Windows 7 Abandoned build 7048 x-64 on Laptop

[jimbo45]

Hi everybody
Whilst my initial experience was good with build 7048 -- I've reverted back to build 7022 on my laptop. (Desktop is still 100% fine)

Laptop problems

1) Windows Experience crashed -- even with the command line version so Aero themes a bit problematic
2) Media Center would freeze whenever I attempted EITHER of my USB TV cards.
3) Toshiba wireless laser mouse would freeze randomly.
4) IE8 unexpected hangs

The actual install was fine - found ALL the drivers including Card reader and Web cam. Did a CLEAN INSTALL

Pity as the computer felt REALLY SNAPPY -- mind you build 7022 64 bit isn't bad either.

Think I'll just stick with build 7022 on the laptop now until the RC1 appears. It' not worth fiddling around at this late stage -- Medai applications are a MUST so I've reverted back. I can live without Aero themes but why should I when it was working fine in build 7022.
Cheers
jimbo

 

[Kyle]

WEI crashed for me, but it was because I tried to go the lazy man's way and upgrade. I reinstalled cleanly and it was fine.
Media Center works fine, however I don't have TV Tuners....
My mouse froze once, I switched USB plugs and it works perfect now.
Who uses IE8

Lmfao.

 

[Infi]

Who uses IE8

Lmfao.

Me, and i see no reason to use anything else Tried Firefox, don't like it. Hated Nutscrape, dislike Firefox 'cos it'based on it. Will never be my main browser

 

[djwayne]

I'm using IE8 for most of my browsing now. I still have to go back to Firefox for a couple of websites that don't work right with IE8. If they did work right, I'd be on IE8 all the time.

 

[Kyle]

But.... why?
I see no reason to switch back. All IE8 did was try to catch up to Firefox.
I uninstalled it from my desktop (It's so cool that MS gives the option now).
IE8 = Fail.

 

[djwayne]

I like the way I have it set up, I like the InPrivate Browsing, I like the delete history feature, I like how easy it is to organize and edit my favorites.

Have a look at how I have it set up........

 

[Radenight]

I like the way I have it set up, I like the InPrivate Browsing, I like the delete history feature, I like how easy it is to organize and edit my favorites.

Have a look at how I have it set up........

Nice setup!

I agree. I prefer IE8 over Firefox anyday.. I did like Firefox more during the IE6 and IE7 days but I must admit MS has won me back with IE8.. It's perfect in my opinion.. it satisfies all my needs in a browser and is just all around better now I find..

 

[djwayne]

Thanks I really like it. I share my computer with a friend, so keeping my browsing history is something I don't want. Being able to clear it without losing all my other settings works out nicely for me.
I absolutely hate Firefox 3.0 because of it's Smart Location Bar. I find that to be very annoying, so I insist on having Firefox 2.0 or nothing at all.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi Guys I re-built the ISO from a different (Not a Torrent) source and tried again under VMWARE -- it worked fine. It's possible I had a corrupted file somewhere in my previous build.

It goes against my Craw to give up so easily - especially with Acronis backups it doesn't take long (around 15 - 20 mins) to restore (and backup) images of previous / latest installs and I have around 10TB of spare disk space on my LAN anyway. Hard disks are unbelievably cheap now -- 1TB disk 60 GBP / 75 USD.

Did a V2P (Virtual to Physical) conversion and it seemed OK

One problem I had was that I've got a Firewire connector on this laptop which seemed to interfere with the LAN card with some strange Interrupt settings.

Mucking about with these and moving the USB mouse to a different USB slot seemed to fix the mouse problem -- I found old Win XP 64 bit drivers for the TV cards and this cured the tv application problem -- the VISTA 64 bit one's cause the system to hang.

I still can't get LAN to work properly (Wireless OK. USB===>Lan OK, PCI express card===>Lan OK) so I'm not too bothered but its strange that the LAN card worked on build 7022. I even tried "Backporting" the LAN driver from build 7022 but no good.

Got a score of 4.5 on the laptop -- happy with that .

Fixing the USB Mouse and TV cards seemed to fix the hangs in IE8 as well.

I don't like the "Quick Configuration" in Windows Media -- all these "dumbed down one-click install" features are a real pain if they DON'T work and you want to mess around with some settings.

I've got the Win XP 64 bit TV applications working now so I don't need Windows Media center currently -- it seemed like a good idea then Microsoft hobbles it with stupid installation options and makes it so inflexible that you have to do a fresh setup every time you want to use another media component like a TV card or camera and the worst of all if say your camera / device has composite video or s-vhs then Windows Media center whilst recognizing the device won't allow you to configure it unless you have the Windows Media Center Remote -- what B/S -- when I'm with a laptop I want to carry AS LITTLE GEAR AS POSSIBLE and mucking about with remotes at Airport Security where most of those people have an IQ that even a chimpanzee would laugh at is not my idea of an easy trip.

My TV application just knows what card I'm using and just Works!!! and allows composite input from ANY device.
Microsoft take note.

Multimedia is an IMPORTANT application these days so I hope Microsoft get that RIGHT.

cheers

jimbo

 

[Kyle]

Well, I'm glad you took another go at it, 7048 really is a much better build than earlier ones. Bumped up a lot of my benchmark scores.

 

[davehc]

There is another new feature in 7048. Apart from allwing a smaller foorprint, I cannot see any real r4eason for it. I always use my oldest laptop (64bit totally!) for initial installations. I was very disappointed to find that, whilst I had no problems with two equally old Laser printers, namely a HP122 and an HP2100, they failed to find drivers in 7048.
I started to mess around in the "add a device/add a printer section. Neither printer was listed. <i am afraid I cannot be more informative, at this stage, as to what triggered it, buy suudenly the window went gray and said, "updating your hardware list" I thought I would be patient. After about ten minutes the window returned to normal and there, among so many other new items, were both of my printers! They installed and worked perfectly without any third party intervention.
I think it has something to do with this new update feature: Control Panel - System - Advanced sytem settings. - Hardware -
See attached picture.