Windows 7 - My First Vista x64 Installation

Asked By Steve Winograd

01-Jan-08 01:53 AM

Hi Everyone,

I've been reading and learning a lot in this news group, and I want to
describe my very good first experience with 64-bit Windows.

I got a great price on a new Gateway GM5472, with 2.6 GHz Athlon 64 X2
dual core 5000+.  After increasing RAM from 2 GB to 4 GB and replacing
the 300W power supply with 500W, I wiped out Gateway's 32-bit Vista
Home Premium and installed 64-bit Vista Ultimate.

Installation was uneventful.  64-bit drivers for all of the built-in
devices, including the AverMedia TV tuner, were available on Gateway's
web site and from Windows Update.  I added a PCI Hauppauge WinTV-PVR
150 TV tuner, which works with Vista's built-in drivers.

These applications are installed and running fine: Virtual PC 2007,
Firefox, Thunderbird, Forte Agent, Second Copy, ShortKeys, Whisper 32,
News Rover, WorldMerge, Irfan View, MailWasher Pro, Office 2007,
Noteworthy Composer, NOD32 Antivirus, BurnCDCC, ImgBurn.

Virtual machines  that I created on a 32-bit Intel system run fine on
AMD 64-bit.

The only application that won't install is Comcast Rhapsody, because
of DRM.  I can access Comcast Rhapsody from a web site, so that's OK.

My networked HP LaserJet 2600n and Brother MFC-440CN printers work
fine.  So does an HP LaserJet 6P on a D-Link DP-300U print server.

The only device that won't install is a discontinued Motorola USB
wireless network adapter.

My favorite thing is that I added a PCIe GeForce 8500 GT graphics card
and, along with the built-in GeForce 6150SE, I'm running three
monitors.  :-)
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see.  I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

01-Jan-08 02:14 AM

Congratulations and Happy New Year.

01-Jan-08 02:34 AM

Where did you find 64 bit drivers for AverMedia TV tuner? I have an old one,
and I did not think they even made XP drivers for it.

01-Jan-08 03:00 AM

On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 00:14:25 -0700, "Colin Barnhorst"

Thanks, Colin.  Happy New Year to you, too.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see.  I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

01-Jan-08 03:29 AM

On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 23:34:18 -0800, "Zootal"

Vista has a built-in 64-bit driver for the AverMedia M791 PCIe Combo
NTSC/ATSC tuner.  I mistakenly said that Gateway has the driver.  The
driver on the Gateway web site is 32-bit.

AVerMedia has a 64-bit driver here:

http://www.aver.com/mpd/support/download/m791_pcie.html

AVerMedia drivers for other products are here.  I hope that your tuner
is included:

http://www.aver.com/mpd/support/download/download.html
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see.  I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

01-Jan-08 03:41 AM

Mine is in the "discontinued" section, it's an old TVFM98 card. The Aver US
people are clueless. They told me there were no XP drivers for my card, so I
went to the Taiwan Aver site, and found them there. Works very will with
XP32. Alas, no XP64 drivers...<sigh>....

01-Jan-08 10:45 AM

Congratulations, Steve!

Welcome to the 64-bit world!  I've been running Vista Ultimate x64 since RTM
on a homebuilt rig very similar to your Gateway (AMD 64 X2 5000+, 4 GB RAM,
etc.) and am very happy with it.  After fighting with drivers and a few
incompatible programs all through the Vista beta, I was very pleased to find
that practically all the drivers I needed were that at RTM and that the
final few apps were compatible with the final Vista.

Enjoy!  And Happy New Year to you, too!

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)

01-Jan-08 11:01 AM

Welcome to our 64-bit world, Steve.  You've obviously done your homework and
understand the dynamics of moving to a new architecture.

--
Charlie.
http://msmvps.com/xperts64
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/charlie.russel

01-Jan-08 12:52 PM

On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 09:45:40 -0600, "R. C. White" <rc@grandecom.net>

Thanks, RC.  I was pleased with the driver and app support, too.

Happy New Year!
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see.  I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

01-Jan-08 01:11 PM

On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 08:01:48 -0800, "Charlie Russel - MVP"

Thanks, Charlie. The people in this news group are great teachers. :-)

I notice that most of the replies to my first message are top-posted.
Is that the convention here?  If so, I'll consider switching.  The
other Msnews groups that I take part in are almost all bottom-posted.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see.  I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

01-Jan-08 01:32 PM

Steve,
Congratulations and welcome to the 64-bit world.
Regarding your "old" Motorola USB wireless network adapter there is always a
chance that the same chipset may be used or produced by another manufacturer.
Go to Device Manager, right click on your USB adapter, go to the detail
tabs, choose Hardware ID and take note of the VID and PID entries.
The first one identifies the real manufacturer and the second one the device
itself.
Go here:
http://www.pcidatabase.com/
And input your VID in the dialog box in order to find out the real
manufacturer.
Try googling from there on with that info, VID PID and manufacturer, in
order to find equivalent USB adapters that might have Vista x64 drivers.
That worked for me with an unknown brand webcam for which I found drivers in
Genius.
Carlos

01-Jan-08 03:14 PM

We seem to be mostly a top-post group, but one of the "rules" here is that
we don't get into "religous wars". Not about processors, not about windows
v. linux, and not about top v. bottom posting. ;)

We try to be tolerant and helpful. And collegial. So do whatever works for
you. I'm a top poster, since I have already got the entire thread there,
persistent in OE/WM, and it's just easier for me.

--
Charlie.
http://msmvps.com/xperts64
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/charlie.russel

01-Jan-08 03:15 PM

Now that's a really useful description of the process, Carlos. Mind if I
steal it for the xperts64 blog?


--
Charlie.
http://msmvps.com/xperts64
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/charlie.russel

01-Jan-08 04:05 PM

Charlie,
Glad to share part of my bag o' tricks with everybody!
A comprehensive list of VID's and PID's can be found here:
http://www.pcidatabase.com/reports.php?type=tab-delimeted
Carlos

02-Jan-08 01:15 AM

Posted. Thanks.

--
Charlie.
http://msmvps.com/xperts64
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/charlie.russel

06-Jan-08 05:16 PM

On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 10:32:05 -0800, Carlos

Thanks, Carlos -- that's a great tip about finding drivers.

The VID for the Motorola USB wireless NIC is 07B2.  That number
doesn't appear in the PCI database.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see.  I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

06-Jan-08 09:06 PM

I entirely agree - this is extremely usefull if you are cornered. This is
promptly being re-directed off to the printer and inserted in my reference
library.

Good work, Carlos!


Tony. . .

07-Jan-08 07:14 AM

Thanks, Tony!

07-Jan-08 07:16 AM

Steve,
A little of googling took me to this additional database:
http://www.filewatcher.com/p/usbutils-0.11-5mdk.src.rpm.227936/usb.ids.html
where VID 07B2 is assigned to Motorola BCS, Inc.
There's one device listed under that VID.
It is a PID 4100 which happens to be a Motorola SB4100 Cable Modem.
I don't know which is the PID for your USB modem, but you might find
something in the web searching for the VID together with the PID.
Carlos