The Dell M1730 and Win 7 Page
Hello everybody, this page looks like pants because I don't have a lot of time.
But I am doing this for everyone who is having problems installing Win 7 on their M1730!
Please read all my notes or you might get in trouble !
Step 1 : AHCI & Raid drivers
before you start installing Windows 7 You might want to grab the AHCI & Raid drivers and put them on a USB thumb drive, You might need these during the installation of Windows 7
Step 2 : Chipset drivers
Now that you have installed windows 7, the first thing you need to do is install the Intel Chipset drivers, but before you do this open the windows control panel, then go to "action center". There you select the "change user account control settings" on the left hand side and turn it off completely! Now install the drivers.
Step 3 : The intel matrix storage driver and utility
Right, now we need to install the Intel Matrix stuff, This is needed for SATA, RAID and if you have one, the Intel Turbo memory card.
Step 4 : Graphics drivers
Next up are the graphics drivers, grab the latest and greatest at the NVIDIA download page (for 8700 & 8800 cards take the 8M series, for 9800 cards take the 9M series), This also installs PHYSX, make sure you reboot after installing the graphics drivers, then go to the NVIDIA control panel (located in the windows contol panel) and make sure that SLI and Physx are enabled (you need to reboot again after enabeling SLI)
Step 5 : The sound driver
This driver is actually a Vista driver, but it works with Win7 as well. I'm using it on my M1730 for more than a half year and it works perfect ! Perhaps after installing the compatibility assistent might pop up and ask you if the program installed correctly, if it does, choose "yes".
Step 6 : The card reader driver
Another driver that is originally for vista, but it works under win7 too. Also after installing the compatibility assistent might pop up and ask you if the program installed correctly, if it does, choose "yes".
Step 7 : The LCD panel
Use the link down here to go to the logitech website (you will be redericted to the right spot immediatly). There choose if you have 32 or 64 bit, download and install the driver.
Step 8 : WIFI
Now this is tricky, because not all the M1730's have the same wireless card, my card is the INTEL 4965AGN card, so the drivers down here are for this card only !!! If you dont have an intel card proceed to "other WIFI".
Step 9 : Other WIFI & Bluetooth
If you have a different card or bluetooth (I dont have Dell bluetooth) and you cannot find a driver, go to the control panel, there choose "device manager". There highlight the device you need the driver for by left-clicking on it once. Now right click once on the device and select "properties". In the properties window, click on the "details" tab. In the details tab, click on the drop down menu and select "hardware ids". In the value field left click on the top item, now right click on it and select "copy". Okay, now surf to this website and paste the device id in the search box, hopfully you will find your driver now ! (remember, this is an awesome tip !! you can use this in the future for other computers and hardware as well)
Step 10 : The touchpad
Okay, so here's the touchpad drivers, nothing special here, just agree on the licence agreement to start your download
Step 11 : The webcam
The webcam is automatically installed by windows 7 , but the webcamcenter is not and the dell webcamcenter does not work with windows 7.
So , if you want something similar that can make video's and pictures with the integrated camera, download this alternative.
Dell webcam center alternative (32 & 64 bit)
Step 12 : The LAN driver
Here are the links to the lan drivers, if you click them you will see the broadcom licence agreement; click on "accept" to start the download
Step 13 : The Dell Quickset
Here is the dell Quickset for windows 7, you better install this too if you want OSD messages for volume, brightness, etc..
Step 14 : Pat yourself on the back
You are done, enjoy your M1730 with windows 7 !!!
Here are links of other softwares you might want to install (Which I think are essential)
and last but not least, Diskeeper . Diskeeper is NOT free, but you should buy it, it keeps your PC from fragmenting and keeps performance top notch, your PC will stay as responsive as it is after a clean install, even after years of use. Diskeeper is different than other defragmenters because it automatically defragments your drive when there are unused CPU cycles. THIS IS A MUST BUY !!! I can't stress this hard enough. Its not very cheap, but its really really good !