How accurate is upgrade advisor.

[Mychael]

I ran the upgrade advisor on my machine expecting it to find lots of issues. Somewhat surprsingly it found the core components MoBo/CPU/video etc to be up to running Win7 in 64bit no less.
This is good IF it's accurate as it means I can save heaps by not changing Mobo or CPU and just tossing in a bit more ram.
Not so good if I do the install and find it either does not work or runs like a slug.

So has anyone had experience with taking the advice of the upgrade advisor?

 

[yodap]

What model is your Intel processor?

On my main machine in the office, I'm running 2 gig ram, onboard graphics and sound, single-core Intel 1.6Ghz (Conroe-L) and a sata hdd and W732bit works great.

If you have a dual-core cpu that supports 64bit, by all means install a couple more gig of ram and go for it.

BTW I never used the Upgrade Advisor.

 

[Ian]

It's usually pretty accurate - if you post your full specs here then we can take a look and confirm for you

 

[TrainableMan]

I believe if it tells you something will not work that it is accurate. I don't believe it can know everything so there is still a chance some things might not work that it doesn't find. Though I suspect the innards are well covered and it wouldn't tell you your CPU can handle 64-bit if it couldn't.

I had several pieces of software that upgrade advisor said wouldn't work and it was quite right, most wouldn't even let me install.

Upgrade advisor did not flag my trackball as an issue but Logitech no longer supports it and did not have drivers for it. The default Microsoft drivers supported the basic functionality but in W7 there is no functionality for assigning an action to the center mouse click. I was going crazy without it for at least a month before someone popped on here and pointed out a tiny memory resident exe that makes the center mouse function as a double-click, my much missed functionality. Still, the old Logitech drivers allowed the user to set one of many functions and if I needed something other than double-click I might still be looking.

So it is pretty accurate but you may find a piece of hardware or software that it doesn't know about and so cannot inform.

 

[catilley1092]

Most of the time, it is accurate. But it did report that my printer (at that time) wouldn't work with Win 7. Turns out, after a couple of months of searching, I did find a driver to make it work, on Microsoft Answers.

It does give a list of items that needs attention, and doesn't take long to run. Make sure that you have all accessories plugged in when you run the test.

Cat

 

[Mychael]

It's usually pretty accurate - if you post your full specs here then we can take a look and confirm for you

The main stuff that matters.
MoBo Gigabyte G33-DS3R Socket 775 with on-board graphics. G33/G31 Express chipset family.
CPU is Intel 2.4 Ghz Core2 Duo
All HDD's are under 12 months old

Only 2 gig of ram but I can add more.

Might need to update drivers for my modem and some basic stuff like web cam it says wont work.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Hi Mychael

With those specs, I don't see a problem. I've installed Windows 7 on systems with much less performance.

One system was a MSI LGA775 board with G31 chipset, 2GB memory, and the processor was a Celeron Dual Core with half the processing power of your Core2 Duo.

Another system was a single core AMD 3400+ with 2GB memory.

Do you have any printer's, scanner's, or camera's that could give problems when installed in Windows 7?
We can check for Windows 7 compatible drivers for these devices.

 

[Mychael]

Well it says my printer (Canon Pixma 3300) will work. Scanner is USB but did not have it turned on. External HDD is USB so should also be ok but I did not have it turned on.
Not too fussed about scanner as I'll have my XP Pro installed as a dual boot anyway.
The only software it flagged as not compatible was my Adobe Acrobat Pro 6.01 so I'll have to keep XP even if only for that. Also possibly my camera and it's software.

 

[Digerati]

I wonder how accurate it is. If you Google windows 7 running on dinosaur systems, there are some very old systems out there running Win7 that I am sure Upgrade Advisor would say, "no way"!

 

[Elmer BeFuddled]

I wonder how accurate it is. If you Google windows 7 running on dinosaur systems, there are some very old systems out there running Win7 that I am sure Upgrade Advisor would say, "no way"!

I tried it on my 10yr old HP, just a 2 day trial mind. No Aero, few whiz bangs, but it ran. Must admit the old boy was happier when I reinstalled XP on him!

 

[Mychael]

I wonder how accurate it is. If you Google windows 7 running on dinosaur systems, there are some very old systems out there running Win7 that I am sure Upgrade Advisor would say, "no way"!

I'd be less fussed if it erred on the cautious side as opposed to telling me everything would be okay and I found in practice it wasn't.
It's even told me I can run Aero which really surprised me. My gear was good stuff when I bought it but it's over 3yrs old which is old in the computer hardware world.

Having said that it certainly would be a bonus if I did not have to invest in new hardware just some more ram.

 

[Elmer BeFuddled]

Just look at my specs Mychael, pretty basic. 64bit Seven is running virtually 24/7 here without a problem.

Had a few issues at first but I put that down to still having my XP head on.

 

[catilley1092]

It reported that my Dell Latitude D610 notebook wouldn't run Win 7, but it does, in fact in some areas it does better than XP does. Especially with folding. Battery life is better. Fires up faster. Only issues, no Aero, and it runs warmer. But I would say that overall, the performance is better than with XP.

Windows 7 even ran on a Latitude C640 that I had a while back, that was built to run Win 2K on. It was a used one, but years ago, the very same model was my very first computer, and it ran well for six years. It slipped out of my hand when I was getting it out of the car, upon exam the MB was cracked. Only problem with running 7 on it (besides the Aero deal), it ran very hot. But it did run.

Like Elmer, I believe it was happier when Win 2K was reinstalled on it.

Cat

 

[Digerati]

I don't think 3 years is that old when it comes to running Windows 7. 3 years old puts it square in Vista territory and if it supports Vista, it "should" support Win7.

 

[Mychael]

Certainly sounds as if it's worth trying then. I'll report back when I get around to doing it over the next week or so. Be nice to not have to spend any more money for a while.

 

[catilley1092]

Certainly sounds as if it's worth trying then. I'll report back when I get around to doing it over the next week or so. Be nice to not have to spend any more money for a while.

That's one thing that women and computers have in common, they both like to have money spent on them. But usually, you get a lot in return.

Cat

 

[TrainableMan]

But usually, you get a lot of aggravation in return.

 

[catilley1092]

Yes, that has been known to happen too.

Cat

 

[Mychael]

I'll upgrade my ram before I do anything. Only need 2 more gig but I suppose to maximise chances of stability i should bite the bullett and just get a matched set of 4 gig. Difference in price will only be about $55.

 

[Elmer BeFuddled]

Yea, go for the matched pairs Mychael. Seen too many problems on T'Interweb of not matching, not to say it doesn't work. One less worry!