Windows 7 64 bit on Vostro 1500

I installed Windows 7 64 bit on my Vostro 1500 and had no issues. Well, one small one, there was one unknown device (Base system device) in the device manager until I downloaded a driver for the Ricoh R5C833 memory card reader and installed it. I also downloaded a driver from nVidia for my 8600M video card.

I ran easy transfer before and after install which successfully transferred four user profiles.

I previously had Vista Home Basic, so it's nice to have Aero and media center. Overall, I'm liking Windows 7.

 

Hi, I also have a Vostro 1500 running W7 x64, but i'm having some stability issues.

I was wondering, where did you find a windows 7 x64 version of the memory card driver? Was it installed by Windows Update?

Also, where did you get your updated nvidia drivers? I have an nvidia 8400m gs in mine, but i figure the drivers you used would work with my vostor. Currently i'm experimenting between nvidia official drivers, and modified .inf file drivers from laptopvideo2go.com

I get random blue screens of death, i can't figure out what's causing them other than a driver issue... i never had them with XP

thanks in advanced

 

If you can't find 64bit 7 drivers for a particular piece of hardware, you can always try 64bit Vista drivers. The two are similar enough that Vista drivers usually work fine in 7.

 

I downloaded the video driver from nVidia. The memory card driver I downloaded from Dell. If you google "Ricoh R5C833 64 bit driver", the first result is a link to the driver from Dell which says it's compatible with Vista 64 bit. That's the one I used. BTW, the Dell download manager is incompatible with 64 bit Windows 7 (at least it was a couple of weeks ago), so I had to download it to another PC and transfer the downloaded installer.

I have not had any issues with stability. I've been very happy with the upgrade so far. In my mind, bluescreens are often associated with hardware problems. Could it be the dreaded nVidia chip failure problem? Can you give more detail on the error the bluesceen displays?