On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:15:43 +0100, scott wrote:

>> Next, I installed Windows 7 Ultimate N on the system.  On the plus side
>> - the installation was FAST.  Of the three full product installs, it
>> was the fastest, actually.  I think it took about the same amount of
>> time as Windows 3.1 did if you took out the diskette swapping.
>>
>> But it failed to detect my wireless card.  I had to actually plug into
>> the wired network.  Then it downloaded updates automatically and
>> installed a driver for the wireless card.  OK, it did eventually work;
>> but with oS 11.2, it just worked - didn't have to download anything.
> 
> Lucky for you, when I installed Win7 (it was also a 32bit -> 64bit OS
> upgrade for me) it turned out the wireless card I had has a *really*
> crappy website, and of course no 64bit drivers at all.  Luckily I have
> another desktop PC with a wireless card from a more reputable
> manufacturer (which of course advertised Win7 and 64bit compatibility on
> their website) so I simply swapped them over.

I actually had opportunity last night to install WinXP on the same 
hardware (the third of the three laptops) for a coworker who needed it 
for some software testing he's doing.  Using the recovery CD provided by 
Dell, I still had to download the drivers for the system.  I'm sure there 
probably was a driver DVD that I wasn't given to do the installation, but 
still....the D610 is older hardware and XP is an older OS; it seems that 
regardless of whether it's a new version of Windows or an older one, it 
took more work to get it to work than 11.2 did. :-)

Jim

Post a reply to this message