Sigmatel Driver for Dell Notebooks (XPS M1530), workarounds I upgraded from Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 on my Dell XPS M1530 after religiously uninstalling everything that Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor even hinted might cause trouble (Fortunately I was able to use a cloned drive with no MS beta SW installed -- no luck otherwise! ).
Beautiful and stable EXCEPT for the Sigma Tel High Definition Audio CODEC - nothing worked even though Windows said I had the best driver for this device. DELL driver download site said otherwise so I ran their recommended R190517.EXE to install Driver Version 6.10.0.5866 (2/15/2008) - for Vista, which is all Dell tech support vouches for now (except on new machines with Windows 7 preinstalled).
This driver upgrade fixed everything EXCEPT the headset-microphone jack input: The Jack Setup pops up with "Microphone" pre-selected instead of the correct question-mark selector, but it's clear from exhaustive analysis (going through the Manage Audio Device settings and corresponding application settings, e.g., Skype 4.1->Audio-Settings->Advanced Options) that even if you re-select "Microphone" in the Sigmatel Jack popup, all you've really accomplished is to turn off the notebook's built-in Microphone Array. At least you can unplug the mike and still use your headset with the built-in microphone array.
Another option (for the all-headset purist with background noise) is to use a USB headset (digital i/o with built-in audio CODEC), or a USB adaptor that's compatible with your 3.5 mm audio-jack headset (pay attention to whether the mike jack is stereo or mono); at least I can vouch for the iHome Lifetalks USB foldable headset that I picked up for this test. It includes an audio headset with two 3.5 mm stereo plugs and a USB-adaptor whose mike jack does NOT work with the mono-mike-jack headset that I was using with Vista.
That's about it for now. Otherwise I am happy as a clam with Windows 7, using Acronis True Image 2010 for cloning and backups (leaving True Image 2009 installed wrecked an earlier upgrade attempt just as Upgrade Advisor promised
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--When I plugged in my Windows Mobile phone to a USB port the Sync Center "driver" (replacing the pre-upgrade uninstalled Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1) was automatically downloaded and installed.
--Ubuntu 9.10 is running on a (free) VMWare Player 3.0 virtual machine fully integrated with Windows 7 (full windows, shared folders and devices, cut and paste across guest-host). Player's Easy Setup option to create a new VM from the Ubunto-iso image in the virtual CDROM is amazing (Look Ma, almost no hands); you can even specify how many CPUs you want it to use.
