Windows 7 - are you taking the leap?

[aartist]

If you have the HP Pavilion a6720y, here's what you need to do:
----- Cut and Paste ----- as described by JSWinden
Before upgrading to Windows 7, download NVIDIA_3D_Vision_CD_v1.13_WinVista_Win7_EMEAI.

You will need this to get the correct drivers for LAN and video. Without it, you will have an unstable PC with little to no internet connection.

Download it from here:
http://www.nvidia.co.uk/content/Driv...=uk&type=Other
After upgrading, install NVIDIA_3D_Vision_CD_v1.13_WinVista_Win7_EMEAI.
When you run Windows update, HIDE any suggested updates to the followin, because Windows Update will attempt to install older drivers that won't work:

nVidia - Display - NVIDIA GeForce 9100
nVidia - Network - NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
nVidia - Other hardware - NVIDIA nForce System Management Controller
NVIDIA Corporation - Storage - NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller
Allow Windows Update to install all other updates.
Install the updates from HP's website:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...856272&lang=en
----- End Cut and Paste -----

I'm sure it would be similar scenario with other HP's.

[pavel123]

Originally Posted by aartist

Pavel: HP Pavilion a6720y

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...856272&lang=en

Thank you.
It is a different model.
I will try to harass HP support, but I assume that are going to say "it's a software issue"

[aartist]

Pavel: Here are the drivers for your model.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...007357&lang=en

[pavel123]

Aartist,

Thank you.
I just learned that at least few resent HP models had a number of issues, mostly related to a cheap motherboard they used for them. With this motherboard blue screen seem to be a common issue whatever OS is used There is an user forum on HP, the thread related to this is 260 pages long and growing.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board/....id=4925#M4925

By the sound of it we may have to stop blaming Microsoft, and start blaming HP

[plugsnpixels]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

we like being able to replace our own harddrives and not spend $800 for one harddrive replacement. so, there's always a tradeoff. frankly, i'd have bought a mac long ago if they'd just open their architecture up to third parties and end users

Craig, are you referring to MacBook Pros or iMacs, where swapping components is not easy (or even possible) for the end user? I know with MacBooks (at least the older one I have) you can pop out the battery, slip out the HD and replace it with any model you want, pretty cheaply. Same is true with the Mac Pro towers (there are, IIRC, 4 bays for HDs, with industry-standard connectors.

You can also buy and install RAM upgrades just like you would with a PC box. And probably the video card as well in the Mac Pro.

So depending on which Mac model you get, there is still a bit of upgrade freedom. But I know what you mean, it must be fun to build a box completely from scratch! Mac users call that a "Hackintosh"! I understand it's possible to get OS-X running on these (not sure about Snow Leopard, and no, I haven't tried ;-) ).

[Kraellin]

hi plugs,

i'm notably not that conversant with macs yet. i believe it was the imac where the guy said it would cost $800 to replace a harddrive and that was because it was tied in with some other components, possibly the motherboard itself. and yes, i know the towers are more open and i did like the four bay replace-on-the-fly harddrives, but the price on the towers took it out of my price range for computers. i think it was almost $3000 by the time you loaded in a few goodies. it looked great, though.

[plugsnpixels]

The iMac G5 was the last one where customers could easily remove the back and swap out components (the HD was easily removed with a few screws). Here is a video for doing it with Intel Macs, yow.

I'm not one to hack innards like this, though I have been comfortable with manhandling old PPCs such as the 8500 and G4 towers. So maybe it's worth paying someone $800 to do it, ha!

If you were to get a Mac Pro some day, you could always look into used ones. The one I'm sitting at now is just over 2 years old, so it's used (and works just fine), but it was new when I set it up! It's my office Mac, a "thank-you" from Apple for us buying 40 Intel silver-and-black iMacs for our higher-ed computer labs. And then I go home to my dual-800 G4... The MacBook helps out in times like that!

[sammypetter]

Hi!I am implementing an application that analyzes images from the viewFinder in real time.My problem is that viewFinder images are focused on the infinite and close objects seem really blurry.Is it possible to set the autofocus ON for the viewFinder frames with the Autofocus extension on the camera?I am stuck with the N95 platform, so no 3rd edition FP2 with extended camera features.Thanks in advance,

[secretagents]

I am running Windows Me and have no plans to upgrade apart from adding another 2 GB of RAM and an Nvidia Serie 7 graphic card to my machine, the latter only so I can run the Adobe Pixel Bender Toolkit on the GPU instead of on the CPU to render those mandelbulbs.

[CJ Swartz]

I bought a new Dell computer in December and chose one with Windows 7 installed. Love this new OS ! It's easier to find what I'm looking for (documents and photos go in the Library and Programs go in Programs ). I have upgraded drivers for my printers and everything works well.

The "look" is classy, and the search tool is there if I do forget where something was uploaded. I've had a couple of crashes, but it started up again fine, and I can run lots of programs and Firefox tabs open at once (8 gigs of memory helps). I liked XP and never tried Vista, but I'm very pleased with Windows 7.

[lkroll]

Originally Posted by secretagents

I am running Windows Me and have no plans to upgrade apart from adding another 2 GB of RAM and an Nvidia Serie 7 graphic card to my machine, the latter only so I can run the Adobe Pixel Bender Toolkit on the GPU instead of on the CPU to render those mandelbulbs.

Don't think WinME is able to address more RAM the 512 (but I could be wrong). If you are running ME then I'll keep you in my prayers. lol

[secretagents]

You couldn't be more wrong indeed Lyle, as Windows ME can use 1995 MB of RAM out of the box.

If you've got 2 one GB sticks which is 2048 MB then you've got to limit the RAM Windows will use to 1995 MB through a system.ini tweak (otherwise the system won't boot) which is my current configuration.

But then there is a clever guy who wrote an inexpensive commercial patch who breaks this artificial limit (as any 32bit OS should be able to use 4GB) allowing to use 4GB of RAM. That's what I am going to do next as an upgrade plus a GPU compatible with the Pixel Bender as I wrote above. And perhaps one or two monster 1TB HDD as well depending on the finances.

[LloydM]

NOPE, not taking the leap .. --- If its't broke I am not going to try and fix it... XP is running good and the programs; PS CS3, Literoom 2, photomatix, plus a few others, are rinning just great.........

[Kraellin]

well, i finally braved the leap, going from vista 64 bit to win7 64 bit. i had to muster my courage; upgrades always make me nervous; there's just too much that can go wrong. nonetheless, i plunged and i'm currently typing this on my new win7 upgrade installation. it actually was fairly painless. the actual install took just under two hours and it didnt seem to mind my RAID configuration at all (i was a bit worried about that).

and after a bit of fussing, and setting startup stuff and various normal desktop stuff with a new install, all seemed fairly well... until...

lol. there's always one! in this case it's email and i'm going to type this in bold caps... THERE IS NO EMAIL PROGRAM WITH WINDOWS 7! if you had and still have the release candidate (rc) you may have one, but for the final release they removed it all! no email program! **sigh** just when i was thinking win7 was going to be simple. apparently, and you can go check this for yourself, microsoft is trying to go legal or something. apparently, after all these years, they've decided to listen a tiny bit to the U.S. Justice Dept. and are loosening their monopoly a tiny, eensy-weensy bit and that means they've gotten rid of the integrating the email program with the o/s install. you can still go get an email client from microsoft, for free, but it is no longer part of the operating system install. and frankly, i think that calls for a 'doh!', homer simson style. of all the things we didnt much mind that came with windows was the browser and the email client! so, 'doh!'.

so, thinking i was going to get off with a less than two hour hassle with a new install, i found myself for the next four hours trying to figure out where my email client was and what the heck i was going to use for it (man, i tell ya, be careful what ya ask/wish for... especially when dealing with microsoft!). lol.

so, apparently there is this thing now called windows live email 7 or something along those lines. you can download it for free from microsoft.com and it is the defacto replacement for outlook express which was replaced in vista by windows mail and windows mail 7 in the rc (for some). thus, it's a case of curiouser and curiouser. this windows live mail claims, by microsoft, to be the new white bread. the forums and boards have something slightly different to say, in a lot of cases, though not all. some actually liked it, but by my count, most didnt and didnt understand why they had to yet again change clients. i agree. this seems frivilous, token, at best and very annoying at worst. i was annoyed.

now, the boards, again, some of the folks, recommended switching to Thunderbird from Mozilla. a couple others recommended intellimail or something like that. you're going to have to research these names for yourself. i'm NOT going back to those boards!

so, having used firefox some in the past, i finally decided to try Thunderbird. it was an easy install. it was also a fairly painless setup. i entered my email address and password and thunderbird went and found my other settings. i didnt even have to manually enter my pop3 info or anything else. and that was pretty much it. it's all set up and receiving emails.

i shld also point out that some complained about Thunderbird on the boards. so, it seems to be a matter of gauging the complaints... how many against windows live email and how many against thunderbird. lol. what a way to choose software.

at any rate, win7 is up and running. email is working and so far all my programs seem to be working. i did have to re-enter my product keys for filter forge, both my perm version and the beta, but other than that, so far no other hassles (knock on wood). i havent really tried any of the new stuff yet. i basically just got all this done a little while ago and needed a nervous breakdown nap afterwards so, i'll post more, maybe, as things break or work or i've had a chance to play with the new toys

[CJ Swartz]

Glad you are liking it so far, Craig; I love Windows 7 after using XP (liked it) for years waiting for the next version after Vista. I got a new computer so didn't have to do the upgrade install. Have a non-techy friend who's thinking of upgrading from Vista to 7, but two hours (for YOU) would probably turn into a lot more for her.

I had read about the "lack" of email with Windows 7, and read a bit about options - LIVE did not sound good to me, and since one of the problems my old system had caused items in my Outlook Express mail inbox to disappear (many weren't even in the backup location), I had decided to move to Google online mail anyway. Still downloaded Thunderbird and set it up in case I didn't like Google, but I've found I prefer using GMail now and worry less about losing any special emails that I want to keep (Google's servers will probably explode as soon as I type this and all will be lost ). I use GReader to keep up with my blog etc. reading and so using GMail is just a click away.

I've found Windows 7 to be very stable, easy to learn, and very well designed. I rarely need to "cheat" and use search to find something on my system, but when I do - I find it quickly.

[Kraellin]

hi CJ,

i shld mention, speaking of the two hours, that i first did the microsoft windows 7 compatibility check. this was QUITE worthwhile! i found that my firewall wasnt going to work in win7, so i upgraded it to a version that would. i was also advised to turn off my anti-virus, which i did and then switched that back on after the install. it also notified me there that windows mail would be going bye-bye, but i had assumed something would be taking its place. ha! never assume!

but yes, win7 seems fairly good and smooth so far. no crashes, lags, giant frogs jumping out of the computer, or laughing bill gates heads. so, we'll see

i use gmail on my business computer at work and it seems fine, but i was concerned about being able to log into retouchpro using a web based mail client, so i wanted something home based and thunderbird got the call. it actually looks and feels a lot like outlook express, at least in the internals. so, it was nothing to configure it.

i'd say if your friend uses the compatibility tool first, the rest will go fairly smoothly. i really didnt have to do a thing for that two hours of installation except occupy myself with other things while i waited. that part went very smoothly.

mostly what i was grumping about in that last post was the fact that i was caught offguard by microsoft. no email with windows? that just seemed weird... and still does

[aartist]

Mine has been running great once I figured out my usb problem and updated the wireless drivers. My e-mail program is attached to microsoft's office 2007, so I wasn't affected by a lost e-mail client.

The usb problem turned out to be a checked box in the ant-virus program preventing the computer from accessing usb storage devices! Man, sometimes those checked boxes can drive a person crazy.

[lkroll]

I don't use a local email service anymore; stay in cyberspace for that. My only erking issue that I have left (have to admit, I really haven't spend much time researching this) is my Lazer printer won't wake up from sleep (XP had no issue with this). I have to press the button on my lazer printer twice and all's well. Since I really only print things out 2 to 4 times a month, this isn't really an issue with me. Very happy with a 64-bit OS. I still VM into XP (have Virtual box for that; Microsoft's Virtual PC is not as fast for whatever reason but I do have one of my Dad's medical data programs that I've only been able to get to work with it (gave up figuring why it wouldn't work in Virtual Box; it won't work at all with a 64-bit OS and don't believe there is plans for a 64-bit version either (32-bit version doesn't work with Win7). All in all, again, I am happy. 6GBytes too. Will admit that Win7 was pretty good with just 2GBytes, but I had the dough to splurge on an addition 4Gs (could update to a total of 16Gs since I'm not that rich). I figure my PC will last a few more years hopefully and by then, a try 32 or 64 core processor will be available at a reasonable price.

[pavel123]

Originally Posted by lkroll

My only erking issue that I have left (have to admit, I really haven't spend much time researching this) is my Lazer printer won't wake up from sleep (XP had no issue with this).

Lyle, I do have a similar problem with Win 7, HP printer takes forever to wake up. I assume it could be simply driver compatibility, I never actually got around to check for new driver...

[aartist]

I had issues with my hp printer but they disappeared when I reinstalled the drivers.

You can try running programs in older windows by right clicking on file, click properties and click compatibility mode menu tab, then choosing an older windows version.

[lkroll]

Funny that on another forum that I frequent, others are having issues with their printers too. A few just retired their old printer and got a new one. Since mine is not that old (HL 4040Cn) I know that isn't it. I tried using the drivers from Brother's website, but I had a few issues with that so am using the default Win7 drivers for the 4040 and they work but I do loose some finess with these drivers. For both drivers, no wakeup is the problem. Maybe a Win7 bug with will eventually get patched. Haven't tried printing from my HP2110v All in one (by now the ink's probably dry anyway) but have scanned a few documents and that worked great.

[Kraellin]

lyle,

i'd get the drivers from the manufacturer. that shld fix the problem with the sleep thing.

well, day two and i must say, this machine boots up a LOT faster now. i also like the big pane popup things on the bottom bar. seeing what's there in those panes is a nice feature, especially when it's the browser with more than one tab open. that's handy.

oh, and did i mention... win7 has a 'Godmode'. yup, godmode. read this: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10423985-56.html

[lkroll]

I did Craig; they were buggy. Have to admit that I haven't tried since a few weeks after installing Win7. Again, I so rarely print that when I do, it's not that much an issue to manually wake up the printer.

[Kraellin]

i just hit mine with a hammer to wake it. works every time.

[lkroll]

lol; just presssing the Back button twice works for me.

[Kraellin]

ah, that sounds better