Vista Drivers for This Computer - Help, Please!

[jeanpave]

Would anybody be able to tell me where to find Windows Vista graphics, audio and Ethernet drivers for this computer, please?

Dell OptiPlex GX270 - motherboard
Intel Springdale-G i865G - motherboard chipset
Intel 82865G Graphics Controller
Intel 82801EB ICH5 - AC '97 Audio Controller
Intel PRO/1000 MT Network Connection

I know the Dell website offers no support for Vista or 7, and I can't find anything on the Intel website, but I'd still like to install Vista, if only I can be sure of finding the drivers.

Thanks a million!

Edit: If there's absolutely no driver for Vista, and therefore Vista would not be a viable installation, how about Windows 7 drivers?... But I would much rather prefer Vista than 7. Thank you.

[Bjs]

A: Soundmax adi audio : here (From Dells support site)

1: Run and if the setup application runs after, close it.
2: In device manager, uninstall any audio device discovered but not working ... the scan for hardware but when it comes to drivers tell it to look at "C:\dell\drivers\R58182\SMAXWDM\W2K_XP".
3: Reboot.

B: I8645G

1: South or north bridge with integrated gpu
2: Driver here and repeat as for sound max adi above.

C:

1: Driver here ... choose PROWin32.exe
2: Repeat method as previously described.

[jeanpave]

Thank you very much, Bjs!

On the page for the graphics driver, it says "2k_xp". But I guess you know it also works under Vista, right?

I'll give it a try, and I'll post back the results in a few hours.

Thanks a million, again!

[TBoneit]

For future reference Intel download site is here. http://downloadcenter.intel.com/default.aspx

It would have been helpful if you said 32bit or 64bit BTW.

Not showing any Vista or Win 7 graphic drivers from Intel. Personally I would stay with XP or plan to use a video card for best video. Windows will load a generic graphics driver that will not give the best results in terms of speed. I would also make sure to have 2GB memory.

[neomaine]

No idea why you would prefer Vista over Win7. Win7 is so much more stable, smaller footprint and much much less annoying. If you can find a nic driver, I'd install Win7 and make sure you have 2gb of memory. You'd have a PC that would be fine for surfing the net, email and taking care of documents.

[aedipuss]

you might want to give linux a try with that comp. it might run much better than vista/win7. unbuntu or mint are worth a look.

[fritzi93]

No idea why you would prefer Vista over Win7. Win7 is so much more stable, smaller footprint and much much less annoying. If you can find a nic driver, I'd install Win7 and make sure you have 2gb of memory. You'd have a PC that would be fine for surfing the net, email and taking care of documents.

Big time. I tried Vista for a few weeks, then Win7, it was no contest. Although Vista was pretty serviceable after updating to SP2; before updating it was a real slug.

[jeanpave]

For future reference Intel download site is here. http://downloadcenter.intel.com/default.aspx

It would have been helpful if you said 32bit or 64bit BTW.

Not showing any Vista or Win 7 graphic drivers from Intel. Personally I would stay with XP or plan to use a video card for best video. Windows will load a generic graphics driver that will not give the best results in terms of speed. I would also make sure to have 2GB memory.

Thanks. I tried that link, but couldn't find my way around the site.

I thought it was kind of clear that I was looking for 32bit, due to the fact that I have an older computer, like the GX270. Bjs was able to tell...

"2GB memory"? I'm sorry, I find that excessive. Vista is supposed to even work with 512 MB...

No idea why you would prefer Vista over Win7. Win7 is so much more stable, smaller footprint and much much less annoying. If you can find a nic driver, I'd install Win7 and make sure you have 2gb of memory. You'd have a PC that would be fine for surfing the net, email and taking care of documents.

I'm glad you asked me that, 'cause I get a chance to say this, now:
I find Windows 7 way too user-friendly and cheery, and therefore annoying. Even the 7 logo looks worse than the Vista logo, to me.

On the other hand, I've been using Windows since I first started using computers, and I like Vista's appearance the best. I even like it better than the silver XP. It's also somewhat dark-looking, not for kids.

As for stability and footprints, it all depends on what you do with it. If I find it unreliable, I'll change it. But I doubt I will.

you might want to give linux a try with that comp. it might run much better than vista/win7. unbuntu or mint are worth a look.

You make a good point. I've been wanting to give Linux a try, although I still like Windows better than everything else.

I could probably shrink the hard-drive with Vista, and go for a triple-boot with Ubuntu?... (Could the Linux Ubuntu installer support all that, if I install it last?)

[jeanpave]

Whoa, I appear to have a huge hard-drive problem. "Secondary Drive 0 not found"!

The second hard-drive doesn't seem to be detected in BIOS now, even though I had marked it as active in Windows 2000, and everything. Also, the Win2K 'My Computer' sees it fine, but I get an error when the startup process tries to load the now-installed Windows Vista.
It says something about not finding Windows/system32/winload.exe.

I can boot into 'Earlier Version of Windows' without any problems.

What could be the problem? Could both hard-drives be 'master', or both 'slave', and that's why the second one is not detected? (But I don't know how to fix it to switch from 'master' to 'slave', or vice versa, because I don't have the instructions any more.)

Can someone help me troubleshoot this unexpected issue, please?

P.S. The Vista installation disc was able to detect the second hard-drive also, obviously.

[jeanpave]

I fixed the hard-drive detection problem, but the thing now is that the CD-ROM in which I inserted the Vista disc does not appear to be functional at all.

I think it's either Secondary Master or Secondary Slave - probably it was the Master - but now nothing sees that drive anymore, and I can't eject the disc or do anything else with the drive, in 2K or Vista. What could have caused that?

The second hard-drive is now seen, though. Primary Master and Primary Slave are the two hard-drives.

And, if I leave the Secondaries on 'Auto', in the BIOS (instead of 'Off'), I keep getting messages at boot time saying that Secondary 0 and 1 are not found.

Also, it's ironic that the other CD-ROM - I have two in this system - can open the tray and close it, and is visible in 'My Computer', even though none of the two disc drives are detected in BIOS.

P.S. So far, the audio driver worked perfectly. Thank you very much, Bjs! (I'm going to try the other two now.)

[TBoneit]

for what it is worth I found that Vista and Windows 7 to be sluggish and using the hard drive as virtual memory even with 1Gb memory let alone 1/2 Gig memory.

The drive settings on that Dell should be cable select and you should be using a 40 pin 80 wire cable. Unless you have added drives they should already be set that way.

The CD drives should be set to the C setting. The Other image is for Western Digital drives other brands will be different.

And yes they should be detected in the Bios settings.

[jeanpave]

for what it is worth I found that Vista and Windows 7 to be sluggish and using the hard drive as virtual memory even with 1Gb memory let alone 1/2 Gig memory.

The drive settings on that Dell should be cable select and you should be using a 40 pin 80 wire cable. Unless you have added drives they should already be set that way.

The CD drives should be set to the C setting. The Other image is for Western Digital drives other brands will be different.

And yes they should be detected in the Bios settings.

It's true, it's true. But even Windows 2000 uses the hard-drive as virtual memory. I found that out when I had both Firefox and SeaMonkey open, and I only had 512 MB of RAM. It was sluggish as hell when there were many pages open and downloads in progress.

Now, I have 1 GB of RAM. I don't think I'll add any more, at least not for a good while.

And, also, I have XP installed on a couple of other computers, so I wanted to see Vista more, too.


Thank you very much for the HDD/CD instructions.

I never changed the cables inside. But I did add the second hard-drive. However, that one is seen in the BIOS now, so it's okay. (From what I can gather, the old hard-drive was Primary Master and the new hard-drive became Primary Slave.) Both hard-drives work fine now.

The two CD-ROMs must have been Secondary Master (- the one where I placed the Vista CD, to install -) and Secondary Slave. I don't think they would be SATA 0 or SATA 1, which are the other two unrecognized/unused options in the BIOS. When I only had Windows 2000, the CD drives were both detected as drives E: and F: (and they were identified properly in the BIOS, too, I reckon).

But, as soon as the Vista installer rebooted the computer, in order to finish the new installation, drive E: was gone. It no longer appears in 'My Computer' (in both OSs), nor does it show up in the BIOS. (I mean, it says "Unknown Device", under Secondary Master.) I cannot even remove the disc I put in the drive!... Drive F: is also "Unknown Device" in the BIOS, but I can 'Eject', insert a disc, and so on. It does show up in 'My Computer' and in 'Device Management'.

So, they were detected before, but they're not detected any more. So, I don't know now whether I should change the settings or not... Obviously, the settings were okay previously...

[Phlexor]

Being a Dell or any other pre-built brand PC, it's going to have a bare minimum Power Supply in it. Chances are that it's starting to die. Another thing to consider is that HDD/ODD data cables are damaged. The optical drive could be dead also.

When it comes to RAM, you should at least have 2GB if you don't want the hard drive thrashing about dealing with virtual memory. That goes for XP, Vista and Win 7.

[jeanpave]

When it comes to RAM, you should at least have 2GB if you don't want the hard drive thrashing about dealing with virtual memory. That goes for XP, Vista and Win 7.

Can people please forget about the RAM? Please?
(My budget can't stand expenditures on more RAM, okay? Especially not for this older computer.)

Being a Dell or any other pre-built brand PC, it's going to have a bare minimum Power Supply in it. Chances are that it's starting to die. Another thing to consider is that HDD/ODD data cables are damaged. The optical drive could be dead also.

You know, I really can't believe that I put the disc in the drive, it worked fine, it installed Vista, rebooted, did everything to permit installation to continue, and then the optical drive just died. Come on...
...Or that the cables suddenly became damaged, without the computer so much as being moved an inch from its place. And just when a new installation was finishing.

I may be unlucky, but that'd be too much of a bad coincidence.

[jeanpave]

Being a Dell or any other pre-built brand PC, it's going to have a bare minimum Power Supply in it. Chances are that it's starting to die.

But you may have a point here.

I see what you mean.

Maybe it's the power supply that cannot support all 4 drives now.
But why would drive F: (Secondary Slave) work, and not drive E: (Secondary Master)?

[Phlexor]

Last word on the RAM issue, a 2GB kit (2x1GB DDR400) can be had for $50-$60 from a quick look on newegg. But that's a separate issue anyway.

With the PSU, they can die in weird and wonderful ways. I guess unplugging all your drives and just plugging in the offending Optical drive in all power connectors one at a time and try ejecting the disc. No need for the data cable.

[jeanpave]

With the PSU, they can die in weird and wonderful ways. I guess unplugging all your drives and just plugging in the offending Optical drive in all power connectors one at a time and try ejecting the disc. No need for the data cable.

I should definitely try that.
Thank you very much.
(It will not only eject the disc, but it will also shed light over the functionality of the cables and the drives themselves. The more I think about it, the more I believe that probably the power supply cannot handle everything, and that's why the computer does not detect what it did, previously.)

Thanks, Phlexor.


Final Update: Bjs, thank you very much for those drivers! (I did not even need Ethernet drivers.) But especially thank you for the instructions, because I would have given up on the 2k_xp graphics driver if you hadn't told me to install using the search for a better driver. YOU'RE THE MAN!