptop Gen 1

Since Windows NT 3.1 I have enjoyed installing beta versions of Microsoft’s operating systems, call me crazy. The latest beta I have installed is Windows 7 32-bit. I installed in on my old Dell XPS Gamer laptop that is over 4+ years old. It has a Pentium 4 (3.4) 1 Gig of RAM, ATI 9800 Pro (256 MB) video card and a 60 Gig hard drive.  The installation was super fast, I mean super fast!!The issues with installing Windows 7 on the Dell laptop was 2 fold:

  1. Windows 7 Beta 1 did not recognize the ATI video card and installed the standard VGA driver.
  2.  Windows 7 Beta did not recognize the sound card (Sigmatel Stac 9750).

So off to the ATI web site as I remembered seeing Windows 7 beta drivers there. No luck, only drivers for the newer cards. Well I decided to see if Windows 7 Beta did include them and just did not pick up the video card on install, yes sir I was right. So off to the Device Manager and told Windows 7 to use the ATI 9800 Pro driver and presto, I had 1920×1200 resolution back in full aero mode (which is even nicer in Windows 7 BTW) .

As for the sound card I went to Dell’s support site and downloaded the Sigmatel driver for Vista 32-bit and it installed and worked like a charm. Downloaded Divx and watched a movie on the laptop, very smooth with full audio.

Initial reactions after Day One:

  1. Most stable Microsoft OS beta I have ever used.
  2. I like the new Library feature in Windows Explorer.
  3. It would not create a System Recovery Boot Disc after I backed up to network share. Need to investigate. I think it is a DVD-R driver issue, not a backup issue.
  4. AVG installed smoothly.
  5. The new task bar has a nice visual over haul. (more on that later)
  6. The UAC aggravation is gone.
  7. Wordpad is looking better but stll no spell checker..grrr…
  8. IE 8, not too bad, going to try FireFox 3 on it in the morning

One cool service is called “Adapter Brightness”. If your laptop has a light sensor the OS will dim or brighten your screen as needed. I want to see that!

So Day One is over with Windows 7 beta and it is running on this old machine as fast as the Windows XP it just replaced. I would say this old laptop boots just as fast as Vista on my Quad Core. I am looking forward to this year as this goes from Beta to RTM. As I get more applications installed (VS 2008 and SQL 2008 next) I will report back from time to time the good, the bad and the ugly.

Note: Before you blast me and call me a Windows lover (which I probably am), I have a Linux firewall and a Macbook I use everyday as well.

 

 

January 9, 2009 · Filed under Computers, Windows 7

10 Comments »

  1. Sean McGrath Said,

    January 10, 2009 @ 5:23 am

    So you mean it’s not like this? http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/windows_7.png

  2. Ryan Groom Said,

    January 10, 2009 @ 5:33 am

    LOL - Funny Sean (I always like comics). Actually I am going to install it as a dual boot system on the Quad core next week and did it another kick. But Windows 7 has breathed new life into this old laptop. I have Vista 32-bit on Kristy’s machine, I think I will replace it with Windows 7 soon.

  3. Danny Knox Said,

    March 14, 2009 @ 2:39 pm

    Nice write up Ryan. I have a Dell 9100 that I put all of my previous XPS parts into after a catastrophic Tea in the fans accident - the mobo was fried but the CPU, Ram, sub-woof and video made it through - it was sad. Slow motion - oooo-nooo . . . My question is more on Vista on your XPS - what wifi driver did you use? Never did get that to work after running XP on it just fine. I’d go to Windows 7 but I have some midi and recording software that is only supported on XP and Vista.

    Thanks,
    Danny

  4. Jerrod Hawkins Said,

    September 5, 2009 @ 7:55 pm

    Hi Ryan,
    Hoping you can help me with a question. I too am running an XPS Gen1 laptop. I just purchased a new 23″ monitor and connected to the XPS via included VGA cable. My XPS has a DVI connector and the new monitor a HDMI connector. I can buy a HDMI cable and DVI to HDMI adapter. However, do you know if these old laptops support HDMI? Would it be worth the money spent?

    Any information greatly appreciated.

  5. Ryan Said,

    September 6, 2009 @ 5:30 am

    I have a DVI to HDMI cable for my XPS, works great. I use to it to hook my laptop to the TV>

  6. mike Said,

    November 12, 2009 @ 4:11 pm

    Ryan,

    I just bought a gen1 xps on ebay today.. that is good to know about the win7 install. i was trying to find the model on the dell site for drivers etc. so do use the 9100 for it? thanks.

  7. Ryan Said,

    November 13, 2009 @ 2:51 am

    Go to the Dell support site and enter the service tag number on the bottom of the laptop. It will bring you to the XPS Gen 1 drivers screen. You can’t find it in the “menu” but the service tag will get you there. The only driver you need is the Sigmatel. It says it is for Windows XP only but when you install it the package has XP and Vista drivers which work well. Make sure you get drivers from ATI as well.

    I was surprised how well this system runs Windows 7, my son uses it now it is just rocks.

  8. mike Said,

    November 13, 2009 @ 8:58 am

    thanks! Yeah, I still have to wait for unit coming via UPS.
    Were the ATI drivers listed too, or did you have to go to the ATI site? I have been pleased with win7 64 bit version so far on my desktop.

  9. Ryan Said,

    November 13, 2009 @ 9:48 am

    Just download the ATI 9800 driver from ATI, they work great.

  10. mike Said,

    November 13, 2009 @ 10:13 am

    ok…thanks!

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