Solved Upgrading an Acer Aspire 5535 to W7 - Drivers comaptible?

[Boozad]

Hey all,

I've been given a laptop by my father-in-law for the kids to play with but it's as slow as hell and is in some real need of TLC. It's running Vista 32-bit at the moment but I have a spare 7 upgrade 32-bit disc which I had installed on my old PC (which has since been decommissioned) and thought i'd install that on the Aspire to give it a new lease of life.
I searched the Acer website but they don't carry Windows 7 drivers for that model, only Vista drivers. I was just wondering if the Vista drivers would be compatible and OK to install onto a Windows 7 install? Pretty random question I know but if anybody has any insight into this I'd be extremely grateful.

Have a great Christmas everyone!

Booz.

 

[maxie]

Hi there .. I would go ahead with the Install and any Drivers Windows does not find ... You should be able to use the Vista ones they work in most cases ..

 

[Boozad]

Cheers Maxie, much appreciated mate. I thought the Vista drivers would be OK but thought I'd double check with the experts first. I'll get them gathered and set about installing W7 over the next few days, a little thing called Christmas will probably get in the way but I'll update the thread on how it goes.

 

[maxie]

Most welcome mate .. Just had a look at the Specs there not to shabby considering its age

 

[Kaktussoft]

Vista drivers don't work most of time. The machine isn't that old btw. I think all drivers are built-in in win7 install (?)
Use this to identify unknown devices and post their hardware-id http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/96442-device-manager-finding-unknown-devices.html
Most important is de LAN device, called "network controller" or something alike. If that driver has been installed you can access the internet WIRED. Windows Updates will install a lot of missing stuff automagically, so check windows updates!

Best thing to do now is: Boot to that VISTA instance and run "device manager". Expand all branches (except "system devices") and post a few screenshots so I can see.

If possible do a clean install with the upgrade dvd http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html

 

[Boozad]

Performed a clean install of 7 and connected via WiFi, so far so good. I'll update as I go along! Thanks for the replies lads.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Performed a clean install of 7 and connected via WiFi, so far so good. I'll update as I go along! Thanks for the replies lads.

Wifi drivers installed automatically?
run windows update. Open "device manager" . Many things under "other devices"?
Which "display adapter" in device manager?

 

[Boozad]

Right, everything's running perfectly. I've run a couple of rounds of Windows updates and there are no :warn: in Device Manager at all. It was probably the easiest installation of 7 I've ever done actually. I'll check the display adapter shortly, I've turned it off to charge as the battery was down to 4%.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Graphics adapter:
The auto-detect tool gives you the option to download the latest official driver.
Name File Size Revision Number Release Date Download Link AMD Driver Autodetect 774KB, 1.0 7/17/2011 Download Description:

AMD Driver Autodetect detects your graphics card and operating system and tells you if a new driver is available. If there is a new driver, the tool will download it with a click of a button and start the installation process.
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Are the Fn special keys working as expected (I don't think so)?
If not working install LaunchManager Dritek LaunchManager Application 4.0.12, 6.1MB 2010/08/18 Download

Reboot. Now it works?

 

[Boozad]

Cheers mate, I'll get onto that shortly. The display adapter is an ATI Radeon 3200 so not too shabby for the kids. Mind you, they do have an ASUS HD7850-DC2T in the rig in their bedroom!

 

[Kaktussoft]

Cheers mate, I'll get onto that shortly. The display adapter is an ATI Radeon 3200 so not too shabby for the kids. Mind you, they do have an ASUS HD7850-DC2T in the rig in their bedroom!

The driver installed automagically?

 

[Boozad]

Yep, all there from the clean install and all rounds of updates.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Are the Fn special keys working as expected (I don't think so)?
If not working install LaunchManager Dritek LaunchManager Application 4.0.12, 6.1MB 2010/08/18 Download

Reboot. Now it works?