Windows 7 with Hardware report

[macdunn]

I managed to download the Windows 7 32bit beta on Jan. 11 from Germany. Not a bad download experience though it did last overnight.Anyway, I will be sharing in this thread my test results from trying to run 'older' hardware - parallel port, USB and PCMCIA -- with Win7. Of course, some of this hardware is old but I have it, so why not test it. Also, I have not looked at Vista at all so I will not compare to it. I, like my clients, am [satisfactorily] using Windows XP.All of the hardware I am describing works with the very same laptops running Windows XP Pro and 2000.First, my hardware --

Compaq EVO N620c laptop

1.5-GHz Intel Pentium-M Processor with 400-MHz Front Side Bus and 1024-KB L2 cache2-GB 266-MHz SDRAM DDR SDRAM (1024-MB SODIMMs in slots 1 and 2)ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 4X AGP graphics controller with 32-MB DDR VRAMSoundMax Integrated Digital AudioBroadcom NetExtreme Gigabit Ethernet adapterCompaq WLAN Multiport W200 (WiFi 802.11b standard)SMC IrCC - Fast Infrared PortTwo Type II/One Type III PC Card Slots which support <B>both 32-bit CardBus and 16-bit PC Cards</B>Two USB Ports (specified by Compaq as <B>USB 2.0</B>) (one port can power the External MultiBay option)Fujitsu 100GB HDD (again, turn on the wayback machine and remember using cassette players to store programs)

I have two more of these that are running XP Professional that I have used to get drivers from for Win7 when possible.As many people have reported, the installation went surprising well and fast, even compared to XP (no experience with Vista, remember). Win7 did not have drivers for three pieces of hardware --

SoundMax Integrated Digital AudioCompaq WLAN Multiport W200SMC IrCC - Fast Infrared Port

I networked though the Broadcom network adapter (hardwire, obviously) to one of my other N620c's with XP installed, enabled sharing for the Windows directory and was able to load the drivers for the SoundMax 'card' and for the W200 WiFi adapter. No problems using these drivers yet, matter of fact, Win7 reports a slightly better connect signal (WiFi) than the very same hardware using XP and sitting next to each other. But, no driver was found for the IrCC adapter which does work on my N620c's/XP. No big loss with the IrCC adapter since I do not use it (who does?, why do they still build them in laptops?). Note: after using the Win7 machine for a week and installing drivers for other devices not initially supported either over my hardwire network or from downloads, the IrCC is suddenly identified. I have NO idea why now.Now then, further add-on hardware testing --First, let me say that most of the time when a device is correctly installed, it does not appear in the Device Manager until I have done a cold reboot.Parallel port devices1) Primax Colorado 1200p 36-bit Scanner (bought in 2001 when I did not have a computer that had a USB port)

Well, at the moment I cannot report on this because it is showing its periodic dislike for work and not being see-able by either my XP machines or the Win7 machine. Sorry, more to come when the scanner wakes up again.

2) HP DeskJet 930c w/parallel and USB support (bought in 2001 when I did not have a computer that had a USB port)

Win7 sees it on the parallel port but returns an error -

Printer driver was not installed.Operation could not be completed (error 0xe0000101).

When I download the XP drivers from the HP Website (they don't have Vista drivers and just say that Vista has the drivers built-in), the XP drivers install and the printer appears in the Devices and Printers control panel. When I try to print a test page through the Printer Properties, an error is returned -

Printer settings could not be saved. The local print spooler service is not running. Please restart the spooler or restart the machine.

So, no go as a parallel printer at this point.I tried to hook the 930c up using the USB port with no luck at all. It is seen as an Unknown USB device and the drivers from HP cannot be installed.

3) Epson Photo 2000p w/parallel and USB support (bought it used in 2007 to print 270 and 360 degree panoramas that I make, it is out-of-production)

Win7 does not see it on the parallel port but when I use the Add Printer dialog and select the downloaded drivers, it installs the XP drivers and is seen immediately by Win7. When I go to print a Test Page from the Printer Properties, it prints immediately with no problems. Great!I did not even bother to try the USB port since the HP and other devices keep choking on the USB port.

USB devicesWhen I plug in almost every USB device, I get a message - this device would perform better or is not usable unless it is plugged into a USB 2.0 port. But, both of the USB ports in my N620c are 2.0! This is why I don't use USB except for memory sticks (read further, though).4) HP DeskJet 930c w/parallel and USB support

As I already said, no support. I will admit that I have not tested it over the USB port with any other O/S.

5) Belkin USB WiFi stick (model no. F5D7050)

Plug it in, get the message that it would function better on a 2.0 port. I install the XP drivers downloaded from the Belkin Website and it is recognized. However, it is still labeled as 'not functioning', probably because of the USB problem.When I turn the computer off and then back on, the Belkin WiFi stick is not identified in the Device Manager as the Belkin

Network

device but as an Unknown USB device. No recovery was possible.

6) Sony 128MB Memory Stick (USB 2.0) (okay, so it is only 128MB, but I don't always need gigabytes of space and I have it already)

When I first plugged it in (earlier today), I got the message -

USB Device Not RecognizedOne of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it.For assistance,...

Now, several hours later and many other hardware installations, when I rebooted my Win7 machine with the Sony stick in a USB port, it is discovered, installed and can be written to and read.

7) Kingston DataTraveler Memory Sticks (USB 2.0) (I have two each in 512MB, 1 GB and 4GB)

Did not matter which one, when I first plugged it in (earlier today), I got the message -

USB Device Not RecognizedOne of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it.For assistance,...

Now, several hours later and many other hardware installations, when I rebooted my Win7 machine with one of the Kingston sticks in a USB port (except for one of the 512MB sticks), it is discovered, installed and can be seen in the drive list. However, none of the Kingston sticks display the contents or the labels I have given them. None! And they all have files of one type or another.

8) SanDisk cruzer mini 1GB (USB 2.0)

This is the only memory stick that I have that is immediately identified by Win7, installed and correctly displays the files on the stick.

9) Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse w/ Wireless adapter

Installs immediately and works most of the time. There have been several times when it loses the signal and the mouse is only one foot away from the sender. I have changed the battery in the mouse and it made no difference. Then, the signal comes back. This is Microsoft hardware with Windows 7!

10) SanDisk CompactFlash [Card] USB Reader (with a SanDisk Ultra II 8GB CF Card)

When I plug it in, I get the message -

USB Device Not RecognizedOne of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it.For assistance,...

Never got it to work.

11) Sony PlayStation Portable (I got it to watch movies and to be able to check my email with the built-in WiFi and to Skype while taking a bike ride on the Rhine, no games)

When I plug it in, I get the message -

USB Device Not RecognizedOne of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it.For assistance,...

Never got it to work.

12) Compaq MultiBay External Drive (USB 2.0)

Compaq, and then HP after Compaq bought them, has a great device for laptops -- the MultiBay. In many of the different models, primarily the professional models, the second drive, usually the CD/DVD drive, is in a drive bay that it can be easily removed from and another drive device installed. There are also several models of external MultiBays that are used with the USB port.The external MultiBay is immediately identified, the drivers loaded and then functioning.

13) Philips Skype-compatible Webcam (SPC315NC/00)

I downloaded the XP drivers from the Philips Website and ran the installation (before plugging in the Webcam).Rebooted the computer as requested by the installation.Installed Skype 3.5.0.202 as a test version (I know, there are newer versions), and started Skype.Plugged in the Philips Webcam, opened Options in Skype and went to the Video configuration. When I took a test photo, there I was in bad living color (bad light).So, pretty much, out-of-the-box problem-free.

All in all, I would say that Microsoft has a lot of work to do on their implementation of USB, at least for my Compaq EVO N620c laptops.PCMCIA (PC Cards) (as I have already said, I have them, so why not test and report on them)14) 3Com Noteworthy 56K Modem PC Card (3CXM056-BNW) (16-bit card)

Immediately identified, driver installed and functioning. No problems.

15) 3Com Megahertz LAN+56K Global Modem PC Card (3CXFEM656C) (CardBus card)

It was necessary to download the XP drivers from 3Com and to Update the Driver for both the LAN part and the Modem part. After that it is identified and up and running. No problems.

16) Xircom Ethernet 10/100 + Modem 56 PC Card (CBEM56G-100) (CardBus card)

The Modem was immediately identified and the drivers installed. It was necessary to download the XP drivers from Intel and to Update the Driver for just the LAN part. After that it is identified and up and running. No problems.

17) ASUS Wireless LAN Adaptor (WL-107g, 802.11g) (CardBus card)

It was necessary to download the XP drivers from ASUS and to Update the Driver. After that it is identified and up and running. No problems.

18) Orinoco Gold PC Card (802.11b) (16-bit card)

Immediately identified, driver installed and functioning. No problems. This, and the fact that it can be used with PC (Windows), Macintosh and Linux systems out-of-the-box is why I have always used Orinoco/Lucent/WaveLAN.

19) WaveLAN Silver PC Card (802.11b) (16-bit card)

Immediately identified, driver installed and functioning. No problems. This, and the fact that it can be used with PC (Windows), Macintosh and Linux systems out-of-the-box is why I have always used Orinoco/Lucent/WaveLAN.

20) Adaptec SlimSCSI PC Card (APA-1460A) (16-bit card)

Immediately identified, driver installed but did not function.

21) HP SCSI PC Card (bundled with the M320e External CD-RW drive, bought in 1996) (CardBus/16-bit card)

Installed first as a CardBus-enabled PC Card.Seen as an Unknown device. However, after running the old installation, it is identified and runs fine.As a 16-bit device, it is not seen, no matter what. No biggie.Actually, I still have a SCSI scanner in storage back in California. It will be interesting to test that the next time I go back.

22) Canon [brand] CompactFlash PC Card adapter (16-bit) (with a SanDisk Ultra II 8GB CF Card, same as tested with the SanDisk USB Card Reader)

Immediately identified, driver installed and usable as a drive. No problems.

Regarding the Win7 support for the PCMCIA (PC Card) slots, I think that Microsoft is not bothering to support 16-bit cards.Overall, I will continue to use my parallel capable hardware rather than USB, and will wait to use any USB memory sticks with Windows 7.

Edited January 26, 2009 by macdunn

[mac]

Hello Mac, catchy name :On the driver CDs that came with the motherboards I purchased for my last two homebuilt PC's (ASUS P4P800 and Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4), there was a specific driver for USB 2.0 that needed to be installed. I'm wondering if that might also be the case with your Compaq laptops.

[macdunn]

Hello Mac, catchy name :On the driver CDs that came with the motherboards I purchased for my last two homebuilt PC's (ASUS P4P800 and Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4), there was a specific driver for USB 2.0 that needed to be installed. I'm wondering if that might also be the case with your Compaq laptops.

Hey Mac,Which clan are you?I did just now (seeing your message) boot up the Win7 machine (I am not doing this 24/7). I inserted (let's call it) Kingston 512-1 and it was immediately recognized and I could read all of the files correctly, all of which I could not do with it yesterday. I then took it out and put Kingston 512-2 in and got the 'not recognized USB device' error. I took that out and put Kingston 4GB-1, and then Kingston 4GB-2 in, got the beep that it was installed (each time), but when I tried to open either of them (installed separately) the Windows Explorer went out-to-lunch. I tried the Sony 128 and got the 'not recognized USB device' error.Thanks for the suggestion to check for drivers. For Windows 98, Compaq does have separate drivers supporting 2.0 for the USB ports. But, since XP (they do not have drivers on their site for W2K but I don't have it installed to test), there has been built-in support (in Windows) for USB 2.0 for this series (the EVO N610c and N620c, I do not know about the N600 or the N400). I just checked the Compaq (HP) support site and did download the 98 drivers, but they would not install - wrong operating system error - with Win7.I just ran the HP Diagnostics for Windows 4.12A on one of my N620c/XP Pro machines and got -

USB Controller . . . . . Intel® 82801DB/DBM USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller - 24CD Root Hub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . USB Root Hub Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Self Power

I tried to install the Diagnostics software on the Win7 machine but it chokes when trying to create the log after installation and therefore returns no data at all.What has the Win7 development team done, locked all of the sub-directories under Windows? A lot of the problems I have encountered in my software testing has been when the installations need to write to the Registry or to a sub-directory in Windows. Also, the US Army uses the Compaq EVO N610c extensively (I saw them at a couple of stations when I was going into Iraq as a civilian contractor). So, that is a big market for Microsoft to ignore.Of course, this is early public beta, and I will keep using my XP Pro installations for my regular business, but I would have thought that they would have included drivers from Vista or ??? in this build. But, I have to say that there was no rhyme or reason to some of the decisions I saw when I was a QA engineer for Borland and Novell (San Jose) in the 1990s.Thanks, all hints and suggestions are appreciated,-Mac-

[macdunn]

Hello Mac, catchy name :On the driver CDs that came with the motherboards I purchased for my last two homebuilt PC's (ASUS P4P800 and Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4), there was a specific driver for USB 2.0 that needed to be installed. I'm wondering if that might also be the case with your Compaq laptops.

Hi Mac,A further update on the hardware test. But first - I have three matched N620c laptops, bought two from a dealer in LA through eBay.com and the third from a leasor through eBay.de (Germany) two years later. Same model, memory, same processor, same WLAN, etc. This is great for the possibility of a machine dying but the HDD still being good - just pop it into one of the others and be back up-and-running. All of that Windows registered to a specific machine has not caused me any trouble changing between matched machines (with XP Pro). A further advantage to having matched machines is to check, in the case of hardware testing as I am describing in this thread, if there might be a hardware problem with one of the machines.So, I took the Win7 HDD out of the machine that was having all of the USB problems and put it into the German machine (the one I am writing on). I checked the Kingston memory sticks, the Sony memory stick and the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) (uses USB to transfer files, such as my movies to a memory card). Well, they all worked! I then put the same Win7 HDD back into the laptop that was having the USB problems and all of the memory sticks worked except for Kingston 512-2, same 'not recognized USB device' error, and the PSP worked as well.The gist being that my first hardware tests showed that there is a hardware problem with the first test machine itself. I will be rerunning my hardware tests on the 'good' machine and rewriting the initial report accordingly. It will be interesting to find out if the parallel port problem is also solved by changing machines.Argh! At least I have my matched equipment to benchmark against.-Mac- Edited January 27, 2009 by macdunn

[macdunn]

macdunn, just finished reading with great interest! wow, quite the report!

Hi Temmu,Thanks. I have been doing this professionally for a while (did tech support for WordStar 3.30, 3.31 and WordStar 2000 at MicroPro, if that tells you how long). But, I am human (and did a big bDay last year) and may miss something. I am testing 'old' equipment because it has been my personal and professional experience that many/most 'users' do not have the latest and greatest hardware. Heck, I don't, I still have only 32MB VRAM. But, I am a database and Web programmer, not a gamer or game programmer.Come back to the original hardware review tomorrow (Wednesday) after I update it since finding that my first test machine had problems with the USB ports (same machines, just one works and one has a previously unknown problem).Same Bat time, same Bat station!-Mac-

[mac]

Hey Mac,Which clan are you?

Clan MacRae. However, my Great-great-great grandfather Duncan changed it to McRae after emigrating to Windsor, Canada from Scotland in 1843. He and my great-great-great grandmother both had the same last name (her maiden name). My sister did some research on it while she was in Scotland in 2000 and says that Duncan descended from the "high" MacRae's and Anna from the "low" MacRae's - whatever that means.