just bought 7811FX

I was in the market for a new laptop to take to Iraq with me and have had my eye on the 7811 for a while now. I didnt bite when it was on sale for $1250, and I was about to order it off the BB website for $1350 or whatever its at. I decided to stop in my local BB today and they had it on sale for $1231, so I bit, and now am a proud owner of a 7811fx. I checked the seriall number and it is a 88 model so thats good. I booted it up and realized vista is not for me. I am wondering if it is advisable to do a complete format and install xp pro 64 bit?

Anyone done this here? Thanks

 

It isn't exactly easy to transition from Vista back to XP. Since the laptop was made for Vista, all the drivers are for Vista, and some drivers you can't find for XP (such as the sound driver). Even after following this lengthy guide on how to get it to work, it still didn't work, so I went to Vista 32 bit, because I had problems with games in 64 bit Vista.

I know what you mean about Vista initially, but I encourage you to try it out some more. Disabling things like (UAC) will make your Vista experience a bit easier.

If someone has installed XP successfully with full working drivers, I'm sure they'd be willing to help you out.

 

actually, there is nothing wrong with vista x64, remember 7811 is a gaming
machine with a high end 9800m gts.

u'd want windows aero interface for enchanced video quality.
i know xp pro is the fastest and thinnest windows version, but thats not what this laptop is built for.
try add xp pro on 2nd hard drive instead format the 1st hd if u can find the drivers on gateway.com.

 

I've had problems mainly with WoW and Guitar Hero 3. Guitar Hero claims it can support 64 bit Vista, but it won't install without errors, and won't boot up without errors. WoW would freeze on me every 45 minutes of game-play. None of these are related to overheating, or mine being the older serial code. But, both issues were solved when switching to 32 bit Vista. I would give 64 bit a try, and then if you have issues, switch to 32 bit.

Although, the first thing I recommend you do is create recovery CD's.

 

What program does not work on Vista that you want? XP is a challenge for the sound drivers on 7811.

 

its not a program that I cant run, it was just I wasnt liking the vista feel after being an xp guy for so many years. But ill keep vista and try it out.

Anyways Ive formatted and installed a fresh copy of vista 64bit without all the bloatware, Ive disable UAC, now I just need to know what else I should do. Ive downloaded the 178.24 custom drivers, but I need to know how to uninstall my old drivers before installing the new ones.

Is there anything else I should do?

 

google it. there's a lot of guides on how to speed up vista. some tweaks might not be to your liking. UAC is one. turning of indexing is another that i remember from a year ago.

 

Check out this site for vista tweeks, its pretty good.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532

 

Just uninstall Nvidia as normal, reboot and install new. You can use DriverSweeper but probably not needed.

Give Vista a long try, it will irritate you to death for awhile by having so many things in different places and ways compared to XP but you will like it eventually.

 

so far, it's like going from all previous versions of Office to 2007.. everything's there, you just gotta find it!