# Windows 7 RTM: Hardware and Device Issues



## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Windows 7, the final version is being released August 6th to members of TechNet and MSDN. Other interim releases will follow leading up to the final public release on October 22nd.
The purpose of this thread is to report your experiences with the installation of hardware and devices, such as printers and scanners, video and sound cards, cameras, mp3 players, etc. Did the hardware install perfectly with included drivers? Did you have to download either a new Windows 7 driver or a Vista driver to make it work? Does the manufacturers web site have Windows 7 information as yet?

As always, the more information you give us, the more helpful we can be. Post version numbers and dates, and information about your hardware.

Lastly, this thread is for people who have made the decision to move to Windows 7. If you just want to bash Microsoft or Windows 7, please start your own thread.


Thanks

Larry


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

This morning, I installed the Microsoft LifeCam VX-7000 on my primary Windows 7 PC.

Normally, I would download the latest drivers and software for a webcam and run the install and wait for the program to tell me to plug the webcam in.

I decided to see how Windows 7 would handle it if I just connected the webcam. The experience was extremely refreshing...

1. Windows 7 detected the webcam and started an installation.. which popped a windows explain what it was doing.

2. Windows 7 downloaded everything it needed automatically with no intervention by me.

3. It ran the install program and, indeed, reached a point where it was finished and told me to plug the webcam in. Since it was already plugged in, I opted to just click the "Finished" button. 

4. Windows 7 opened the webcam software automatically... instantly display a scary picture of my ugly mug... and then took me through tuning the camera. It offered choices of screen resolution up to 800x600, freqency settings of both 50 and 60Hz. It then took me through setting the audio level of the built in Microphone.

All in all this was an extremely good install experience. It was a much better install experience, better automated, than it was in Vista. Of course, it is a Microsoft Product and that may have contributed to the experience. 

I am hopeful that someone with a Logitech WebCam will attempt this same procedure and report back on how it worked for them.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

I just completed setting up my XBox 360 as a Media Center Extender. There is a step necessary in Windows 7 that you need to do before you start the normally automated procedure.

Go to Start> Control Panel> Windows Firewall>

In the left hand column, select "Allow a Program or Feature Through Windows Firewall"

You will get a list of programs that are allowed through the Firewall, click on the "Change Settings" button and scroll down the list to find "Media Center Extenders" and select it. Click the "OK" button at the bottom of the screen and exit the Control Panel.

Now open the Windows Media Center in Windows 7 and follow the procedure for adding Media Center Extenders with your XBox as normal.

Larry


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## njblackberry (Dec 29, 2007)

I am installling Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit. Clean install as the laptop had the RC on it.

HP Elitebook model 6930P. 4GB RAM.

As with the RC, two devices weren't set up:

- HPQ0004 - HP Mobile Data Tools. This is actually the HP 3D Driveguard driver
- HPQ0006 - HP Quicklaunch buttons.

Downloading and installing both of the Vista 32 bit drivers resolved this.

There are still two outstanding unknown devices (I have seen it on all HP devices I've put Win7 on - PCI Serial Port and PCI Simple Communications Controller. 

Haven't figured those out yet.

Larry - great work setting this all up and thanks.


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

I have a Dell Inspiron 600m notebook. It came with XP. Now has Win 7 RTM Ultimate on it. So far, can't find a driver for the touch pad. It works but it seems that Win 7 doesn't have any controls for it so I can adjust it (want to turn off tap feature). I think it's an Alps touchpad and found the XP driver for the notebook on Dell's site but not sure using the XP driver is wise. Any suggestions?


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

You can try the XP driver, if it is an installation program, right click on the .exe setup file first and run it in compatibility mode. If it is just a driver .inf file, save it somewhere you can find it and go to the device manager and update the driver.



Hansen said:


> I have a Dell Inspiron 600m notebook. It came with XP. Now has Win 7 RTM Ultimate on it. So far, can't find a driver for the touch pad. It works but it seems that Win 7 doesn't have any controls for it so I can adjust it (want to turn off tap feature). I think it's an Alps touchpad and found the XP driver for the notebook on Dell's site but not sure using the XP driver is wise. Any suggestions?


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

New issue I found. RTM install of Win 7 64 bit Ultimate on a 8 month old Sony laptop. Did not do RC install on this so had not seen this before. 

Laptop is going to sleep per power management schedule. It uses a wireless network connection. When I wake it up, it does not re-connect the wireless? I get an X over the network icon. I try troubleshooting and it comes back with network cable unplugged. But, it's wireless. For some reason, the wireless is not restarting and I cannot go into network connections and restart it. I have to restart the computer completely to get it work again. Any ideas? For now, I've turned sleep to Never in the power management settings to avoid aggravating my wife.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Try This...

Start>Control Panel> Device Manager

Find Network Adapters... select the wireless adapter and right click on it.. select properties and click on the advanced tab. Uncheck "Allow computer to turn off this device". See if that helps.



Hansen said:


> New issue I found. RTM install of Win 7 64 bit Ultimate on a 8 month old Sony laptop. Did not do RC install on this so had not seen this before.
> 
> Laptop is going to sleep per power management schedule. It uses a wireless network connection. When I wake it up, it does not re-connect the wireless? I get an X over the network icon. I try troubleshooting and it comes back with network cable unplugged. But, it's wireless. For some reason, the wireless is not restarting and I cannot go into network connections and restart it. I have to restart the computer completely to get it work again. Any ideas? For now, I've turned sleep to Never in the power management settings to avoid aggravating my wife.


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## OverThereTooMuch (Aug 19, 2006)

njblackberry said:


> There are still two outstanding unknown devices (I have seen it on all HP devices I've put Win7 on - PCI Serial Port and PCI Simple Communications Controller.
> 
> Haven't figured those out yet.


They are a part of the Intel Chipset driver package. If you look in the Action Center (that flag thing near the clock), it should have a link directing you to the right drivers.


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## njblackberry (Dec 29, 2007)

OverThereTooMuch said:


> They are a part of the Intel Chipset driver package. If you look in the Action Center (that flag thing near the clock), it should have a link directing you to the right drivers.


Thanks; Action Center doesn't see it. According to a document I got from HP, there is no known solution to this problem (the two devices).


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## OverThereTooMuch (Aug 19, 2006)

njblackberry said:


> Thanks; Action Center doesn't see it. According to a document I got from HP, there is no known solution to this problem (the two devices).


PC vendors don't support Win7 now. So that's a pretty standard answer. I assure you there IS a solution to this problem 

Please go into device manager, find one of those devices, click on properties, go to the details tab and post the full hardware ID for it please. I'll see if I can find you a match.

I think one of them is the driver for the hardware that controls a com port, don't recall what the other one is.


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

Larry

I've run into an issue with the wireless in this laptop. The wireless adapter had disappeared this am when I turned tha laptop on this am. It worked fine last night before I shut it down. I had adjusted the wireless adapter as suggested but do not think this issues is related but don't know. Basically system starts up, I see the wireless meter in the system tray with spinning circle, it disappears quickly and the network icon comes up with an x on it. Trounbleshooting says plug ethernet cable in and I see no wireless options. Device manager no longer lists the intel wireless card under network adapter. I tried scan for hardware changes and no effect. I tried rebooting a few times and no effect. I did a system restore to earlier yesterday before making any changes and no effect. The wireless switch is on and the red led is light. Seems like the built in wireless card died but that seems odd. Any ideas?



LarryFlowers said:


> Try This...
> 
> Start>Control Panel> Device Manager
> 
> Find Network Adapters... select the wireless adapter and right click on it.. select properties and click on the advanced tab. Uncheck "Allow computer to turn off this device". See if that helps.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

Hansen said:


> Larry
> 
> I've run into an issue with the wireless in this laptop. The wireless adapter had disappeared this am when I turned tha laptop on this am. It worked fine last night before I shut it down. I had adjusted the wireless adapter as suggested but do not think this issues is related but don't know. Basically system starts up, I see the wireless meter in the system tray with spinning circle, it disappears quickly and the network icon comes up with an x on it. Trounbleshooting says plug ethernet cable in and I see no wireless options. Device manager no longer lists the intel wireless card under network adapter. I tried scan for hardware changes and no effect. I tried rebooting a few times and no effect. I did a system restore to earlier yesterday before making any changes and no effect. The wireless switch is on and the red led is light. Seems like the built in wireless card died but that seems odd. Any ideas?


 Nvidea nforce? they had some serious problems with them.. the MB goes bad.. I'm typing on one right now (now tethered with a cat5)..
This one died after running win7 and I think it was from the extra strain from the way win7 uses graphics..


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

houskamp said:


> Nvidea nforce? they had some serious problems with them.. the MB goes bad.. I'm typing on one right now (now tethered with a cat5)..
> This one died after running win7 and I think it was from the extra strain from the way win7 uses graphics..


No sure if it's a Nvidea mother board. Most stuff in Device Manager shows Intel. I know the wireless card is an Intel 5100 AGN wireless card.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

OK... hook up an ethernet cable and go to the manufacturers web site and download the approriate Vista X32 or 64 driver for your network card.

Install that driver... the software should run fine, we have fixed most wireless card issues this way. It should find the card and install the driver. Make sure you disable the "allow computer to control" option after it is installed. Make sure you restart the computer after you have re-established the wireless network connection. Your system is having a problem with the Windows 7 driver for your wireless card. Revert to the Vista driver and let us know.

Larry



Hansen said:


> Larry
> 
> I've run into an issue with the wireless in this laptop. The wireless adapter had disappeared this am when I turned tha laptop on this am. It worked fine last night before I shut it down. I had adjusted the wireless adapter as suggested but do not think this issues is related but don't know. Basically system starts up, I see the wireless meter in the system tray with spinning circle, it disappears quickly and the network icon comes up with an x on it. Trounbleshooting says plug ethernet cable in and I see no wireless options. Device manager no longer lists the intel wireless card under network adapter. I tried scan for hardware changes and no effect. I tried rebooting a few times and no effect. I did a system restore to earlier yesterday before making any changes and no effect. The wireless switch is on and the red led is light. Seems like the built in wireless card died but that seems odd. Any ideas?


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

LarryFlowers said:


> OK... hook up an ethernet cable and go to the manufacturers web site and download the approriate Vista X32 or 64 driver for your network card.
> 
> Install that driver... the software should run fine, we have fixed most wireless card issues this way. It should find the card and install the driver. Make sure you disable the "allow computer to control" option after it is installed. Make sure you restart the computer after you have re-established the wireless network connection. Your system is having a problem with the Windows 7 driver for your wireless card. Revert to the Vista driver and let us know.
> 
> Larry


Thanks. Tried this and no effect. I downloaded the drivers from Sony's website and tried installing them. It starts installing but seems like it doesn't finish since I never a get a dialogue box that says Finished.

I went to Intel's website and used the automated feature from Intel that detects the Intel wireless card you have and it said it could not find an Intel wireless adapter. Not good. Then tried downloading and installing the Intel drivers for the card that I know is in there and during install got a message that This program may not have installed correctly. And, of course it doesn't appear in device manager.

Any other ideas? Maybe the card came unseated (unlikely)?


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

This could be tied to the other chip driver problems you are having, but there is another thing you could try: Remover the wirless card from the laptop, there should be an access hatch on the bottom for it, then boot the computer with no card. Shut it down again and reinstall the card, boot and see if the system detects the "new" hardware.



Hansen said:


> Thanks. Tried this and no effect. I downloaded the drivers from Sony's website and tried installing them. It starts installing but seems like it doesn't finish since I never a get a dialogue box that says Finished.
> 
> I went to Intel's website and used the automated feature from Intel that detects the Intel wireless card you have and it said it could not find an Intel wireless adapter. Not good. Then tried downloading and installing the Intel drivers for the card that I know is in there and during install got a message that This program may not have installed correctly. And, of course it doesn't appear in device manager.
> 
> Any other ideas? Maybe the card came unseated (unlikely)?


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

Thanks. Looked on bottom and only doors for memory and hard drive. None for wireless card. Dumb design. Probably have to pull the back completely off and with it under warranty, I'll skip that for now.

To eliminate it as Win 7 being the cause and chipset drivers, I'm re-installing my WHS back up of the laptop under Vista before I installed Win 7 to see if the wireless card works under Vista. If not, then probably a dead card or problem with the switch on the side. If yes, then some issue with Win 7. Should take about 1 hour 15 to 20 minutes to restore it.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

Hansen said:


> Thanks. Looked on bottom and only doors for memory and hard drive. None for wireless card. Dumb design. Probably have to pull the back completely off and with it under warranty, I'll skip that for now.
> 
> To eliminate it as Win 7 being the cause and chipset drivers, I'm re-installing my WHS back up of the laptop under Vista before I installed Win 7 to see if the wireless card works under Vista. If not, then probably a dead card or problem with the switch on the side. If yes, then some issue with Win 7. Should take about 1 hour 15 to 20 minutes to restore it.


My laptop's wireless card is in the same compartment as the memory. (I have an HP.)


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

Drew2k said:


> My laptop's wireless card is in the same compartment as the memory. (I have an HP.)


I opened the covers but didn't pull the memory or harddrive out to see if located under those items. Would it be under them?


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

Hansen said:


> I opened the covers but didn't pull the memory or harddrive out to see if located under those items. Would it be under them?


 usualy next to the memory.. little 1" square card with 2 wires attached


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

Larry

Looks like it's the wireless card that went out as best as I can tell. I have placed back on the laptop the Vista image that existed just before I put Win 7 on there. No wireless card showing in Device Manager or Network stuff. It's like it doesn't exist. Guess I'll call Sony support and see what they say now that I've got the original image back on there. It might be co-incidence it went out 36 hours after installing Win 7.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants... all this work and the network card was bad.... is your laptop under warranty? If it is I wouldn't mention what you were doing... 



Hansen said:


> Larry
> 
> Looks like it's the wireless card that went out as best as I can tell. I have placed back on the laptop the Vista image that existed just before I put Win 7 on there. No wireless card showing in Device Manager or Network stuff. It's like it doesn't exist. Guess I'll call Sony support and see what they say now that I've got the original image back on there. It might be co-incidence it went out 36 hours after installing Win 7.


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

Yup, just an I'll timed hardware failure. Sony is sending a technician out to my house to repair it. Seems it was unrelated to Win 7 other than I get to do the install again now that I'm back on Vista. Yippee!

Thanks for all the help.

Mods, feel free to pull the posts on my issue and put into a different thread so they don't muddy up Larry's thread since it now appears unrelated to Win 7.



LarryFlowers said:


> Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants... all this work and the network card was bad.... is your laptop under warranty? If it is I wouldn't mention what you were doing...


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## neomaine (Feb 3, 2003)

After 20 plus years, have my first ever hardware issue upgrading the OS. The pre-install check showed my IDE driver for my ASRock mobo to not be supported. Checks everywhere, ASRock site, net searches... nothing came up with a match for the listed driver.

I've only got my OS drive and my dvd drive hooked up via IDE. Suppose I could go all SATA but would like to have avoided the estra expense. Though the new SSDs are looking pretty nice. Guess I'll stay on Vista64...

The actual message:

These devices might not work properly after the upgrade. Before upgrading, we recommend updating the drivers for these devices. Cancel the upgrade, open Control Panel and search for "update device drivers", or go to the device manufacturer's website to search for updated drivers.

Storage controllers: AKDAG1MG IDE Controller


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Asus is known for their quality. Great motherboards. Great Notebooks.

They are however also known for all of the following:
1. Poor technical support
2. A horrible web site
3. A horribly slow web site
4. A hard to navigate web site

If you have an Asus laptop/notebook and you are considering Windows 7, it could be a daunting task, but there is hope...

When you install Windows 7 32 bit or 64 bit, the first thing you should do, on another computer, is download the network driver or use the disc that came with your Asus and get a Vista network card driver from the disc. Get online before you sweat anything else.

Once you are online, go to the control panel and find the device manager. Open this and find out what the Windows 7 disc was unable to cope with. Right click on each item and select Update Driver software. Let Windows search online for the drivers. All but 3 of the issues I had were immediately resolved and my install was Windows 64 bit.

Now comes the hard part. When you go to the Asus support download site at http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us , on the right hand side of the screen you will see 3 dropdowns: Select Product, Select Series, Select Model. If you use this screen and enter the 3 pieces of information, when you hit search it will ask you via a pop-up which OS you have, The choices only go up to Vista 32, and if you are doing Windows 7 32 bit, these drivers will probably work.

If you are doing Windows 7 64 bit, or you would prefer Windows 7 32 bit drivers, they aren't here... but they are if you know how to get to them. Go back to the page linked above, but this time only "Select product". Hit search without choosing a model or series. Eventually (remember... hi-speed web site here) it will bring up an alphabetical list of models, but also includes 2 sections for "accessories" and "drivers". Go to the driver section and select the item you need a driver for. When you make the selection you will get a pop-up to choose an OS, BUT this time it will include Windows 7 32 & 64 bit. You can get the drivers you need for whichever flavor you need.

I was able to resolve all of my remaining driver issues from there with one exception. My laptop has a built in webcam which I have never used. If you are looking for the webcam driver, make sure you follow the link in the instructions to determine *exactly* which webcam you have . Once you make this determination, you will have your driver (except mine which for some reason is missing). This particular missing driver doesn't concern me, but eventually I will resolve it.

Larry


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## naijai (Aug 19, 2006)

MY Touch pro 2 doesn't seem to recognize i have outlook on the machine even after i made outlook the default mail handler(it wasn't on the rc) and keep's giving an error that it cannot find outlook


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## phat78boy (Sep 12, 2007)

naijai said:


> MY Touch pro 2 doesn't seem to recognize i have outlook on the machine even after i made outlook the default mail handler(it wasn't on the rc) and keep's giving an error that it cannot find outlook


Not sure this is the correct forum. Do you have the Windows Mobile Device Center installed? Is your TP2 setup in ActiveSync Mode? Windows 7 will download device center if you have plugged your phone in in AS mode. Sometimes doing windows update after you have plugged in your phone will speed the process up.


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## naijai (Aug 19, 2006)

Yes i downloaded wmdc and installed and that does see and sync to my TP but it's outlook that doesn't recognise the device to sync with it or vice versa. it worked on the rc but not rtm


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

Interesting hardware issue. I have a Sony Vaio laptop with built-in microphone and webcam (didn't know that until investigated this weekend...doh). Interesting issue, if I use Windows 7 to try to set up the microphone, it acts as if it can't hear anything. Video works fine. But, if I use the Arcsoft Webcam software I downloaded from Sony's website for my model and attempt to record sound and video, both microphone (sound) and video works perfectly.

Any ideas why Win 7 is having issues with picking up the microphone?


EDIT: I think I found the solution by using a different audio driver. That seems to have fixed the problem and it's working.


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## neomaine (Feb 3, 2003)

neomaine said:


> After 20 plus years, have my first ever hardware issue upgrading the OS. The pre-install check showed my IDE driver for my ASRock mobo to not be supported. Checks everywhere, ASRock site, net searches... nothing came up with a match for the listed driver.
> 
> I've only got my OS drive and my dvd drive hooked up via IDE. Suppose I could go all SATA but would like to have avoided the estra expense. Though the new SSDs are looking pretty nice. Guess I'll stay on Vista64...
> 
> ...


Well, decided to go for it anyway. Even after I get compatability message I let Win7 try the install. Received a differnt message saying it couldn't find the drivers on the disk. Thinking it was a bad burn, I tried to a new DVD. Same issue. This was using the orginal ISO available at MSDN launch. At this point (early Sept.) I figured my rig wasn't ready to go from Vista64 Ult to Win7-64 Ult.

Being a littled bored, and curious, last week I downloaded the latest ISO figuring they probably have added some recent patches and new compatability list. The ISO was now dated a couple week later in Auguest (8/29?). Figured there may be some hope, or least something to do. Burned it.

Pass the hardware test but this time saying that DEAMON Tools (new msg) and now a different IDE controller would not pass muster. Though I thought I had uninstalled DT some time ago (now using MS's own VCD tool...) figured these two items were related and that I may have found the problem.

Sure enough, Win7 installed cleanly (no missing .cab messages) and DEAMON Tools is no where to be found. I'm guessing after uninstalling DT, there was a left over virtual IDE driver that was giving me true, but false :grin:, error messages. Now been running Win7 nice and smoothly. No issues to date...

Just wanted to follow up on my experience...


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

neomaine said:


> Well, decided to go for it anyway.... Sure enough, Win7 installed cleanly (no missing .cab messages) and DEAMON Tools is no where to be found. I'm guessing after uninstalling DT, there was a left over virtual IDE driver that was giving me true, but false :grin:, error messages. Now been running Win7 nice and smoothly. No issues to date...
> 
> Just wanted to follow up on my experience...


Thanks for sharing.

I've read that some folks have had success using Vista drivers when a WIN7 driver is not specifically available for certain hardware....but caution is still a good idea.

Very glad to hear things are going well for you at this point.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Posted via email October 22nd 2009, they have a Windows 7 Center at http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/SupportWindows7.jsp


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## afulkerson (Jan 14, 2007)

Yep I got the same email from Epson. However Windows 7 has not arrived here yet.


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## HDJulie (Aug 10, 2008)

Just FYI for anyone with an HP device. I checked the website yesterday & there was a Windows 7 version of the software. I don't know how many printers & other hardware they have gotten to yet, but it is worth a check. It even came with a widget . Oh, and it does not work on Vista. My husband is running Vista Ultimate 64-bit (I have Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit) & when I tried to install it on his machine, it said that it was not compatible with Vista.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Any experience with 7 and Harmony remotes? I was going to install the software, but their Windows 7 page makes me a bit mad. It says if your product isn't listed, its not compatible. Not only is my remote not listed, the entire category isn't there. I'm hoping someone else has tried it and have good luck with the vista version before I take the risk.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

dpeters11 said:


> Any experience with 7 and Harmony remotes? I was going to install the software, but their Windows 7 page makes me a bit mad. It says if your product isn't listed, its not compatible. Not only is my remote not listed, the entire category isn't there. I'm hoping someone else has tried it and have good luck with the vista version before I take the risk.


I have a Harmony Remote. Software installed with no problems. Works fine.


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## kfcrosby (Dec 17, 2006)

LarryFlowers said:


> I have a Harmony Remote. Software installed with no problems. Works fine.


Ditto - NO problems !


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## ncxcstud (Apr 22, 2007)

Harmony remote software for my Harmony 510 works fine on Windows 7 beta (build 7100) on my laptop. I haven't installed it on my Windows 7 Professional machine, but I wouldn't expect anything different.


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## njblackberry (Dec 29, 2007)

Bitlocker issues observed; after encrypting the C: drive, the PC (laptop) will not shut down completely.

There is a hotfix available which resolves this - http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=975496


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