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#1
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XPS 710 upgraded to Windows 7
I have a Dell XPS 710 tower that I purchased in early 2007. Dell's
support web pile informs me that it is not possible to upgrade this monster to Windows 7. Microsoft's "Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor" tells me that it is possible. Summary: the upgrade is possible. But I had to spend $50 on new hardware to do so. Here is how I upgraded. I started with Windows Vista, service pack 2. I bought the Windows 7 Professional upgrade disk from Amazon.com. I tried several times to use this disk. In each case, the upgrade would go smoothly until the final reboot into Windows 7. Then the boot-up would fail. In my case, the blocking issue seemed to be the Nvidia software RAID that is provided by a motherboard BIOS. I am using a simple SATA RAID 0 array on this computer. I found that the Windows 7 install disk could use this array without problem, but not Windows 7 itself. Perhaps this issue won't bite unless one is using RAID. I spent $50 on a PCI-X adapter card that provides RAID on SATA disk drives. I was careful to select an adapter card that is compatible with both Windows Vista and Windows 7. This adapter is based on a Marvell chipset. I would describe the card in more detail, but it really isn't a very good adapter. Anyway, here is how I got Windows 7 working: 1. Physically install the new PCI-X SATA adapter card. No disks connected to it yet. Note that I'm still using Windows Vista at this point. 2. Update device driver software for the new PCI-X SATA adapter card. 3. Back up all data. 4. Physically connect my disk drives to the new PCI-X SATA adapter card. 5. Using same backup software from step 3, perform "disaster recovery." I mean, I re-installed Vista and restored all of my data. 6. Reboot. Windows Vista comes up OK. At this point, my disk drives are connected to the new PCI-X adapter card, which is giving me software RAID. My DVD drives are still connected to the SATA ports on the motherboard, which means they are going through the old Nvidia hardware. Everything works. 7. Use the Windows 7 install disk. This time, it worked! I wanted to post this for the benefit of anyone who has an XPS 710 with RAID. No, you don't have to buy a new computer to use Windows 7. You probably have to buy an adapter card. I was not able to eliminate that expense. -- David Arnstein (00) {{ }} ^^ |
#2
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XPS 710 upgraded to Windows 7
Hi!
In my case, the blocking issue seemed to be the Nvidia software RAID This adapter is based on a Marvell chipset. I would describe the card in more detail, but it really isn't a very good adapter. How serious are you about RAID? If you're really serious and need to have it, you'll do well to get a real *hardware* RAID adapter and put that in your computer. "Fakeraid" devices such as your chipset and this adapter card offer are a fragile and potentially dangerous idea. Or you could use whatever facilities the operating system provides...medium to high end versions of Windows have had software RAID support for a while. 7. Use the Windows 7 install disk. This time, it worked! It's good to know for anyone that plans to try this. Hopefully Dell or nVidia one will get to supporting this in a future driver release. (Did you try to get drivers directly from nVidia?) William |
#3
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XPS 710 upgraded to Windows 7
In article ,
Or you could use whatever facilities the operating system provides...medium to high end versions of Windows have had software RAID support for a while. I'm glad that you mentioned this. I recall using Windows RAID many years ago, but I totally forgot about this feature of Windows. I don't know if my version (Windows 7 Professional) allows this. But I would have liked to try it. In particular, I wonder how the performance (speed) of Windows versus Marvell compares. I might try this anyway, since I have no love for the Marvell card. It's good to know for anyone that plans to try this. Hopefully Dell or nVidia one will get to supporting this in a future driver release. (Did you try to get drivers directly from nVidia?) I looked for updates from Dell, Microsoft, and Nvidia. I don't expect to find any updates, ever. I'm not sure, but I don't think Nvidia sells the RAID BIOS any more. As for Dell, they only care about selling new computers. -- David Arnstein (00) {{ }} ^^ |
#4
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XPS 710 upgraded to Windows 7
Hi!
I'm glad that you mentioned this. I recall using Windows RAID many years ago, but I totally forgot about this feature of Windows. I don't know if my version (Windows 7 Professional) allows this. It certainly ought to. The nice thing is that it doesn't ask your disk controller to do anything funky. In particular, I wonder how the performance (speed) of Windows versus Marvell compares. They'll be very close, although I'd say Windows will have a bit of an edge. It's my somewhat educated guess that says Microsoft's programming will be of better quality than whatever quick-and-dirty "RAID" features were thrown into the Marvell driver package. Microsoft's programming efforts will certainly have had more time to evolve and improve. RAID0 and RAID1 (probably the only modes your Marvell card supports, and all that Windows supports the last I knew) don't ask a whole lot of the computer. It's RAID5 that can be very demanding, as RAID5 keeps a disk dedicated to storing parity information that is calculated on the fly, as data is written. Still, I've seen some software and "fakeraid" RAID5 implementations. The Marvell IC is only a standard disk controller. It has no ability in hardware to understand or assist RAID. You're doing RAID in software with it, but that software comes from the adapter's add-in BIOS and the driver package. I looked for updates from Dell, Microsoft, and Nvidia. I don't expect to find any updates, ever. I'm not sure, but I don't think Nvidia sells the RAID BIOS any more. I'm only moderately surprised by that. I find nVidia's chipsets OK, but I find their approach to supporting them lousy. Intel does a much better job, and even VIA updates their chipset software on a somewhat regular basis. It seems that nVidia makes one or two releases and moves on, leaving whatever might be there as it is with the hope that it works well enough. William |
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