HOWTO GUIDE: Running Vista x64 on m15x

so if you boot back in 64 is it working or not ?

 

French too

 

Hey guys, has anyone here been able to use the HDMI out with 64 bit installed? I can't get mine to work. All the other OSD functions are working though.

 

I have.

I have the 1920x1200 display, so moving from that to the 1920x1080 required for the display was not a far stretch.

the key: use nVidia graphics. I don't think I've been able to get it to work on the Intel graphics. set the nVidia CP to clone the display to the HDMI monitor and you should be golden, after you hit that apply button.

be sure to be on the corrent HDMI input on the display.

I havn't yet. In an effort to fix my GRUB bootloader (which was overwritten when I put Vista x86 on), the Partition tables were overwritten by accident. after struggling with my computer all day, I finally got a very specific Linux distrobution running, which was able to scan for, identify, and re-create partition tables for all of my partitions. unfortunately, this didn't fix the grub issue, which is still prevelant, nor did it fix my Vista bootloader (which will not currently boot vista).

I'm loading the Vista x64 installer disk now to "fix" the boot, then try x64 again.

if/when that works, I'll be attempting (yet again) to load GRUB back onto my harddrive as the default bootloader... with Linux partition recovery disk in hand.

 

my partition table is more messed up than I thought. I used testdisk under linux to recover most of the partitions, but the one that really matters, the 200+ GB Vista x64 partition isn't coming back proper... even chkdsk under the Vista x64 installer disk refuses to do anything about it.

I seriously need an NTFS recovery program... quickly. and something that can run under linux... my ubuntu install still works, but I have to boot from a usb device using GRUB

 

You could use Partition Magic for DOS to boot into DOS from USB and start Partition Magic 8 which can find and fix your partition problems.

Download the bootable files here.
http://rapidshare.com/files/158565926/Bootable_PMagic_for_DOS.rar

Here is how you will create a boot USB , for other if they want to use it too

1) Extract the content and run HPUSBFW.exe
2) Carefully select your drive under Devices available
3) File system will be FAT32
4) Give it any label that you want
5) Select quick format and Create a DOS startup disk
6) Browse for \BOOT folder on the extracted files
7) Hit Start

Once done.

8) Go to \BOOT folder and select all files (make sure you have set all hidden & system files to visible).
9) Copy them to usb in the root folder
10) Do not replace any existing files in USB

Boot from it and it will take you to Partition Magic for dos. It has other tools as well. Norton Disk Doctor and DISKEDIT along with Rawrite.exe

Hope this will help you.

 

same here
and from Montréal too!

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for getting the Intel graphics to work?
When I switch to the integrated graphics, reboot, and try to install the latest Intel Vista x64 driver my m15x bluescreens with an nvidia error. From there I end up in a bluescreen infinite loop until I go back to the Last Known Good.
I don't need the nVidia graphics very often, so I would prefer to use the Intel card.

Thanks for your suggestions in advance.

 

looks like you can get the new m17x w/ vista 64. that means there must be a 64-bit version of the command center kicking around at alienware. hope it will be compatible on our m15x machines running vista 64....

 

You do not have to install nVidia graphics driver for Integrated card. You should install Integrated Graphics Driver from Intel for that. Download it here

 

They latest version which they pulled back had partial support for 64bit. There is no 64bit version of command center, but they have followed my path and re-compiled the command center to run in 32bit emulation mode as well (copy cats) . The same way I patched the existing command center. Yeah there are 1-2 native C++ binaries that they might have to recompile as well to fully support it.

So this does not mean that the binaries are compiled in 64bit but who cares as long as it works on 64bit. Anyways this application will not get much of benefit if compiled natively for 64bit.

 

thanks for all the work you have done. do think down the road there might be a simple exe to accomplish the install?

 

I do not think you will need my guide in future releases... may be next couple of months and they should have 64bit support. I will always be here to provide as much support as I could but will focus more on AuroraLightsFX (replacement for Command Center)

 

I used test disk under Insert Linux (the newest and (i believe) final version) to restore the partition tables... which did an excellent job by the way. even re-wrote my MBR.

unfortunately, that doesn't fix my MFT problem (NTFS master file table) seems that the primary MFT was part of the things I had overwritten while botching my partition tables. therefore, the partition is barely recognisable as NTFS anymore, nevermind actually being able to access anything on-disk.

Eventually I got Vista x86 booting again and I was capable of installing and running GetDataBack for NTFS. I first tried to run this application for speed, and so I left a lot of options disabled. the result was that I ended up with junk data or unreadable data. after a few unsuccessful attempts, I enabled every recovery option I could under Get Data Back and I'm just waiting for it to finish building a virtual MFT in order to test if the data is corrupt or not.

hopefully not. If i'm able to restore the MFT, I might try to just "fix" the x64 install and use it long enough to finish some school things, before I do a complete backup and reformat. (wiping out both the x64 and x86 versions of Vista and installing a single x64 install).

I'm not sure what will happen, but I'll know within a few hours as to what the situation of my harddrive is.

 

Wow... looks like you are having fun time there
I used to play around a lot with those MFT's, Boot Sect. and MBRs... good old days.. gave me so much to build my foundation strong enough. Anyways.. AFAIK NTFS keeps multiple copies of MFTs just in case something happened to primary copy... let me see if I can find out anything.

 

looks like my backup MFT is messed up somehow. I figure it has something to do with the resizing done by Gparted when I shrunk the main partition to install the 32-bit vista... I think it fragmented a bundle of files that previously weren't. then only updated the MAIN MFT, which is why I think this whole thing is happening.

though, I thought that i'd let Vista x32 run a checkdisk on the vista x64 partition before I messed up the main MFT (which should've fixed the backup), but I could be mistaken.

 

For everyone's information (if you've been following my dilemma), I tried three file recovery utilities: GetDataBack v.3.50 for NTFS, Recover My Files v.2.50, and PC Inspector File Recovery; all three are NTFS capable, two of the three will recover partition tables and MFTs, and none of them were able to restore the data from my drive.

This is the way things happened:
Main HDD (320GB total)
200+ GB x64 Vista install
2GB Swap partition
40-ish GB for Ubuntu Linux

entire thing was booting via Grub (setup by Ubuntu, which was the last OS in). Partition tables originally created by Gparted, running from an Ubuntu Live CD. the whole thing was running well until the CC update which fubar'd my Lighting system a few weeks back (autoinstalling... I should've listened to Vikas and avoided it, but I was overconfident and thought I could help).

Then: everything still worked with the exception of lights. I moved to test my lights by installing an x86 Vista (this time the Home Premium that came with my system)... After a few tries, I got it installed, I followed this order of operations:
Defrag Vista's partition (I used several defraggers; not just vista's)
Resize x64 Vista partition, making ~15GB of space between it and the SWAP partition
Install Vista x86 to the newly created partition.

The x86 install was, is and will continue to be a barebones install (JUST vista's built-in drivers, and anything included with the default install + SP1; SP1 was necessary to access SMB Fileshares from my W2K3 Server box - some ~700GB of data + free space to save recovered files (if needed)).

The bootloader installed with Vista x86 was unable to boot my x64 partition (no idea why), and, while at school, equipped only with: BackTrack 3 (via USB key), Ubuntu Linux 8.04 Live CD (and install CD), one blank DVD and whatever resources were on my HDD, I decided to put Grub back on as the bootloader.

Following a clearly wrong guide, I entered a few dd commands that copied stage1, and stage2 of the grub bootloader to /dev/sda (the primary HDD drive). this was done with stage1 and stage2 from my Ubuntu partition, which was mounted by the Live CD. Unfortunately, I later discovered that this fragged not only my Partition tables, but my MFT as well. with the partition recently defragged and resized, I don't believe the backup MFT's were updated with all the data changes (since a few of them were made from linux... mainly the resize done by Gparted). In hindsight, I think I should've dd'd the stage1 and stage2 to /dev/sda1 rather than /dev/sda, however, there are much better ways to re-install grub's bootloader that I've been doing research on (now, after the fact) that either have never worked for me, or I was not aware of.

Needless to say, it's been challenging.

I aquired a copy of Insert Linux from the web and burned it to disk, using it to boot the system in order to utilize "test disk" to recover the partition tables. It was able to recover all four partitions without much problem (though it took some time), shortly after that, I found that my main, 200+ GB partition was totally hosed. however, all other partitions were fine (both the Vista x86, SWAP and Ubuntu partitions were more-or-less untouched), and after restoring the Partition tables, each worked fine. after a short visit to the startup recovery tool of the Vista x86 DVD, I was able to boot into the 15GB Vista x86 partition. Since then, I've used all three file utilities to try and recover as much data as possible; at the same time I scrambled to try and find all my most recent backups.

It appears, that since I had the x64 install for such a short time, and my tendancy to backup EVERYTHING, it turned out that I didn't need to recover any files, which I'll get to in a second. I've found at least 90% of the lost data in various backups. even a backup of my outlook data file, backed up on the 19th of October, when I moved from Office 2003 to Office 2007 (one of my last real concerns).

The File recovery tools were all unsuccessful in finding any valid files, with the exception of Recover My Files v.2.50. The downside is that Recover My Files looks for raw file data, and it cannot destinguish an encrypted file as it's filetype. so the really important, encrypted archives, such as my outlook PST database file, or several archives of programs I've been working on, were all overlooked. the other major downside, is that since it's looking at raw file data, It's missing filenames, and when it finds some 3000 JPEG image files, it's a bit hard to figure out which ones are just images from the web, installed programs, and which ones I snapped on my camera and imported.

Luckily, most of the recent imports are also still on my Camera, and I therefore don't have to look at the JPEGs it recovered much.

It's worthy to note that GetDataBack did a fair job, and I believe that if the backup MFT was worth it's weight in bits, it would've been able to recover all my data... It has generated a very reliable file list and directory tree that highly resembles what was on the drive, however, almost all data files are inaccessable. for anyone trying to recover their MFT, I'd recommend that program. it seems to do the best job (and it didn't take the longest amount of time)

so now, I'm just going to accept the losses of any REALLY NEW data being sacrificed so I can get back to norm on my laptop.

Thanks for all the help Vikas! I'll be installing the new CC under Vista x64 very shortly

 

I uninstalled the nVidia drivers, switched to the integrated graphics, and installed the Intel x64 drivers and everything worked perfect.

First thing I noticed was that Vista is using less memory with the Intel drivers than with the nVidia 178.24 drivers, and second is that my laptop stays significantly cooler to the touch. Not a little cooler, but a lot cooler! I wonder if there is an issue with my nVidia card?

Thanks for the help.

 

So are you using Integrated graphics now and comparing it with temperature of nVidia graphics ? That is expected, integrated graphics does not have much of processing power and keep it cool also save your battery life. nVidia is expected to blow your machine hot n hotter... 80c should be OK temp. for nvidia.

 

WOW is the word for this post

 

This guide is awesome, I just have ones question. After reading the posts, I read some people were asking if you could control the lights of the keyboard and all of that nice stuff, in vista 64, apparently you answered that you cant. you pick one color and thats the color it will stick with.

is that still the case? or if I use the guide you posted, will I be able to basicaly do everything as if it was 32bit? even control the lights?

thanks for a ridiculously incredible and detailed guide.

 

Does "TurnOffLights" works on newest Command Center version?If yes can tell me what I should do?
EDIT: in new version is new options "Go Dark" and problem gone.
Does anybody knows where I can Download new version of Command Center?In the future when I'll be reinstall my system I could only install so I dont have to download again.

 

Why do you want this on New Command Center. This feature is available in New Command Center. Systray Icon->Right Click->Go Dark

 

You can do everything that you can in 32bit.

 

I'm trying to install the vido drivers, I get this error after running the setup:

So what am I doing wrong?

 

which driver are you trying to install?

 

the one that is in the driver package listed at the beginning of this thread.

 

Hmm. That error usually comes up when you don't have the modded inf file. Can you figure out what version that driver was?

 

I am installing SP1 right now, could that be my problem?

 

heres part of the inf file:

 

Can you try the latest driver from lv2go.com, I have kept the old driver in the thread coz I know its stable and proved to be working better than others.

 

Version is:

Supported display modes for NV_DISP.INF Version 177.98, 08/24/2008

 

Perhaps. Before you try findvika's suggestion, can you try installing those drivers in safe mode?

 

lv2go.com doesnt work.

 

ill try safe mode after sp1 update

 

errrrr.... i meant www.laptopvideo2go.com

 

I find it a lot easier to search for drivers through their forums.
http://laptopvideo2go.com/forum/

If you have trouble finding a driver, just throw me a driver version and I can directly link you to it. =P

 

I have no idea what driver version I need

 

Hmm, well you can practically use any driver. There are just some that work better than others.

Aside from 177.98, I hear 177.92 works fairly well-- You can try that and see if it works well for you.

Edit: If not, you can ask Mystik which driver version he's using. I'm sure he's running 64-bit Vista as well.

 

it wont install driver in safe mode, same error.

it wont find my hardware.

 

Hmm! You're not running on integrated graphics, are you?

If you're not, I suppose you can try 177.92. Download the driver and the modded INF. After extracting the drivers, move the modded INF file to the folder you extracted the driver files in (and replace the current INF file) and then install the drivers.

Try this in normal mode. If even this doesn't work, you'll probably have to try the "Have Disk" method in which I'll explain later.

 

haha, it is funny you say that, when I switched hdds I left it in integrated, now I'm trying to get it back to normal graphic, and I'm sure it will work than, but for some reason FN F7 isnt working
now, I put the original hdd in the smartbay and booted up there, so nowthat is where i am at.

 

Ah, findvikas has provided a part of the guide to get FN+F7 working on Vista x64. Make sure you have followed the other previous parts of the guide before proceeding to this.

Fixing the OSD Utility through the steps above should allow you to switch back and forth between BinaryGFX (integrated) and your 9800M GT (dedicated) with FN+F7.

 

problem solved, blasted integrated graphic, haha. thanx for that help guys.

 

Glad to be of service!

 

wow, I just want to add, do this guide in the excat order, and everything will work like a charm, don't do it in the excat order, and be prepared for lots of time undoing and fixing your mistakes.

do it right the first time, thanx for guide vikas

 

Ctrl+C , Ctrl+V... "Glad to be of service!"

 

findvikas,
i sent you a pm. Did you get it? i have to buy the Vista 64 bit cd. Is there a Vista 64 bit Ultimate version?

 

yes, Vista Ultimate is available in a 64bit flavor as well.

 

Thanks whizzo. i am sure i will be needing help when i do the 64bit install. i need a "64bit install for dummies manual".