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.

Quick Fix – Twhirl and Windows 7 Lockup issue

After I upgraded to Windows 7, I started having issues with Twhirl locking up. Even after terminating the process using Task Manager I could never get Twhirl to start up again without performing a reboot. My suspicion is that Adobe Air which Twhirl is based on is not fully Windows 7 compliant. The reason I say this is that once the problem occurs, I tried to use TweetDeck (which is also based on Air) and it would not load.

The quick fix is to go to start, type twhirl, right click on the program twhirl, click on properties, click on the compatibility tab, check "run the program in compatibility mode", select Vista Service Pack 2, and click ok.

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 in Place Upgrade of My Sony VAIO P

Since I purchase my VAIO P after June 26^th of this year, I was eligible for the free Windows 7 upgrade kit provided by Sony. The upgrade kit finally arrived Thursday. Here are the steps I followed to perform my in place upgrade:

The Sony Windows 7 upgrade kit came with 2 DVD, one containing Microsoft Windows 7 and one with Sony's drivers and applications.

1. I created an image of my system with Acronis True Image Home 2010 to a 120GB WD USB drive. Without OneCare, I think this is the best backup solution out there.
2. I downloaded, installed and ran the current version of the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

 

1. I reviewed the reports and followed the advice given. I hate that Microsoft discontinued OneCare, it was probably one of the most helpful home/small office program they ever put together, but this year has been the year of slashing in Redmond with MS Money, and other consumer apps going by the wayside (Today I just got an email that Office Accounting is being discontinued, maybe MS really wants me to try an iMac…WTF). It is interesting that the VZ Access Manager is listed for reinstall on the VAIO-P upgrade advisor report. I did not have to uninstall it on my X60 Tablet. It probably has something to do with the VAIO P's GOBI chip.

1. Once I completed the un-installs, I reran the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. Since I did not have the base VZ Access Manager Sony edition software to reinstall, I have decided to leave it alone and see what happens.
2. As I mentioned in my X60 upgrade list, it is a good idea to check for the latest BIOS. Sony has not released any new BIOS since the original pre installed one so I should be fine and if I need a new one the extra Sony specific disk should include it.
3. I then started the install process using the Microsoft DVD which came in the upgrade kit. The installation process validates and installs any required prerequisite Sony drivers and applications for the VAIO P. This is a big advantage of using a manufacturer upgrade kit and makes it rather idiot proof, versus downloading Windows 7 directly from Microsoft which recommends checking the manufacturer's web site manually.
4. The Windows 7 upgrade took about 4 hours, I then inserted the Sony VAIO P specific DVD and that took another hour. When I rebooted the system with Windows 7, I did have to reenter all of my network keys and network types (home, office, public) but all the drivers where updated automatically. As with the X60 I did have to uninstall and reinstall the Cisco VPN client version 5.0.04.0300.
5. I then needed to install a new Anti-Virus application. For this machine I decided to use Microsoft Anti Virus engine from the Microsoft Security Essentials web page. It is free to consumers and should provide adequate protection along with Windows Defender and Firewall (both come with Windows 7).
6. Since Microsoft is no longer shipping Photo and Video applications with Windows 7, Sony added it's Picture Motion Browser, which is great if you have Sony cameras since it recognizes them easily. I use it for importing AVCHD videos. For Video editing Sony included Sony VAIO Story; I have not tried it yet.

The VAIO P running Windows 7.

My upgrade experience so far has been excellent; it is faster and uses much less memory. Finally Sling Player works well in full screen mode…One more machine to go; my Dell XPS 720 H2C, thinking of rebuilding with Windows 7 64 bit.

Windows 7 Tip – Love Recently Used Attached to Program on Start Menu

Windows 7 provides easy access to recently used items by attaching the function to the specific application on the Start Menu. Click on the arrow to the right of the application and a list of recently used items will be displayed for you to select.

I can choose the server I want to Remote Desktop to from the Start Menu. Very nice feature.