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It’s happened! It’s finally happened! This is going to sound crazy, but I’m actually chuffed Windows 7 isn’t the infallible beasty that’s been winning solid coverage in recent months. To be honest, I’m actually relieved.
Microsoft’s latest operating system, set to officially launch on 22 October, has proved itself a somewhat resilient and plucky bundle of code. Its smaller footprint means it has a bright future on everything from netbooks right up to regular desktops and notebook PCs. Of course, there’ll be some who’ll continue to regard Windows 7 as ‘Vista Service Pack 3’, but my time with the Release Candidate has convinced me that the upcoming OS will banish memories of its clunky older brother.
However, as I discovered this week, there’s an issue with the Windows 7 RC when running on some of the older chipsets, namely the Intel 915 series. So what’s the problem? Well as regular readers will remember, I’m testing Win7 RC on an aging, low-spec, Dell Latitude D410. It’s a little creaky, but under the hood it’s fairly comparable to some of the netbooks on the market, and therefore a pretty good indicator for how the OS performs on machines that aren’t powered by the latest Core 2 Quad...and I wanted to download the correct drivers to see Aero in full swing.
The problem is this. A couple of weeks ago, a problem arose. Whenever I’d unplug the laptop, the display would go...well, let’s just say a little ‘primary’ in its colour scheme. It was high contrast, four colour visuals all around; connect it back up to the mains power, and normal service was resumed. For a time, I thought it was just a sign that the laptop has developed some sort of age-related malfunction, until I ‘verb upped’ (Google’d or Bing’d) the issue.
It was then I discovered I was not alone.
According to many of the forums I visited, the issue is related to the Windows 7 Release Candidate and its dislike towards the aforementioned Intel 915 chipsets. By downloading the Intel drivers in a fruitless attempt to get Aero running, a bug turned the screen into a CMYK canvas. The solution? Uninstall the drivers, and rollback the system to the standard VGA adaptors.
Problem solved.
As an aside, I managed to ‘procure’ a replacement battery courtesy of one of the IT techies here at Sift Media...and now the laptop can run without a mains connection for quite a bit longer than 30min!
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