My (very short) encounter with Windows 7 Beta x64.

So I thought I'd give it a world. Xp and Vista run just great on my 2.53 Unibody Macbook Pro.

Not 7 though. Installation went just great, so did the Boot Camp drivers. No errors, no nothing, it was perfect.

Until I tried to hook up my Razer Pro|Click Mobile bluetooth mouse. W7 tried to connect to Windows Update, because it couldn't see the mouse at all. By default, 7 configures the computer to NOT BE discoverable. I unchecked the little tick box and again, tried to hook up the mouse.

It didn't work. Then I figured I'd take my dad's Microsoft USB Mouse. Your generic Microsoft USB mouse, right? Wrong. Windows 7 wants to connect to Windows Update to search for drivers. For an USB mouse? Made by Microsoft? So I let it, it searches Windows Update for 10-15 minutes, to find nothing.

I tried my external HDD through USB and it worked just fine. So it wasn't an Apple drivers thing with the USB.

So no Microsoft generic mouse. Okay, I found a really old LG mouse, still USB, plugged it in, next second, ZOMG I HAZ A MAUS. The crappy old LG mouse worked like a charm.

Okay, next issue: external display. I hook up my 22" LG W2234S. W7 mirrors the two screens. My external resolution is 1680x1050 though. I mess around in W7's display settings and when I hit "apply" after changing the setting from "mirror" to "dual-display", my LG goes into sleep mode. WTH? And now there's no more LG display in my list. W7 can not see my external display anymore.

Not even nVidia Control Panel couldn't save me this time around, like it did in XP, when I wanted my LG external to be the primary one, because the "this is my primary display" box was grayed out.

Well, I was pretty angry at this point, and after seeing that I lost my external display, I couldn't use my mouse, I decided to install Google Chrome. Which of course is unsupported. Obviously. A ton of "this program has compatibility issues" messages, no pages would load, I was forced to use Internet Explorer.

And that's when I said no more. And now I'm back into OS X typing this up.

Well, first off, I know Apple does not support W7 with Boot Camp drivers and all. But seriously, W7 can't see a Microsoft USB generic mouse? Jesus.

So that's my short and infuriating encounter with Windows 7.

God bless.

 

Lol I think its best to wait 2 years at least after release of operating system so that microsoft can iron out most of the kinks from their incompetant OS's. At least it shows microsoft aren't changing for the newest incarnation of windows. I won't touch it till gone 2011 hehe

 

Well the general consensus is that on PC the beta is fantastic and even though its beta it runs much better than vista and even better than XP. Just cause you use Bootcamp doesn't mean its meant to be there, especially a beta build.

 

So if I create a beta of my own operating system I'm not going to include basic USB drivers for my own brand of USB mice?

 

thats why its called a beta =\

 

You are evaluating it a little too strictly. And of course there is going to be little to no support for it... its in beta after all...

 

Alright, so then what is a beta tester to do? If he can't even hook up a generic mouse and a VGA external display. Test for what?

Oh and the mouse_hover image for the start menu button was corrupted, when you have the taskbar placed at the top of the screen instead of on the bottom.

That's what beta testers do? Report missing graphic files and such?

 

I have the 64bit on my mbp also.

Everything went fine. The sound doesnt make any noise, even though its installed. Can someone look in device manager and see what they see listed there under "sound"?

At the end of the day today, after playing with it for a few hours, i just went back to Vista 64. No troubles, and I just cant use my Mac without sound.

 

hmm, perhaps its cuz, bootcamp = not so good for windows in beta? though W7 uses the same kernel as vista so all the drivers should work... maybe VMware works better. that's what i did on my pc because i did not want to got thought the hassle of installing it and partitioning the HDD n stuff
runs likea a charm with 1gb of ram.

 

Give it a few weeks (or months), let Apple having the time to review the Beta OS and submitting needed drivers; just like with any other manufacturers. We have seen how long it takes Vista to "collect" needed drivers.

cheers ...

 

Actually it's not necesarily that it's in beta, for all mouses, in vista atleast, it attempts to connect to windows update for the driver. I suspect this is because it's trying to reduce how many files are initially installed with vista.
Most Microsoft Mouses use the same program, intellipoint. It's about 27 mb and contains the drivers for virtually every microsoft mouse (or everyone I tried).

Most of the newer mouses come with an intellipoint install disc. It can also be manually installed from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/download/download.aspx?category=MK

Little bit of research on that end wouldn't have hurt you.

As far as your external monitor goes, I'm not sure but I can theorize that it's due to the fact that I don't know if there's any nVidia drivers compatible with Windows 7 yet. And the fact that you're going through boot camp could have in an impact.

Remember it's just a beta - leaving out little driver files will help speed up your download time initially. Not everyone uses Microsoft Mouses, thus it saves time to just direct you to the updater or to manual install.

As for your External HDD, it's just a storage device and I don't believe the way they're received on the OS end changes much so yeah....

As for your internet browser woes, honestly it's in Beta, nobody's going to outright support it yet. The only company who actually have had time to look over the code and know it are the company which coded it. Thus, it makes sense that microsoft's Internet Explorer would be the only browser to work.

 

So far I'm having a pretty great experience with W7 64, not sure why you had such trouble. It runs better than Vista ever did.

 

LG makes mice?

 

A little rough on the beta aren't you. The beta's been out for less than a week and you're expecting full functionality.

Try again in a few months I'm sure it won't be nearly as bad.

 

Some people just don't understand what "Beta" really means.

 

And some people just like to post even though they've got nothing to say actually.

 

Yes, but we don't mind when you do it.

 

Good, I'll keep doing it then...

 

Hey guys, lets just forget about the difference of opinion, and get back to helping the NBR cause!

 

It seems as if people here are able to install W7 on their MBP's without much issue ({cough} less one certain person here {/cough}).

The problem for me is that Boot Camp complains that the operating system isn't supported when I attempt to run it on W7 (boot camped). I have the Santa Rosa line of MBP's, summer 2007. Any ideas? Should I scrap the install and try again? I have Leopard 10.5.6 if that makes any difference (which I think it does).

 

he he...looks like beta hurt you alot, so no need to talk about final version...

I believe this thing happened due to nVIDIA chipset driver issue. Same thing happened to me 2 years ago with my nForce M/B. Problem solved after I installed newest Vista compatible nForce chipset driver.

 

100% correct

 

Wow. I never had any mouse issues. I have 3 different mice on 3 different machines and worked awesome. I run 2 different LCDs and a 52" TV, no issue. Could be a MAC issue with 7. For the sound just got to www.realtek.com.tw and get the latest HD audio codec driver and should solve your issue. For the Intel chipset driver, go to Intel and DL the latest chipset INF and install it using Vista compatibility mode. That is if you have the Santa Rosa MBP. Nvidia now have mobile drivers for the vid card and works great in 7, just have to go to Nvidia and DL them...

 

Any idea which Intel chipset is in the Santa Rosa MBP's? I'm not sure which set is in there.

 

I believe it is the 965. Here is the direct DL to the INF and it works with both 32 and 64 bit versions, http://downloadcenter.intel.com/download.aspx?url=/16023/a08/infinst_autol.exe&DwnldId=16023&ProductID=2991&lang=eng