XP to Win 7 Clean Install Question

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matchu

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I have a quick question or two.

So, MS is pretty clear in warning me that all programs and data will be lost upon a clean install / upgrade from XP to Win7.

Do old drivers get wiped as well? (i.e. do I need to manually uninstall all of them to get windows 7 drivers for all my hardware?)

Also. My GPU is a Radeon x1400 running inside of an Inspiron 6400. The upgrade advisor tells me that this card may not be able to support aero. Is this normal? I'm using 3rd Party Drivers, btw (Omega ati drivers). I have also seen it somewhere suggested to use Dell's Vista drivers for this card after upgrading to windows 7, since Dell doesn't have Windows 7 drivers available. Is that OK?

Thanks for the help :)
 
If you are doing a clean install, which is what you will have to do, it will wipe everything, so yes, you'll need to get updated drivers for everything again if you don't like the included ones.

I'm not sure on your Aero question, but 7 should run fine without Aero if needed.
 
Thanks for the reply

I went ahead with the install last night, and indeed all the drivers were wiped. However, win7 did a good job of getting them back up to date. It's the first time I haven't had to manually install any drivers after a windows install. (yet, anyways)

It works fine, but Aero functionality is definitely not here =( which is a shame, because it looks really sick. The drivers being used are from Windows Update. ATI doesn`t seem to offer support for x1400 mobilty radeon. And the Dell drivers are non-existent for my laptop model...
 
Thanks for the reply

I went ahead with the install last night, and indeed all the drivers were wiped. However, win7 did a good job of getting them back up to date. It's the first time I haven't had to manually install any drivers after a windows install. (yet, anyways)

Windows only installs 'basic' drivers that give you basic functionality. I would advise you still install the latest drivers from your hardware vendors to get full functionality back, esp with video card, motherboard chipset and soundcards.
 
Use Vista's

Use Vista's. Run them in Compatability Mode. Right click them and click Compatability Mode. Choose Windows Vista. Post back if you need help installing them.
 
Thanks for the replies, everyone

Indeed, the drivers that came with Win7 were pretty basic. Mediocre functionality for a lot of my hardware.

I went ahead and downloaded the drivers from support.dell but for Vista 32-bit. Everything is in working order =) including Aero support! Woohoo. I did not need to run the software in compatibility mode, though. Or at the very least, i did not have to tell it to

@Rick
I will take a look at that and see what happens =)
 
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