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How can I upgrade from Vista to Windows 7?

By mdipalma ·
I purchased a Dell Inspiron 1420 laptop in May 2008, just before I retired because I knew it would probably be a while before I could purchase another PC. During that year MS only allowed Vista to be sold with computers. A year ago I tried to upgrade to Windows 7 and my laptop lost touch pad and mouse capabilities. After 6 hours on the phone with tech support (3 with Dell and 3 with Windows, fortunately at no cost), I was told that my laptop model was not capable of the upgrade because there were no drivers available for the Windows 7 OS. They even took me to the Dell website to show me.They (of course Dell) suggested I purchase another computer!! HAHA!
Any suggestions other than buying a new computer which I can't afford to do right now? Shouldn't there be drivers somewhere that I can download safely?

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Dell Inspiron 1420 drivers

by snauc In reply to How can I upgrade from Vi ...

You can download all the needed drivers from: http://dell.driversdown.com/dell-drivers-list/s_478_1.shtml
You don't need new laptop.
For more help contact me trough my company Technology For Sick Computers
http://snauc.webs.com
Regards !
Joseph !

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Reponse To Answer

by mdipalma In reply to Dell Inspiron 1420 driver ...

Thanks for the suggestions. I went to the url you listed and found the list of drivers for the 1420. When I clicked on it I was taken to DriverFetch which offered to download the drivers for my 1420 if I paid $29.95. I guess I can't expect something for nothing!

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Device Manager - check hardware with yellow exclamation marks.

by dave In reply to How can I upgrade from Vi ...

Right click any of those and go to Properties. Select the Details tab and look at what is displayed for Device Instance ID. Usually there is a vendor id followed by a device id, like VEN_8086&DEV_10BD, although there may be a different values. BTW, this is what I had listed for my desktop network card. Search Google for the values you find and see what the real manufacture of the hardware is and maybe a driver can be obtained from them. I'm really surprised you couldn't get a mouse to work. It's as if the basic USB support is missing.

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Reponse To Answer

by mdipalma In reply to Device Manager - check ha ...

googled the device ID and found several places to down load it. Is DriverBoost an acceptable site?

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Reponse To Answer

by mdipalma In reply to Device Manager - check ha ...

Well, DriverBoost requires registration which costs. So far everywhere I go is the same. There is a fee. Will keep searching.

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Pay sites can't give you anything you can't get free.

by seanferd In reply to How can I upgrade from Vi ...

They will probably just point you to the drivers supplied from the original hardware manufacturer, not the ones that would have normally been modified and made available by Dell, would they have made drivers for 7 available.

Either that, or the sites are basically lying and will give you a Vista driver, labeled as though it would work under 7.

Maybe the Vista drivers would work. Did you ever try to install any? OEMs provide drivers because not every driver can be included in an OS install disk.

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Try this site out for your drivers..

by Peconet Tietokoneet In reply to How can I upgrade from Vi ...

http://www.driver7vista.com/laptop/dell-inspiron-1420-laptop-drivers

These drivers will/should work with Windows 7.
When on this site scroll down until you reach:
"The Inspiron 1420 provide with 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 CPU with 2GB RAM. The VGA card drive with Nvidia GeForce 8400 GPU, 802.11g Wi-Fi card, Bluetooth, and mobile broadband. "
Just click on the Blue links to download the drivers that you need and then burn to cd/flash drive.

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Upgrade Advisor

by TheChas In reply to How can I upgrade from Vi ...

Microsoft worked hard to reduce the amount of hardware that would need new drivers for Windows 7.

I suggest you start by running the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and see what it finds.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/upgrade-advisor

Once you list the specific hardware that Windows states as not compatible, we can help you find specific drivers.

I would also download Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and install it right after getting Windows 7 to run.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/learn-how-to-install-windows-7-service-pack-1-sp1

If you have not already done so, look into upgrading to the maximum amount of RAM the system can use.

When I upgraded my Acer from Vista to Windows 7, I cloned the hard drive and installed Windows 7 on the new hard drive. That way, I could easily go back to Vista if I had any problems with Windows 7.

Chas

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