Begging help from the IT People: Windows 7 install

[Adam Baker]

Ok, last week I upgraded my computer to Win 7 64 bit from XP.

Since doing the install, I've had nothing but problems.

The install is fresh, I formatted the hdd and then installed Windows.

Since installing I've had all kinds of problems. The biggest issue I'm having right now is that after awhile, might be immediately after start up or could be 20 or 30 minutes, I loose my internet connection in any of the browsers I have (IE, Firefox, Chrome). It just sits there saying loading, and that's it. I never get a page saying the page couldn't load, the connection is taking too long, etc.

The strange part is that I still have internet b/c my chat programs work just fine and I can continue chatting, I just cant access the internet through a browser.

I'm also having problems w/ Windows Explorer crashing and not recovering, and the only way to fix it is to reboot the computer, but this doesn't seem to be as big an issue now.

I've installed drivers for the motherboard & video card.

Yesterday morning, thinking that I might have a bad install, I formatted and reinstalled 7 again, but the problems continued after the 2nd install.

System specs are as follows

Intel Pentium D935 Socket 775 LGA Dual Core 3.00ghz processor

MSI MS-7255 VIA P4M900 chipset motherboard

4gb RAM (only 2.5 gb shows in Windows Properties)

ATI Radeon X1650 Pro Video Card

230 gb Seagate hdd (operating system drive)
2 TB 7200 RPM 64 mb cache Seagate hdd (data drive)

I really hope someone can help me w/ this. Im seriously beginning to regret doing this upgrade, and wish that I'd just stuck w/ XP. At this point, if I cant fix it, I'm going to format the OS drive and go back to XP.

 

[SA Dave]

I am no IT guy but I wonder if your motherboard can support a 64 bit system really. The fact that its only showing 2.5 gig Ram is what leads me to this.(64Bit can take up to 8gig Ram depending on the motherboard while most 32 bits only go above 2gig) Is it maybe possible to do it as a 32 bit install? I know my old PC had just so much bugs when I went 64 Bit Win7 on it till an IT guy told me to do a 32 bit install.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[moon puppy]

Ok, last week I upgraded my computer to Win 7 64 bit from XP.

Theres your problem.

other thAN THAT...I HATE THIS IPAD!!!

other than that I think Dave has nailed it.

 

[Adam Baker]

I verified prior to purchasing the upgrade that the mobo/processor would support 64 bit, so its not that.

 

[Adam Baker]

Well, it appears that what I used to verify that my system was 64 bit compatible, was wrong. Did some more research and it appears its only 32 bit. I'm still not entirely sure, b/c its running, but not very well.

So I'm going to reformat and go back to XP until I can afford to upgrade my system.

 

[moon puppy]

Adam I think when you reformat you can install 7 clean. Upgrading an OS from one to another is never a good idea. Clean install should always be done.

Hey I like win7, once you turn all the nanny stuff off it's not bad at all. I think the rest of the specs on your system are well within what 7 can run on.

 

[Adam Baker]

Well, both times I installed it, it was after a reformat, I dont like doing straight upgrades either, I always do clean installs after formats.

After some more looking, it appears that my system will support 7 but there's just somethign wrong somewhere, and I'm sick and tired of dealing w/ it. I just completed another format, and installed XP.

I should be getting my quarterly bonus in early July, so I'll probably use the moeny I get from that, to upgrade my motherboard & processor. Part of the problem I might ahve had, was the memory. I found out that my motherboard will only support 2 gig of Ram, so that would explain why I was only seeing 2.5 gig.

For now I'll just hold on to the copy of 7 that I got, run XP until I can upgrade my hardware, and then reinstall 7.

 

[Rob -MadAsKiwi- Mooar]

Hi Adam

Sorry I did not see this sooner.

Your continued investigations have hit the nail on the head. Even though you use the M$ or other tool that can tell you what version of their operating system is compatible with your hardware, there is still the possibility that it just wont work. It is ALWAYS your best bet to check with the hardware manufacturer whether your equipment is capable of running what you are wanting to install as they will know best.

I am with MP though, in that, when you have a PC that is Win7 x64 ready, you will love it. But, do your self a favour and turn off the User Account Control settings as they will drive you up the wall, but other than that, you will love it.

Oh, one last thing, if/when you upgrade your hardware, make sure you have at least 3gb ram (I recommend 4gb+). Win7 x64 will run with 2gb, but nothing else will run all that well.

I hope this helps

Cheers

Rob

 

[SA Dave]

I am with the Win7 choir. its WAAAAAAY BETTER than XP. Once I got win7 working on my old PC I could work with files at least 1 gig bigger that was possible on XP - that was without changing one component on my PC.

When you get the new motherboard make sure you get at least an i5 or i7 processor also with a nice big screen card. Even if youre not going to play games it appears as if Win7 loves a great big screen card. The extra money spent will last you a few years. :hmmm :geek

 

[Adam Baker]

I use 7 on my computer at work, and its pretty nice, once I got used to how it was all laid out, and its definitely an improvement over XP.

I did some searching on motherboards & processors last night, and found a few that I liked. I found one combo that had a quad core 3.6 ghz processor w/ a motherboard that would support up to 64 gig of ram for what I felt was a fairly reasonable price. I obviously wont start w/ that much ram, but having the option to go that high would be nice, especially w/ the cad work I'm hoping to do more of on the side.

Hi Adam

Sorry I did not see this sooner.

Your continued investigations have hit the nail on the head. Even though you use the M$ or other tool that can tell you what version of their operating system is compatible with your hardware, there is still the possibility that it just wont work. It is ALWAYS your best bet to check with the hardware manufacturer whether your equipment is capable of running what you are wanting to install as they will know best.

I am with MP though, in that, when you have a PC that is Win7 x64 ready, you will love it. But, do your self a favour and turn off the User Account Control settings as they will drive you up the wall, but other than that, you will love it.

Oh, one last thing, if/when you upgrade your hardware, make sure you have at least 3gb ram (I recommend 4gb+). Win7 x64 will run with 2gb, but nothing else will run all that well.

I hope this helps

Cheers

Rob

An upgraded video card is definitely on my list of things I'd like to get, just depends on what I can find and how much it is. While looking at the above mentioned mobo's & processors, I found a couple of nice looking video cards. I do a fair bit of gaming, and the limiting factor up to now has been the video card. I've actually purchased a couple of games and got them home, only to find out I couldnt play them b/c of my video card. I want at least 1 gig of onboard memory, and the ability to support at least 3 monitors.

I am with the Win7 choir. its WAAAAAAY BETTER than XP. Once I got win7 working on my old PC I could work with files at least 1 gig bigger that was possible on XP - that was without changing one component on my PC.

When you get the new motherboard make sure you get at least an i5 or i7 processor also with a nice big screen card. Even if youre not going to play games it appears as if Win7 loves a great big screen card. The extra money spent will last you a few years. :hmmm :geek

 

[SA Dave]

64 Gig Ram!!! there is a Photoshop heaven

 

[Adam Baker]

Or CAD & 3D modeling in my case! Unfortunately video cards for gaming & design work are on opposite ends of teh spectrum, so I'm hoping to find one that will give me a happy medium, but I'm leaning more toward one that works for gaming since I do that more. Would be nice some day to have the money to build a dedicated CAD & 3D modeling machine but thats a few thousand dollars and several years down the road.

 

[SA Dave]

My next machine I will have to build up with at least a motherboard that can handle more than 8 gig ram. I have to have up to 3 programs open sometimes when I make large format designs.

Just yesterday I was working on 3 gig Photoshop files and they kept running out of RAM

I have now been filled with dreams of 64 gig RAM

 

[Adam Baker]

I'll have to check but I think that my system at work will hold up to 196you gig of ram! It has 6 slots for ram.