M1530 & Windows 7 x64 Thread!

I am starting this thread for the discussion of Windows 7 x64 installation on the M1530. Please limit the thred to 64 Bit only.

I just took delivery of my 1530 this morning and now have it exclusively running Win7x64. So far, so good on basic functionality, but I hope to delve into performance and gaming issues tomorrow. I will be running benchmarks in order to compare 7 and Vista.

So far I have only installed Symantec AV 2009 Gaming Edition and Steam. Everything else is either stock to Win7x64 or came down via Windows Update.

More to come.. Please share you 64 bit tips and issues here..

CheezWiz
TN. USA

 

Cool thread!!

first issue :
My problem is with the Matrix Storage Controler (AHCI), I can not get this work on 7X64. I get a 2.9 windows score, when in vista 64 I had a 5.9 before.

What drivers did you use?? the stock ones that came with the Microsoft Iso?
How did you installed 7X64? like a clean install or like an upgrade?

 

I just installed in windows vista. (I didn't feel like wasting a disc)

 

I am seeing issues with HDD transfer rate. I am still investigating it and trying for solutions.

 

I'd like to make another suggestion. I'm not a mod, so it's simply a suggestion. Let's try to confine this to actual issues if we can. The problem with most other Windows 7 threads is that they degenerate into "I'm installing it now!" posts that push real issues off the page. It'd be nice to have a good thread for actual user to user support. Just a suggestion. As I said, I'm not a mod and this isn't my thread.

Interesting that many seem to have this issue. I've installed both x86 and x64 (more than once) and never installed any disk-related drivers other than whatever installs with the basic Windows 7 installation. My disk score is always about 5.3.

For the record, I've always booted from the DVD and done a clean installation, on a brand new partition that I create during the install. Is this how others are installing? Does the installation procedure maybe make a difference? I dual boot with Vista x64.

Now, my two issues (copied from another thread) are:

1. Poor wireless range with the Intel 4965 AGN card. It's fine when close to the router, but it drops off dramatically only a couple of rooms away. My M1530 is now set to dual boot with Vista, and if I boot to Vista the range is great (as has always been the case) but then booting into Windows 7 produces really poor performance from the same spot. I've tried the drivers included with Windows 7, the Dell-supplied drivers for Vista, and the latest 12.2.0.0 Vista drivers from Intel. Anyone else have this problem?

2. About every other reboot, I lose mouse/keyboard functionality after the desktop loads. I still have a mouse and keyboard at the login screen, but it goes a way after the desktop itself loads. I have to power down and reboot, and it's usually fine the next time. This is about a 50/50 occurrence. Again, this is confined to Windows 7, and booting into the Vista install never produces this.

For the record, I have had both of these problems in x86 and x64.

 

hey cheez, wow! you didnt have problem installing steam? ive been trying for 2 days now and it says "it cant access steam.exe, but its there" and when i try to do something i don't have permission to, even with administrator rights, any tips on what it could be ?

 

Hey, one other variable here might be the version of the BIOS that people have installed. For the record, I have the latest A12 BIOS, and have had no disk-related issues in Windows 7.

 

hmm.. i'm getting a 2.0 score for 'disk transfer rate'! dont knw why.. i did install the ahci drivers during the installation of the OS. anyone knw if this could be a bug?
oh..i'm using A09 BIOS. could this be the problem? i used to get a 4.7 is vista.

 

Dunno. If you're game to try again, maybe update the BIOS to A12 and don't install any special drivers during the install. That's how mine is set up and I'm getting a 5.3 disk score.

Clearly some people are having this issue and some aren't. Isolating all of the variables can help people figure this out.

 

Im on Bios A12 and had the HDD (AHCI) issue. The BIOS revision shouldn't make any difference at all, the problem lies elsewhere. But thanks for the suggestion, hopefully we will narrow it down soon.

 

Hey FH, I agree, this thread should be limited to reporting and solving problems only. That is why I started this thread outside of all the others...


O.K. I guess we should try to make sure we outline our current system spec's either in the post or in our signatures.

I too am having the poor disk performance issues. I installed by booting off the W7x64 DVD and did not do an upgrade. I had Vista x32 anyways so I could not have done an upgrade. It did do the deal where it copies all the old files into a "Windows.old" folder.

Also, I tried to play a game last night before bed and ended up with a BSOD.

As for Steam, I just went to the web site and downloaded the installer and ran it. Make sure you are browsing with IE x64, perhaps detecting the browser points you to a different instaleer? I do not know but I am using IEx64 exclusively. I will update my sig with my system spec's and try to solve the disk issue firt thing today..

 

That sounds like an Upgrade install to me. A fresh install wouldn't have made a copy of your old OS like that. At least I've never had it do so.

 

Just to be safe, I am going to do it again and kill the original partition and see what happens.. Will be back here in about an hour. L8r..

 

Where do you guys took your drivers for W7x64? Could I use the same one as Vista x64? Where is the list ?

I have also the poor score on my harddrive =(

My BIOS is like A06 i think ? Something old loll. How do I update the BIOS ?

I made an partition from my harddrive by shrinking it to 85GB and name it Seven on path S: and I didn't put any driver at the instalation.

 

As far as drivers, I think the only driver I had to add was the fingerprint reader. Everything else was either installed during the OS installation, or added from Windows Update. I know the Nvidia driver and the card reader were added from Windows Update. If there's something that you're missing, just use the Vista x64 drivers.

As far as updating your BIOS, you can get the latest BIOS from the Dell download area. Enter your service tag or just your notebook model number and you'll find all of the downloads for your notebook.

That said, don't go updating the BIOS just for this issue. It was merely a suggestion of mine that the BIOS version could be a variable here. I have no evidence that such is the case, and indeed it's really unlikely. BIOS updates carry with them certain risks, so don't just do it for this.

Of course, A06 is pretty old. You probably should update anyway. At your own risk, of course.

 

OK,

I did a fresh install and deleted the existing partition first. It definitely ended up being different. I am no longer able to add my Bluetooth mouse. However, my disk subsystem still scores a 2.9... So now I will start adding Vistax64 drivers and see what happens.. I forgot to add that I have one of the hard drives with the shock sensor, I wonder if that could be an issue?

On a side note, I got an XPS with the bulge in the keyboard. Has anyone made a tutorial on that? I know the ten questions thread says to look at the service manual, but running through someone else's actual experience with it is preferable to me..

 

I made a new partition and installed W7. Im dual booting with Vista.

Everything has worked great for me. Didn't have to install any drivers. The only thing that I have a problem with is, The media buttons for the volume, When pushed don't display the volume level.

 

Well, I just found a write-up on the Seagate site about G-Force protected drives. There is no built-in sensor, so Dell's config pages are more than misleading. G-Force drives are simply "ruggedized" drives that should be able to survive bumps more than their regular drives. The drives do not halt like drives by other vendors. So that should not be the issue. However, there is an update for this drive on Dell's site so I will try that first. Not sure why some of you are seeing such great performance OOTB (Out-Of-The-Box) unless it is hard drive brand specific. You can see hard drive specific info by typing "System Information" in the start menu.. Components->Storage->Disks..

 

What hard drive do you have? and what bios are you using?
and why you have 6.0 on the processor rating and I whit a T9300 2.5 got a5.4
and why with in you gaming graphics get a 5.0 and I got 5.5??.. well thats is not the issue..

I just installed windows vista 64X whit al the drivers and stuff, ran the score thing and got 5.9 in disk transfer.


What I'm gonna do now??....guess what!!, I'm gonna UPGRADE to windows seven and see how it go, if this don't work I'll probably give up.

 

Its a Fujitsu 250GB 5400rpm. Im running A12 Bios. I have no idea why the ratings are different.

 

Here is mine. My HD already had the firmware update...

I tried to update the Intel driver using the latest INF updater from the Intel site. It did not like the OS and I had to use compatability mode to get the installer to kick-off. However, I do not believe the system used any of the drivers. This is what my system is using as the lates SATA drivers in device manager. Could some of you with higher performance scores report yours?

 

I sure hope that solves our issue. Will be anxious for you to report back...
This has to be a driver difference or hard disk issue...

 

OK, I can not believe this!.. after vista 64X with a score off 5.9 I did the upgrade to seven and now i get this score:



Why is happening this???

I also did the firmware update for HDD Seagate... (I start thinking maybe that is the problem)

Now I will try some Intel drivers (drivers that I've installed before on vista) and see what happens, but I already now what will be my results.

I hope somebody can fix this ussue.. I'm getting tired of install Seven in this Laptop.

 

I have a feeling it is the seagate drive, but I need another SATA notebook drive to try.

 

Don't know, this girl Forte, she have a 320 GB Seagate 7200 RPM and got 5.9 score...

But yeah... she went with 32 bit....

 

Interesting. Here is mine. But it shows Ultra ATA storage controller with a driver date of 2006, where yours shows SATA AHCI controller with a 2008 driver. I went into the BIOS and mine is set to AHCI. I didn't load anything at install. The drive is a Samsung HM250JI, 250 GB SATA.

 

24 F ??!!!!!! It's cold over there!!!

well maybe is because the HDD brand... this is the stuff we can expect from windows beta...

Should we try the 32 bit??... ......... nahhhh...

 

That ain't cold. Sheesh, California dudes.

 

Ok, Installs I've tried:


1- Clean install (brand new partition) Windows Seven
2- Clean install with ACHI driver load Windows Seven
3- Upgrade from Windows Vista 64X scored 5.9 in HHD

Driver I tried in windows Seven already installed:

1- From Dell site: http://support.dell.com/support/dow...1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=41&fileid=261693
2- From Intel site: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...OSs=150&OSFullName=Windows Vista* 64&lang=eng

I tried those drive in all three installs I did... and everything ended up in a 2.9 score.

Maybe if I try older drivers (that I don't have) we can get ACHI working.
or maybe this is a segate (with new firmware) issue and is nothing we can do about it

My bios is A12
HDD is Seagate 3200RPM (with last firmware)

 

I'll bet it's the Seagate drive and the driver combo. A dude in the other thread has the Samsung 5400 like me, with the same 2006 Ultra ATA driver like me, but with AHCI selected in the BIOS like me. He's getting over 5...like me.

Looks to me like the Seagate drive gets an AHCI driver installed, and for some reason the Samsung gets an Ultra ATA driver installed despite having AHCI selected in the BIOS..

 

I forced my system to use the default drivers and I still get the 2.9 score. I think it is leass drivers and more drive related..

 

Good try though. Hopefully more people will check in with their drive model and score and establish a true pattern.

 

What if we are seeing an artificially low score here? How about everyone download HDTach from here: http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public/index.php?request=HdTach

And post their results. You will have to run it in compatibility mode as XP and will get a prefetch error, but it will work fine..

Edit: Just added one with ReadyBoost SSD running..

 

It is unlikely that you'll be able to significantly improve your score, because the test has changed, and the scoring scale may also have been modified, so that a score of 5 in Vista does not equal a score of 5 in Seven.

The new hard drive test weighs in random access times instead of just sequential read/write speeds, from what I've read.

 

That may all be true, but we are seeing significant discrepencies in scoring between similar / identical hardware.

 

OK, clearly the WEI "scores" are wonky, because your test results were far better than mine.

Under Windows 7:



Tested under Vista x64:



BTW, I tried the long test under Windows 7, but it bluescreened halfway through.

 

Well, I am still unable to get BlueTooth working, even with the latest Vista drivers. So I am doing a factory restore and installing over Vist X32 HP again... It cannot "upgrade" from a 32 bit to 64 bit OS in the classical sense so I am not worried. No programs get migrated at all...

 

dude, I'm waiting for your results now.

 

Did you do the HDTach tests yet? I was wanting to see your results.

 

OK I gonna do it now!!

EDIT: here are my results, both on windows Seven 64X
short test:



Long test:



You know guys... if we want to know is this thing is correct we need somebody with score over 5.0 on Windows Seven 64 bits to run this litle program and see if we are good or screwed .

Any ways thanks fountain for your help dude!

 

Hey Guys I just wanted to say I just got done installing windows 7 64 bit on my xps m1530 320 GB HD WDC WD3200BEVT-75ZCT1 4 GIGS OF RAM T8100 and I have gotten a score of 5.3 for my hard drive. I had 3.0 when i first installed win 7 but then I went throught the dell site, installed the turbo drivers, intel mobile chipset and matrix strorage manager. I did the assesment again and it went back to 5.3. Hope this helps.

 

You have a Samsung 320 GB 5400 RPM right?... Is the same HDD than Fountainhead, and he didn't had problems...

Seems that this is Seagate related....

Also i tried those drivers from dell site and they didn't work..

 

I will run HDTach in Vista when I get it going again. This time I will likely dual-boot. I can always delete the Vista partition later and reclaim the space. I am making a backup of the recovery partition now. It is going slow though, I am booted into a BartPE disc and using an xcopy to an external 750GB drive. My Bart CD is using compatible mode drivers at the moment. I need to update it with the latest ones...

Anyways, I think the WEI test is flawed. There is nothing wrong with the performance of our drives. We need to submit bug reports to the Windows 7 developer team. My tests in Vista should confirm that....

 

Jajajaja Dude!!! I'm doing exact same thing than you!!!!

 

OK here are my results in windows vista 64X

Short:



Long:



Ok, I don't understand this, so is either the Windows Seven Score system is wrong and i got better bench or this program we are using (by the way in compatibility mode with XP) is not benching right.

What do you think Cheez?? Dude!!!... I just lose 25% to 10% of performance on windows vista!!!! or what??

 

Wow, looks like you might wanna go back to windows 7 seven then

 

INDEED!!

this my score on windows Vista 64X:



This is a prof that the Score Rating is different for both OSes.

I'm going to delete Vista and going back to Seven like my main OS...even been a Beta is better than Vista!!

 

The media buttons for the volume, When pushed don't display the volume level.

Does anyone else have this problem?

 

Its normal, it doesn't do that on Vista anyways. Though you should notice the sound icon next to the clock change with one semicircle, two semicircle, or no semicircle (sound at lowest setting) at specific volumes. As long as the volume still changes, it is in working condition and you are fine.

 

Actually, on Win 7 with QuickSet installed, my system displays the Volume slider when the volume keys are pressed.