My Digital Life

Dell XPS-720 H2C Windows 7 64 bit Upgrade

When I purchased my Quad Core XPS-720, I was excited to be able to purchase a major vendor's system with over clocking built into the default BIOS. Unfortunately, the promise has never been fulfilled. The system has locked up regularly since I purchased it and Dell's only support response: reinstall the OS. Given the amount of work and uncertainty of the fix I never did. Since Dell has released the XPS 730 and failed to certify the XPS 720 for Windows 7, I suspect that a hardware design issue may be causing the lockups, but given my options (this system was too expensive to dump after 2 years) I have decided install a clean copy of Windows 7 64 bit to see what happens.

I used my Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate upgrade DVD and installed using the fresh copy installation option (vs. the in place upgrade). This allows me to dual boot my machine (Vista or 7) in case something goes horribly wrong. The down side is that I have to recreate my environment.

The installation went fine and all the hardware drivers were detected found. The only issue was the failure of a critical Windows Update patch for the NVidia GeForce 8800 GT video card. Since, I could not find a valid Dell Windows 7 driver for the video card; I decided to try the Vista 64 bit driver. This driver solved the issue and actually provided more control panel functionality than the one found by the installation. I now need to install the NVidia RAID drivers to add the disk management functionality to the NVidia control panel.

I have started the application reinstallation process with Office 2007 Ultimate and SQL Server 2005 with all associated Service Packs. So far so good; I will add applications day by day and update this blog. I will start testing over clocking today by setting the processor to 3.2GHZ.

A Major Reason I Love Lenovo ThinkPads

I have been using ThinkPads since the late 90's and have always been very happy with the design, durability and IBM service. I feel I am probably in the minority but I love the trackpoint, it works for me not to have to raise my hands while typing to use the mouse functions.

I have not had to use the depot warranty service for several years now. At the beginning of this year the middle latch of my 2 ½ year old X60 tablet fell out and I lost it. The latch pushes up and down through the LCD panel case so you can lock the panel to the keyboard base in either standard clamshell mode or reverse tablet mode where the LCD is exposed.

The reversible latch (at the top of this picture).

I finally planned some time where I was not going to need my X60 tablet; I was going to be away for the weekend and planned on using my VAIO P. I called Lenovo/IBM (IBM currently provides the service in the US) on Tuesday, they shipped a return box which I received on Wednesday. Thursday evening I took my machine to the local UPS store; IBM received the machine on Friday, repaired and shipped it back on Saturday for delivery on Monday morning. This level of service makes the rather dull but business looking ThinkPad a winner and the fact that Lenovo has so far kept IBM's design philosophy and build quality is what keeps me coming back.

My X60 is 2 ½ years old; it has worked very well with Windows Vista and is working even better with Windows 7. At this point I have no need to move to a newer model for the foreseeable future…

Windows 7 Day is Finally Here

Time for to upgrade my 3 machines from Vista to Windows 7. I have never really had any issues with Vista, and I have come to believe that the problems individuals where having where associated with hardware/driver design. I think Microsoft did a really poor job educating its OEM partners or never brought them into the design cycle to build a coherent hardware and software ecosystem. I own three machines, all running Vista, a Lenovo X60 Tablet, a Dell XPS 720 H2C, and Sony VAIO P. The Lenovo works flawlessly, I only reboot it for updates. The Dell is very inconsistent, I can go for 7 days without a problem, then have multiple lockups in one day. The lockup issues seem to be related to USB devices and Bluetooth. The Sony is more stable than the Dell but I have had two serious driver issues which forced me to rebuild.

I plan on doing in place upgrades on all machines. Dell does not seem to support Windows 7 on the XPS 720, which is probably why this will be the last Dell I ever buy. I spent a lot of money on this machine and for them to stop supporting it barely two years after I purchased it is a crime. It looks like they are supporting the 730, which tells me that the 720 had design issues. That said the Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor seems to think I will be fine. I agree, I don't think it will be worse than the lockups I currently encounter.

I will be buying upgrades from Microsoft for the Lenovo and the Dell, and I am waiting for Sony to deliver my free upgrade kit which has been approved but with no ship date.

My plan for the Lenovo and the Dell is the run the Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, Backup using Acronis True Image Home, and follow the instructions the Upgrade Advisor generates.

I will post my experience on the process.

Sony VAIO P Microsoft OneCare Defrag and the SSD

I am a big fan of Microsoft OneCare and sad that MS will discontinue it when it releases its free antivirus solution Microsoft Security Essentials. Until Microsoft releases Security Essentials, I plan on using OneCare. However, on the VAIO P with SSD, the OneCare tune up process forces a defrag which is not good for SSD devices and there is no way to easily turn that function off.

After some research I found this thread which addresses the problem by fooling OneCare. You essentially rename the defrag executable in the registry and OneCare ignores the command. There seems to be no error checking so the tune up continues on its merry way without performing the defragmentation.

You should only perform this change to the registry if you are comfortable editing the registry since you could mess up your system.

Before you edit the registry make sure you back it up.

Search for the following key: HKCR\CLSID\{80EE4901-33A8-11d1-A213-0080C88593A5}\LocalServer32 and modify the default value which is currently set to DfrgNtfs.exe to DfrgNtfs_exe.sav .

This will invalidate the defrag executable name for OneCare.

You should also execute defrag from the program menu to configure it and disable its scheduling feature.

 

Sony VAIO P and the Lid Switch Power Drain

Apparently Sony laptops have a power drain issue when the lid switch is activated for sleep/suspend or hibernate. I use both of these modes as part of my routine since the start up time is significantly reduced compared to a cold boot. On my Lenovo X60 I have never noticed a power drain issue, but on the VAIO P it quickly became apparent that something was amiss when my battery was drained after the VAIO P sat in hibernation for a couple of days. After finding this thread on the Pocketables forum I decided to test the theory and sure enough by turning off lid actions in start/control panel/power options/choose what closing the lid does the noticeable power drain disappeared.

I also set the power button to hibernate on battery power and sleep/suspend on the AC power.

Sony VAIO P and the Solid State Disk (SSD)

As I mentioned yesterday a hard disk drive (HDD) is very different than a Solid State Disk (SSD). Yes, both are used to store data, but they do it in different ways which means that the operating system needs to take that into consideration when performing write operations. When Windows Vista was developed the cost of SSDs was prohibitive and very little went into adding features to fully support SSDs. Now that the cost have come down in Windows 7 Microsoft has added logic to recognize SSDs and adjust how writes are performed.

HDDs are mechanical devices which use a magnetic field to record data (Wikipedia), while SSDs use memory technology with flash cells which have a limited number of erase (write) cycles (Wikipedia). So the bottom line is that you want to minimize the number writes to an SSD or in reality you want to use a more intelligent approach to writing like caching the data until the application is ready to commit the write. I was surprised to learn that the slim type 128GB Samsung SSD (mmcqe28gfmup-mva) in the VAIO P uses the Multi-Level Cell (MLC) design which has a lower number of erase (write) cycles than the Single-Level Cell (SLC) design. Wikipedia mentions that the MLC disadvantages can be mitigated by the internal design structure. The reason for their use is cost. Let's hope Samsung and Sony did their homework. I decided to take some steps on to mitigate lifespan and performance issues.

These are the steps I have taken on the VAIO P:

1. Disable all defragmentation operations. A common performance problem with HDDs is data fragmentation (Wikipedia) which is minimized by using defrag.exe (comes with Windows) or an advanced application like Diskeeper. I used it on all of my PCs with HDDs, because it runs quietly in the background like a virus scanner.
2. I used this post by Tony on the OCZ Technology (a leader in SSD design) forum to fine my system:
   1. In the system's registry
      1. Disable prefetching and superfetch .
      2. Enable clearPageFilesAtShutdown, LargeSystemCache, and add the processor's L2 cache size to SecondLevelDataCache. The VAIO P VGN-P698E 1.6GHZ processor has a 512KB L2 cache.
      3. Disable NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation.
      4. Increase NtfsMemoryUsage file cache to 2.
   2. Remove indexing, the SSD is fast enough where you do not need indexing
   3. Enable all caching feature on the disk.
   4. Since the VAIO P only has 2GB of memory, I decided not to get rid of the paging. Instead I use the ReadyBoost (Wikipedia) feature with a 2GB SD card (moves the paging file to the SD card). I have seen some posts about not using ReadyBoost since the SSD may be faster but having the paging file on the SD card minimizes writes to the SSD. I could be wrong on this one (more research required). The Wikipedia reference mentions that ReadyBoost is disabled when the system disk is an SSD but I can vouch that is not the case, my ReadyBoost drive shows activity.
   5. I did not disable hibernation since I find that it boots the system much quicker and I like the functionality of saving my work without using battery.

DD-WRT OS for Linksys Routers is an Excellent Upgrade (update 2)

Back in 2007 I upgraded my network with 2 Linksys WRT54G-TMO routers I had received free (with a rebate) for signing up for T-Mobile HotSpot @ Home service (seems to be dying a slow death with no devices on the horizon). I have the Linksys routers set up as bridges (upstairs and downstairs) wired to a D-Link DFL-210 router which connects directly to the Verizon FIOS Optical Network Terminal.

One of the remaining low signal spots in my home has been the porch. The signal strength on the porch fluctuates between 10% and 20% with fairly frequent disconnects. I had tried to solve the problem by adding another Linksys WRT54G, and using it as a wireless bridge but the solution never worked consistently so I sold it. This summer I decided to try again, this time with a Linksys WRE54G range expander from eBay. I had not been able to get it to work reliably and narrowed the issue down to a routing problem; the internet traffic was not being funneled to the D-Link router (I could ping all my other devices on my network). I tried entering a static route in the Linksys router to no avail.

I had previously researched the DD-WRT router OS and was impressed with all the available functionality, but at the time the upgrade process was fairly laborious and in some cases required a hardware modification. When I Googled DD-WRT this time, I found some enterprising individual (Thanks Luniz2k1) had come up with a way to flash (no hardware mod required) the WRT54G-TMO router using a two step process. It was also clear that many individuals had posted having success with the WRE54G and DD-WRT. I decided to take the plunge and try it. The upgrade was simple; the key is setting up the two static addresses in TCP/IP settings (192.168.0.1 Linksys default and 192.168.1.1 DD-WRT default), since the only acknowledgement you receive that the upgrade is complete is from a successful ping command.

I don't know why I waited so long, the DD-WRT OS is full featured and makes the Linksys OS look like child's play. I was able to get the WRE54G range expander to work with DD-WRT by adding a static route from the Linksys router (DD-WRT) to my internal subnet using the static LAN interface address. A static route is not required, however route propagation seems slow (it takes about a minute several minutes) or maybe it is just the way Vista handles the gateway route, but this only happens when the WRE54G is on and part of the network. I need to investigate more.

The Microsoft vs. Apple ad war continues

As you have might have noticed in the last couple of weeks Microsoft and Apple have escalated their ad war, each by returning salvos on the key points they are trying to make.

Microsoft is attacking price for performance (the Apple tax), while Apple is drilling the virus vulnerability, bloatware (not really Microsoft's fault but their hardware partners), and reliability. Both Microsoft and Apple's point views are really based on perception, I could argue both ways, but when it comes down to the eco system (number of applications) and price point I would buy a Windows machine. As I have said many times my Lenovo X60 with Vista is rock solid. That does not mean I have not been eying a MacBook Air (the design is outstanding), but if I spent the money I would surely run bootcamp to have access to all the Windows applications I use. I just priced a Lenovo X301 on sale for $1389 with 128MB solid state drive and 3GB of DDR3 memory, although it only has 1.40GHZ processor which is slower than a 1.6GHZ 128GB MacBook Air ($2,299), but $800 cheaper. $800 for design and a 12.5% increase in processor speed, I am not sure I am game but others might see the value.

What I find interesting are the views from the Apple blogosphere, some the venom against Microsoft is pretty sad (just look at the comments on any Microsoft reporting), however I do have to commend Apple Insider for trying to take a more balanced approach. Even though they are slanted towards Apple, which I understand, they try to provide a both sides. Today they reported a study today by BrandIndex which found; Microsoft overtaking Apple in value perception when Microsoft started airing their ads. In the end the study does not tell us whether it will translate into sales for Microsoft and its partners, but I laughed when I read the last sentence; "Apple is still expected to ship fewer Macs in spring than it did last year but in line with expectations reflecting the economic reality rather than the effect of an attack by Microsoft". This is classic Apple to downplay expectation and probably a smart move.

In place Win 7 upgrade of my Fujitsu U810

My in place upgrade with Windows 7 from Vista went smoothly on my Fujitsu U810 and I am typing this post on it using Word 2007. That said there were 5 issues, all related to drivers when the upgrade was completed:

• The mouse stick was erratic. I had to uninstall the Alps pointing device driver in the control panel. I need to find a solution.
• The pen`s calibration was out whack. I tried to use Fujitsu calibration, which did not work. I had to use the Win 7 calibration; start/search calibration for calibrate the screen for pen or touch input.
• OmniPass Control Center would not start. The fingerprint sensor driver installed correctly and the Windows logon works fine. In order to make to run the OmniPass application you need to set compatibility mode to Vista. This is done by going right clicking on the application, clicking on Properties and selecting the compatibility tab. I do find that when I run OmniPass it does seem to hog the CPU, so I use sparingly.

• Fujitsu buttons under the screen did not work. You need to remove the Button utility and driver. Then reinstalling them by setting the compatibility mode to Vista on the setup utility. The catch is that you must do this after the downloaded file from the Fujitsu web is extracted. This means that once the install routine starts (after the extraction) you must cancel the install. Then you need to open file explorer to C:\drivers\BUTTON-DRIVER_FUJITSU_V2.0.1026.2006_XPTPC,VISTA_CA40701-S725 and change the compatibility setting for setup to Vista and check run as administrator. You can then double click on setup to install the driver. Do the same for the button utility setup under C:\drivers\BUTTON-UTILITY_FUJITSU_V7.00.0910.2007_XPTPC . Reboot and voila, although I have not gotten the screen rotation to work yet.
• Auto screen rotation did not work. On my to-do list, but the work around is manual screen rotation.

 

The U810 has a lot of weaknesses most notably the lack of memory and 800MHZ processor but for Word and IE it works quite well. I use a 1GB Readyboost SD card and always have the power settings at to maximum performance. The battery lasts a little under 4 hours which works for my use.

Windows 7 clearly helps this little UMPC in performance and disk usage (I gained 7GB after Vista). It is not the best experience but for the 1.3lbs small package it works while traveling. I use suspend and hibernate to make the startup process as fast as possible, but always plan on 3-4 minutes to get started and plug in every chance I get. With my iGo charger I can pretty much charge anywhere I have access to power (AC, car and plane).

Here are some good links. I still have some debugging to do and will update this post. The bottom line Windows 7 works very well and I am not going back…

http://forum.pocketables.net/archive/index.php/t-1651.html

http://katastrophos.net/andre/blog/2009/01/03/installing-windows-7-build-7000-on-fujitsu-u810/

http://support.fujitsupc.com/CS/Portal/supportsearch.do

Microsoft may have shot itself in the foot trying to respond to the Mac blogosphere

The beauty of Microsoft's new PC advertising campaign was its simplicity. Everyone knows, even the Mac faithful, that you pay a premium to purchase Mac. The original Lauren ad kept the theme simple. No discussion of hardware or software specifications, just an assumption of what an average consumer needed in a computing platform. I think Microsoft hit their mark.

Now Microsoft is trying to respond to complaints from the Mac blogosphere by subsidizing an Apple tax white paper written by Endpoint Technologies Associates president Roger Kay. In doing so Microsoft may have shot themselves in the foot. The basic problem with the white paper is that it does not offer a balanced view for the total cost of ownership (TCO) between a Mac and PC. As I mentioned before we all know the Mac is more expensive, quantifying that difference in TCO is much harder to do. Roger Kay tries to run up the pricing difference by adding purely optional items, he distracts from the base price of the computers. He also allows the Mac blogosphere to have a field day.

I don't know what Microsoft executives where thinking when they decided to publish this whitepaper; the beauty of the Apple Mac vs. PC ads was that for the most part they kept the concept simple; the Mac is better than a PC.

I think Microsoft's pricing argument is excellent and they hit their mark with the Lauren ad, they veered away slightly with the Gaimpaolo ad, but I think came back on message with the Lisa and Jackson ad. Why bother with a whitepaper, it is as if you were trying to show that the Mac blogosphere has a point, ignoring them while hammering the price message would have been a much wiser decision.