XPS 1640 and Windows 7 (64b) driver/app problems

Otherwise fine, but three somewhat serious problems:

1. Synaptics driver doesn't work properly, will grind everything to halt, mouse disappears, external mouse will center on the middle bottom of screen all the time, touchpad will not work. This with the version posted at support.dell.com for 1640/Win7 right now, and the version downloaded direct from synaptics.com.

2. Dell QuickSet crashes at bootup time, same download as above.

3. Webcam crashes often so seriously a bootup is required, now in testing phase with Vista 64 drivers.

All help, commentary welcome.

 

Tried calling Dell? None of those problems sound familiar to me.

~Ibrahim~

 

Of course I forgot to mention, being so deep in this project, that this is a Vista64 factory install lappy that's now been installed with Win7. So calling Dell is a little out of the question, because they only support it with the default OS.

The selection of Win7 drivers on Dell's support site seems to be somewhat limited. No ISO image of a Win7 driver set cd/dvd anywhere?

 

Firstly have you tried uninstalling the synaptics touch and letting Windows 7 do the work? Apparently it does it much better =-P

Also I have an M1730 so I dunno if the quicksets are the same, but quickset works 100% fine for me, using the vista x64 version.

Have you tried simply uninstalling the offending program and reinstalling the Vista 64-bit version of it? If that doesn't work try installing it in compatibility mode?

 

Really? They won't even honor it if it was an upgrade? Huh, that's peculiar.

I'm confused about #1, too. You do or don't have an external mouse connected?

 

The Win7 is not bought from Dell so no, they won't honor it in any way, that's Dell. They have Win7 drivers on support but there are drivers missing, I have now been lucky installing the Vista64 drivers for webcam, works ok.

But touchpad is still a very big problem. I mean when it didn't work with the Synaptics driverset (either from Dell or Synaptics download), I tried with external mouse, and that will not work either, it's a peculiar problem: as long as the mouse keeps moving, the cursor moves. But upon the slightest pause, it's reseted to the middle bottom of screen....making it pretty much unusable.

Googling, I have found out many other ppl have problem getting Synaptics touchpad to work, too. It did not work when letting Windows try to handle it, it was only detected as a normal mouse. But I am very dependent on the jog scrolling feature of it, it's great.

And Dell QuickSet still crashes when booting, too

 

My 1640 came with 7 x64 installed, and the toucpad and Quickset works without issue. I rarely use the webcam, so I can't comment on that.

Here are the drivers it came installed with, I didn't do a clean install, since simply uninstalling (Works, Facial Recognition and McAffee) is enough. Plus, I actually like the way Dell configured it.

I'm listing these from the drivers folder in the HDD.

Audio - R226903
Input - R227597, R227772
Network - R225495, R226751, R227595
Storage - R227769
Video - R227577

The Driver CD lists the same drivers.

 

Have R package for QuickSet?

R225495 is not on dell ftp, nor R226751, is there any way you get get them to me? Small enough for gmail attachment, my this username at gmail? Or could upload to rapidshare, megaupload, etc?

Awesome job listing them all here, thank you so very very much!!
Most important now would be the QuickSet... because without it, eject button will not work, nor will there be icons on screen when using system functions (screen brightness, wifi on/off etc).

Edit: didn't notice at first, the R package download links at Dell are for Studio 1737...I will be downloading the whole set of Win7 drivers for this model and checking it out, there's a QuickSet there too.

 

Dell did something odd here, there seems to be a lot more drivers then there are listed on the HDD, I can't even find Dell QuickSet anywhere on my system and I know it's there. It's not even on the Uninstall list. I remember the stock video drivers were odd, too, CCC was listed, but everything else wasn't. Everything works without a hitch, though.

But all of them are there under Drivers and Downloads from Dell Support, using my Service Tag, QuickSet listed for my system is R226931 and the Synaptics Driver is R227597. Both pages state initial support for W7. I can't vouch for QuickSet, since I can't seem to find it anywhere on my system, but the touchpad drivers I can confirm is the one installed on my system.

R225495 is for Intel Wi-Fi, and a quick look at the inf states it's originally for Vista x64. R226751 is for Bluetooth.

 

Much thanks for the QS R number, on the download page (for Inspiron 1545!) it is even listed as suitable for XPS 1640, but it's not listed on XPS 1640 Win7 download page...Dell showing their best again.

 

I don't see what the issue is, even navigating through without my Service Tag, then selecting 7 x64, the drivers are listed.

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...ID=STUDIOXPS16&hidos=WLH&hidlang=en&TabIndex=

Sure, it's not as spiffy (and I use that loosely) as Sony's VAIO service, but it works.

 

I personally don't understand why there is such a problem either. The ONLY issue I ever had so far with my 1640 was with finding the latest updated drivers for my ATI 4650 graphics card. With that taken care of, i have zero issues with any drivers. I did what anyone would do, go to Dell, enter your service tag info, specify OS and bit version and VOILA, everything is there to download. I DO pay attention to version numbers and release dates as those can be a factor to successful driver installations.

The way i see it, if you wind up in "driver hell", it's better to cut your losses, backup your data and reinstall the OS...Like Julie Andrews once said "let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start". lol

Jokes aside, I have found myself having to do that when something fails to work and after tinkering far too long on it, you're better off starting from scratch and doing everything by the numbers. i DO know one problem that can happen very easily is after reinstalling/installing an OS like Vista or 7, you immediately think that after install and your internet connection is active, you go online and download drivers and install them and all the while, Windows is running it's Windows Updates, downloading either the very same or perhaps an older driver and installing them as well. That can get confusing to the user AND the computer and there is a greater chance something will foul up.

Time and patience will prevail in the end and if you are very careful in setting everything up, you shouldn't have any problems...just my two cents.

 

All right...I've been in computer he!!, too, and it is no fun.

You can take all the precautions you'd like, but in my experience, some stupid little thing can completely hang you to dry. And it's something you probably didn't even care about, lol.

Any luck?

 

I've had an issue with the ATI drivers since I installed Windows 7 (upgrade from Vista x64), and it's been the same with three different versions (two modded and the official Dell drivers).

Basically Catalyst Control Centre will open up but the only screens in the drop-down list are Welcome, Information Centre, Desktops and Displays and Desktop Properties.

I don't get the Configure pop-up menu in Desktops and Displays either, which is the biggest problem as it means I can't turn off the overscan.

I've tried removing the drivers very thoroughly, including running Driver Cleaner.Net, and then re-installing.

The next step as far as I can see is a clean install of Windows 7, but I'm loathe to spend so much time getting everything set up again.

Does anyone have any ideas, because I'm all out?

 

Interesting....in my drop down menu, I have no Welcome, but:

Information Center
Desktops & Displays
Desktop Properties
Display Options
3D
Avivo Video
PowerPlay

When you say "Centre", what language/region are you downloading from? Or is that just the way you spell it? Maybe try the US version?

~Ibrahim~

 

I have no issues with CCC either. And so far in this laptop, if anything, the display drivers are a mess on my part.

Try uninstalling from Add/Remove Programs, everything, including CCC, reboot in safe mode, and use Driver Sweeper, reboot normally, then use Dell's driver for a start. You won't need to reinstall the entire OS.

For those interested, my current display driver install is somewhat of a frankenstein install. Dell did something odd with the actual display driver and it won't actually show up as installed anywhere, so I just decided to install ATI's Beta 7 drivers on top of it, then I installed supposively new Mobility Radeon drivers from Windows Update. Everything works fine though, including games. I would normally never do this. DxDiag reports the driver as version 8.632.1.2000 and dated 18/08/2009.

I even have slightly more options in CCC than the stock Dell drivers, since it's the reference CCC from ATI.

 

lol

I like it.

 

Thanks guys; I've tried Driver Cleaner.Net but I haven't tried Driver Sweeper, nor safe mode. I'll give them a try

Ikjadoon it's the US version I've installed; I just couldn't bring myself to mis-spell centre

Heiji I wouldn't breathe too hard in the direction of your laptop

 

Oh it's fine, I will eventually clean them out and do a proper install, just that I read for QuakeCon ATI put a new driver team in place and that ever since 9.8 (or 9.9) the drivers gave quite a noticeable performance boost and I was curious, since this laptop is my first ATI hardware in some years.

I'll do it when Cat 9.12 comes out, I'm rather dissapointed that ATI is still being a about proper laptop reference drivers and we have to mod the desktop versions still.

 

I don't know where I read it, but apparently it's Dell's fault that we don't get updated drivers. Like ATI has them, but Dell won't let them distribute it until they look at it? I don't know.

They both could do better!

 

Hi guys; well it seems it was the Toshiba Dynadock that was causing the issues. I'd suspected it, but I thought I'd uninstalled it and still had the problem.

I must have missed a bit; I had another go and it all seems fine now.

Luckily I don't need to use the whizzy bits of the dynadock anymore so I can live with it just being a fancy USB hub.

 

Are you in the wrong section ? @@

 

Hi, no, if you read my prevoius post you'll see the context

 

well I pulled the driver from the nem line of XPS studio 16 for 64bit and it works fine.