Installing Home Premium 64-bit

I currently own a Dell Inspiron 1525 with an Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 (1.83 GHz). I am not sure of the motherboard, but something tells me it is a Mobile Intel 965 Express chipset. If it helps, I bought it June 2008. My question is I am receiving the free 64 bit upgrade. I want to know if I will be able to install the 64 bit OS on my computer (Vista Home Premium 64-bit). I talked to a Dell representative, but I would rather have the answer come from someone who knows what they are talking about more.

 

I don't see any particular reason why you wouldn't be able to install the 64 bit OS as long as you have all the drivers in place....

Dont mistake me, but this made me laugh... LOL...

 

Yes, it is all about drivers. You'll have to track down drivers that work with that OS or hope that the ones that Dell has on their web site work with a 64 bit install of Vista. On a positive note, 64 bit installs are becoming increasingly common, so finding drivers that work should also become easier with time. Make sure that you have a way to get back to your current 32 bit install before you proceed with a 64 bit install just in case there isn't sufficient driver support for your particular model. This isn't a task for a noob or someone without patience or some experience on setting up a laptop from scratch, so keep that in mind.

 

My Dell came with the "Operating System Reinstallation DVD" "Windows Vista Home Premium 32BIT SP1" So I guess that would count for the way to get back to my current install. And I checked with the Microsoft Vista 64 compatability site, and all the important programs work. My printer will, and I am sure my processor will. However, how will I know if my laptop parts will work?

Also, when I install the 64 bit, how can I get the new drivers? Off of the CD Dell provided me, or will I have to go online? I am asking this because I don't know how I will be able to go online if I don't have any drivers.

I am just confumbled.

 

First part > your laptop parts probably won't work properly / completely if you don't have the drivers in place.

Second part > you first need to have the drivers ready or at least some important ones like the chipset, network, hard disk etc... preferably its better to have all drivers ready during installation.. to look for them, I remember seeing lots of threads here on NBR on 64 bit drivers.. please "search" and I am sure u will find them...

For example >> http://www.notebookreview.com/searc...F;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:11&hl=en&btnAction=SEARCH

 

ok, I upgraded my Dell Latitude D630 to 64-bit Vista... and I have to disagree with everything fonduekid said (except for the search part which is always good).

First, Vista generally works fine without any drivers. Or rather, with just the built-in drivers. In many cases, it works better this way, in my experience. And Vista should pick up most of the drivers automatically through Windows Update.

Second, I prefer not to install extraneous drivers. A lot of third-party drivers are badly written and can cause problems. (Although I haven't experienced any such problems since upgrading to 64-bit.) If a piece of hardware works fine with the built-in drivers (e.g. sound and mouse on my system), or if I don't use the hardware (modem, firewire) then I don't install the driver. Or if you think you might use it, you can install the driver and disable the device in Device Manager. Or, if you prefer, you can install all the drivers, and just keep this in mind in case you get any crashes or other problems.

If you're using wireless though as your main network interface, you may want to have the wireless driver handy before install, so that you can connect to the net to download the other drivers. Also, you may want a video driver handy, because if the screen resolution is wrong it can be annoying and you may not want to wait for Windows Update to find everything.

So... you can go to dell.com, support section, Drivers and download any drivers you need. Although I don't know if they have 64-bit drivers posted for the Insp. 1525. So you may have to get the video driver from the GPU manufacturer's site. (If it's Intel then you can get it from intel.com, search for vista graphics driver.)

 

I knew about the built-in drivers that vista uses, but I learnt around This Forum, that those are temporary kinds and you would any way have to get in the newer / latest updated drivers.. and it was suggested to have them ready in the first place since they are available...

And I didn't mean any extraneous drivers I meant drivers from the manufacturer or OEM'.. sorry if I wasn't clear...

well, for the parts I was wrong, I'm sorry.. but I just shared something that I learnt arnd here.. *may be I was confused between people wanting to go back to XP and the driver related threads I was reading? I don't know. sorry anyways*

And thanks @ Swarmer I'll remember this info from now on

 

Well, it'll certainly work to have all the drivers ready beforehand... I just consider it unnecessary, that's all. I find it easier to use Vista with the "temporary" drivers to download and install the more permanent drivers. And in a lot of cases I actually prefer to use the built-in drivers on a more permanent basis. I'm just suggesting not to automatically assume that a third-party driver is better than a built-in one.

I wasn't contradicting you on that part, I just thought I'd add it... but I consider any drivers extraneous if you can do everything fine without them, even if the driver is from the mfr. or OEM. Sorry but I used to have a lot of BSODs and I believe most or all were due to lousy third-party drivers, including those that came with the machine or were downloaded from Dell... so if it's not strictly needed to run the system, it's extraneous for me.

I'm not really saying you're wrong... I just have a different opinion.

For XP, I agree, you want to have at least the more important drivers ready before installing. But for Vista I just consider that a waste of time. (Except for network and maybe video drivers.)

 

Swarmer, you went through this before. I just need the assistance. First, I would backup my laptop into an external HD. Then I would pop in the 64 Bit DVD and reinstall. From there, would I be able to connect to the internet (without doing anything other than installing the OS) and download the necessary drivers? Or could I use device manager to update the drivers? I have tried to search through Dell's website. But this whole thing confuses me. I may look like I am way over my head, but I would like to do this.

I am just having trouble finding the appropriate drivers. If what Swarmer says is true, then I should be fine. I just don't want to be stuck with a non-functional laptop. So, I won't need to download a driver for my motherboard and BIOS?

 

Swarmer, you went through this before. I just need the assistance. First, I would backup my laptop into an external HD. Then I would pop in the 64 Bit DVD and reinstall. From there, would I be able to connect to the internet (without doing anything other than installing the OS) and download the necessary drivers? Or could I use device manager to update the drivers? I have tried to search through Dell's website. But this whole thing confuses me. I may look like I am way over my head, but I would like to do this.

I am just having trouble finding the appropriate drivers. If what Swarmer says is true, then I should be fine. I just don't want to be stuck with a non-functional laptop. So, I won't need to download a driver for my motherboard and BIOS?

 

No you don't need drivers for motherboard or BIOS. Windows Update should find most of the important drivers for your machine.

I see Dell doesn't have 64-bit drivers on their site for that model.

As for connecting to the internet without drivers... it worked for me, but I was using ethernet... will you be using ethernet or wireless? If wireless, then you may want to check which wireless card you have and maybe Google can find you a 64-bit driver. If you have ethernet set up, then Windows Update will probably use that to find your wireless driver automatically.

EDIT: You may want to grab your ethernet driver from here just in case: http://support.dell.com/support/dow...D=INS_PNT_PM_1525&os=WLH&osl=en&catid=&impid=
It says it's 64-bit compatible. I don't know if you'll need it... but you have a different ethernet controller than me, so who knows.

 

Quick question... WHY are you going to the 64bit OS? Do you have 4GB of RAM in the machine? If not, there's no good reason for you to do it unless you're just insatiably curious and want to have a system that acts pretty much identically to a 32bit one except that it requires even more stringent checks by drivers and runs 64bit compiled software.

 

I don't know the OP's reasons, but there are plenty of good reasons...

64-bit Vista runs noticeably faster than 32-bit Vista on my machine with 2 gb of RAM. Things just feel snappier. I'm a terrbile test case though, since I upgraded to a faster hard drive at the same time. But even things that aren't using the disk feel faster to me.

Also, 64-bit Vista has some security advantages. Those "stringent" requirements for drivers make it harder for rootkits to infect the kernel.

Better forward compatibility. Right now, Dell's willing to send out the 64-bit discs. Who knows if they'll still be willing to do that in a year or two. (Of course, that doesn't really mean you need to install it right now.)

Right now I'd recommend 64-bit to anyone without specific backward-compatibility needs.

But you are right that it acts pretty much identically to 32-bit, at least feature-wise. There are no new features, no 64-bit only Aero effects, etc.

 

Well, I may only have 2GB RAM, but I am planning on upgrading to 4GB. It should only cost me like $80 on newegg.com Also, I would like the benefit of the extra security. All the important programs I use are 64 Bit compatible, so I shouldn't have a problem there (I didn't check all my programs, just the ones I use frequently and couldn't live without).

Also, I saw the post referring to Dell's policy that allows consumers to obtain the 64 bit DVD for free, so I figured why not give it a try? I can always go back.

And for those who are wondering if Dell's policy is still in effect, I had no trouble ordering it yesterday with Dell Chat online. The rep gave me no problems. There was some rumor saying it only works for Vista Ultimate, but I have Home Premium, so I can confirm that it applies to that also. However, I should wait until I have the DVD in my hands I guess.

Thank you for all the replies. I am in college, and will do this during my winter break. That way, I can have time to figure things out without making it a stressful weekend project.

 

Another question that I just thought of...

So I looked and searched around this forum, but found no clear answer. I ordered the free 64 bit vista dvd straight from dell. It included a drivers DVD, but that's not the point. When I am installing 64 bit, where can I find the product key? I've seen to look on the OEM sticker on the bottom of the laptop. I've seen to look at the system properties window (Control Panel > System and Maintenance > System) (is where Experience Index is shown, along with ram, etc.). So, I just need to know which method will allow me to install 64 bit Vista without having to call Microsoft/Dell. Thanks.