Studio XPS 16 Windows 7 Driver Discussion

Since a lot of people will be moving to Windows 7 this weekend with Technet & MSDN now available, I thought it would be good to share experiences relating to drivers and what is or isn't needed.

What drivers, if any, will be necessary to load that aren't included in the normal Win7 setup?

Is a Win7 driver available from Dell at this point or does the corresponding Vista driver work perfectly?

 

From my experiences so far, the Vista drivers or the Win 7 supplied drivers worked great. The only issue I had with the 1640 was getting the bluetooth to work. It worked on initial install but then started throwing errors once in awhile. The Win 7 sound driver actually worked better then the IDT driver. The best part was the display actually worked perfect upon initial boot. I still installed the Catalyst drivers obviously, but at least that wasn't the first thing I had to get working upon installation.

 

I have a related question.
Let's say you want to run Vista now, but also Win7 RC.
So I partition my harddrive and install Win7, allowing a dual boot setup.
But in the fall, you get a copy of Win7.
Would that "official" copy be installed on the Win7 partition, and if so what would it effect? I know that the official copy can be installed on the Vista drive as an upgrade without losing all your files, but thats probably not the most efficient way and would prefer a clean install.

I am very interested in, and in need of, the virtual XP capability of Win7 as I have a important legacy program that will not run under Vista or 7. Has anyone tried this yet?

Thoughts?

 

Again, from my experience you could do it to either partition. The only thing is, you're going to need to reformat and repartition the drive. From what I can remember, I sold my original SXPS 16, you can only get a 30 gig partition to install Win 7 on with the Vista partition software. Win 7 alone takes close to 20 gig's so it doesn't leave you much room after that. So basically I would back everything up, format and partition the drive and then dual boot it with Vista and Win 7.

 

I have hard drive partioning software so I would not have to use Vista's built in software.

 

Are you running 64 or 32? I wasn't able to find a partitioning software for 64 bit. I tried partition magic and it forced me to format. :/

 

The only drivers I would recommend you install are the following:

Dell IDT 92HD73C1 Audio Drivers v6.10.0.6162
Intel Chipset Drivers v9.1.1.1015 (extract and use the -overide -overall switches when you run the actual setup file)
Intel Matrix Storage Manager v8.9.0.1023
ATI Catalyst Display Driver v9.7

Also Windows update has a few new drivers for things like the Media card reader.

 

You're not having issues with the IDT driver holding your processor at 100%? I, along with others, were experiencing this.

 

I have not used it yet on Vista 64, (I have on XP 32) but the specs say this works:

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/

Cheap too.
I'll be trying it this weekend.

 

No not at all. However I always disable the service named "Audio Service" after I've installed IDT drivers as it's very poorly written and all it does is monitor your input jacks. It creates constant events in the background which is totally overkill. Try disabling it and see how you get on.

My old post in the Gateway forum about this issue:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=333976

 

How do you use the -overide -overall switches ?

 

Extract the setup file, or alternatively run the setup and then use task manager to find which directory it has been self extracted to in your temp directory. Copy the files to another directory and then cancel setup. Then create a shortcut to the proper setup file and add the switches.

 

Did it detect and install the wireless drivers to access online info?

 

Yes it will.

 

That's the best part about Win 7 in my opinion, it's completely usable at initial boot.

 

Why wouldn't you install others? Is it because they are outdated and the Windows 7 installed drivers are better? I'd think you'd at least need the Dell QuickSet driver. I wounder what the Dell System Software is?

Here is my list of installed stuff:
(1) ATI 7-23-09
(2) Intel PM45 Express Chipset Family A00
(3) Dell System Software A02
(4) Dell QuickSet A05
(5) Broadcom LAN A00
(6) Wireless 370 Bluetooth Minicard A13
(7) Synaptics TouchPad A02
(8) Creative Labs Webcam A06
(9) IT8512 CIR Receiver A07
(10) Ricoh Card Reader A01

 

Sorry I didn't class QuickSet as a driver - it's more a program - but yes you need it to be able to adjust your keyboard backlight settings.

Also the Creative Webcam manager software but Dell don't supply that online or with the laptop, you have to request it from support. Stupid if you ask me.

The rest can be left as Windows default drivers.

 

Is that Creative manger an add on to the driver on the Dell website for the webcam? Or is that all you need?

Also, why should the rest be left default W7? Is it because those are the best drivers avail.? I just don't want to those performance or features by not installing all of those in my list.

 

Well, after the Win 7 installation most everything is working. I have four "error" symbols under "other devices", three are base system devices and one is "unknown device".

What devices am I leaving out? I downloaded Quickset and the touchpad drivers from Dell.
Is one the webcam?

 

I don't really get why I'd need the Intel Chipset and Matrix Storage Mananger drivers? I mean, doesn't W7 already install those drivers by default?

 

Any1 else have any windows 7 expertise? I want to know if installing some of the drivers from dell will hinder performance since they were designed for vista?

 

I installed:

Intel chipset drivers (Windows 7 version)
Intel Matrix drivers (Windows 7 version)
Dell Touchpad drivers (Vista drivers)
Dell Quickset program (Vista drivers)

I tried the beta 9.7 ati drivers but they did weird thing for me so I went back to the Windows 7 default driver.

 

Anybody having problems where sometimes you boot the PC (not from standby but actually starting up) the screen stays black before & instead of loading windows with just a flashing underscore in the upper left of the screen?

 

i've fresh installed win7 ultimate rtm and am completely blown away by how fast the thing is.
i am having some issues however.
the only driver installs i did manually were from the dell support site and included:

quickset
creative webcam driver
creative dell webcam central

unfortunately the webcam programs all state that the device cannot be found. bluetooth is also absent.

i have not installed the intel chipset and matrix drivers, are they necessary?
device manager claims all necessary drivers are up-to-date on webcam so i'm assuming it's just lack of proggie support?

 

I changed my mind, did a clean Vista install with no bloat and will wait for my free Win 7. Runs great, all the drivers are on the supplied CD and/or Dell's site.

 

Does your pc run a lot faster than when you got it the first time?
What are the software that make up the bloatware?

I was thinking of doing a clean WIN 7 RC install once I get my laptop but I might also be waiting for free win 7 from dell. This way I might get less/no driver issues to deal with.

Thanks

 

Where did you find that? Have you got a link?

 

You have to download it from the download store. The link is on a white card that comes with the PC when you get it. Some people are saying it doesn't work but you must use IE to access it. If it doesn't work for you, PM me. I may be able to assist you.

 

Are you talking about the 'My Dell Downloads' site?

If so I've already tried on there and the Webcam software isn't listed. All I have is Facial Recognition, Roxio Creator DE and McAfee Security Center V10.

 

Yeah, that's where I downloaded it. I was able to get Fast Access, Roxio and Dell Webcam central. I was also told they added Power DVD to it later.

 

here you go:
http://support.us.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R168730&formatcnt=1&libid=0&fileid=229607

 

That's a really old version from 2007, not the version which is supplied pre-installed on the 1640.

 

Maybe there is a way to extract the program from the factory install and then install it on your W7 install.

 

Nope I've tried:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=404588

 

What kind of things were happening? I just wonder which is better to use.

 

I can't seem to locate an Intel Chipset driver for Windows 7. I see the Vista version, but not W7. Also, I see the "Matrix Storage Manager" and also "Matrix Storage Technology". Do I need both?

 

I gave links on the first page.

 

anyone know where i can get dell webcam central?. in my download store thing it wasn't on the software list, only the facial recognition and dell chat.

 

i can get you a link but you should know it doesn't run on win7 x64 as far as i can tell; doesn't detect webcam. it really is a shame because of all dell native software this is by far the most useful IMO. havent found any respectable 3rd party apps that cover the gammut of webcam options that it does.

 

are the chipset and matrix drivers even necessary? what's the benefit?

 

ok, i have win7 x64, i installed the dell chat software and it detected the camera, so would the webcam central detect it?

 

might as well try it. chat software? is that the avatar creator garbage?

 

That avatar thing was built into Webcam Central. At least I thought it was.

 

Dell Webcam Manager works just fine here on Win7 x64.

I got Dell support to send it to me on CD along with Creative X-Fi MB (which I can't get working).

The IDT Audio driver also keeps crashing for me under Win7 x64 - anyone else experience problems?

 

could you link me please?

 

I wonder this too. Doesn't W7 default install these things?

 

Yes but usually the Intel Chipset drivers are more recent than what's included with your OS.

 

hey, could u post a link for dell webcam central (64 bit) windows vista. I didnt buy my laptop from the US and cant get it.

 

The Base System Devices are the "Ricoh Card reader" drivers. I found the driver was only displayed on the dell driver site when I select Vista x64 drivers then under Chipset.

Edit: The "Unknown device" is the IR reciever, it will be installed when you do a windows update, and is listed as "ITE Tech.Inc. - Input - ITECIR Infrared Reciever (EC)"

 

ok after reading this pages......do i need Chipset drivers for Windows 7 (32.bit) ????

when i install Vista (32.bit) i need this 2 drivers, but not in Windows 7....why ?????