Windows 7 after upgrade from Vista issues :-(

[Jam]

Sigh.

Was running windows vista home premium on my samsung r519, pentium dual core 2ghz, 4gb ram, 500gb HD - Everything was great.

Then Samsung informed me that I could upgrade to windows 7 for £17 as I had recently bought this laptop with Vista.

So I bought it, installed it and now I regret it. Why? Well..
1 - I had to download all software again which took ages and I haven't done it all yet. 7 gave me a summary of what I needed to re-install by telling me what was removed since the upgrade but it had to restart and I can't find the list again, is it available anywhere?
2 - text now looks slightly blurry/not as sharp as before even though I've updated all display drivers (to my knowledge) This is across web browsers, OS windows/menus etc
3 - the caps lock alert no longer pops up so I have no way of knowing when the caps are on until I type (very annoying)
4 - apparently, only 2.93gb of my 4gb of ram is now usable is this due to the fact I have the 32 bit version of 7? Will I notice a huge difference in performance now?

I'm just wondering if any of you good people know how I can fix any of the above? I guess with point 4 I'll just have to look into upgrading to 64 bit but is this easy/cheap?

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[MA Winterton]

I bought the Windows 7 full edition of proffessional and it was shipped with 2 disks one for 32bit & one for 64bit versions you choose which you want to install, might be different with your upgrade deal with samsung. If you install 64bit you will need to download 64 bit drivers for your printers etc. Have you checked your resolution in displays this might be your blurrry text etc. As for ram should be same as before vista 32bit wouldnt use more than 4GB either only 64bit will, usually it reports just over 3gb usable I though through by memory

 

[Ian]

Welcome to the forums, Jam

You'll need x64 to use all 4GB of that RAM, so I'd make sure you can get hold of this version instead. It seems odd that they posted a 32-bit version out when it won't use your hardware to the full extent. Unfortunately, this means you'll need to perform a clean install.

If you were able to perform an upgrade, it looks like you had a 32-bit version of Vista - which seems strange given that you have 4GB RAM. Try giving them a call and see if you can get W7 x64 shipped.

With regards to the font problem, can you right click on the desktop, then click screen resolution > make text and other items larger or smaller > adjust cleartype text. This should let you turn ClearType on/off to see if that is the problem.

 

[Jam]

Thanks both.

I've adjusted my cleartype settings and this has improved things.

I'll get in touch with samsung re; 64 bit and see what they say.

Thanks again.

 

[draceena]

RE: Caps Lock Alert - Do you have a keyboard that is programmable that would pop up an alert. I only ask because my Logitech programmable keyboard does just that. I did have to download the 64 bit drivers but it works perfectly and gives me a pop up of text right on my screen when I hit the Caps Lock key

 

[Nibiru2012]

Jam,

Your Windows 7 product key is good for both the 32bit and 64 bit versions. You just have to remember that only ONE install per product key.

What version of Windows 7 did you install? If it's either Home Premium or Professional you can download from links I posted in the Installation section. They're ISO images, so you'll have to burn them to a blank DVD at 4x speed using ImgBurn, which is a free program or another ISO burning program.

 

[Jam]

Thanks again for your responses. I'm still waiting to hear back from Samsung as well just to see what they say about it all and I'll report back as it might help others with the same issue. They usually write back but can be a bit slow!

The caps lock alert issue is still there but it's not bothering me as much as I thought it would as I can use the l.e.d alert next to the touchpad.

There is one other thing I didn't mention before regarding the audio though. Since the upgrade, the speakers will start to randomly whistle until I adjust the volume up or down, then it stops. Clicking on something that makes a sound (like an alert popping up or clicking a link in IE) will also cut the whistle out for a short amount of time. It then starts again 30 seconds later until I adjust the volume again. This even happens when the audio is muted. I've tried re-installing the audio drivers but this hasn't fixed it. Any idea what could be causing this?

Nibiru2012 - thanks. I've installed home premium using the product key they provided. I'm nervous about installing 64bit as technically everything is working even though I have these niggles...I would however like to utilise my 4gb of RAM though.

Talking of which, I'm using the CPU monitor gadget and my RAM % usage is always on at least 27% - is that normal? My CPU % was always on at least 50% until I removed a few items from the start up list now it's nicely sitting between 0-10% for general browsing.

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Talking of which, I'm using the CPU monitor gadget and my RAM % usage is always on at least 27% - is that normal? My CPU % was always on at least 50% until I removed a few items from the start up list now it's nicely sitting between 0-10% for general browsing.

Each application you open will use memory. The amount of memory depends on how many applications you open and how large each of them are. You stated you removed programs from your start menu and freed up CPU cycles. You also lowered your memory usage at the same time. The 27% means that is the amount of memory being used at that time.

 

[Veedaz]

Hi Jam

If you right click on your task bar then in the small window that opens click Windows Task Manager you will see the Windows Task Manager open and by clicking on its tabs at its top you can access Applications / Processes / Services / Performance / Networking / Users, and gain a lot of information as to what is happening in your Computer.

 

[Nibiru2012]

When you did this upgrade to Windows 7, did you do an "upgrade" install or a "clean" install?

Many people have been having issues with upgrade installs over their existing Vista systems. A clean install will give the best way to experience Windows 7.

How did you install Windows 7? Was it with DVD discs sent to you?

I would recommend you reinstall doing it as a clean install. Also, go to Samsung's website and download ALL the drivers for your laptop and store them on a thumb drive or a CD-RW disc..

I would install the x64 version as it will utilize all of your RAM and it runs quite smoothly.

You might also want to update the Firmware for the BIOS to the latest version, which is: 07CI Date: 11-26-09 You can get it HERE from Samsung.

You can download all the Samsung drivers from HERE

Some drivers are just for either Windows 7 32 bit or Windows 7 64 bit. Some drivers are for both versions of Windows 7

 

[Jam]

When you did this upgrade to Windows 7, did you do an "upgrade" install or a "clean" install?

Many people have been having issues with upgrade installs over their existing Vista systems. A clean install will give the best way to experience Windows 7.

How did you install Windows 7? Was it with DVD discs sent to you?

I would recommend you reinstall doing it as a clean install. Also, go to Samsung's website and download ALL the drivers for your laptop and store them on a thumb drive or a CD-RW disc..

I would install the x64 version as it will utilize all of your RAM and it runs quite smoothly.

You might also want to update the Firmware for the BIOS to the latest version, which is: 07CI Date: 11-26-09 You can get it HERE from Samsung.

You can download all the Samsung drivers from HERE

Some drivers are just for either Windows 7 32 bit or Windows 7 64 bit. Some drivers are for both versions of Windows 7

Thanks for the links - I had already been there and installed everything for this laptop but I appreciate you posting them in case!

Samsung sent a single DVD for the upgrade and I have heard back from them and they have said "They do not offer the 64 bit version as part of the upgrade scheme"
I think I did an upgrade rather than clean install as some of my files were still on the desktop but couldn't say for sure. If I've already used the product key for this install am I right in thinking I won't be able to use it for the 64bit via the link you posted before?

I've complained to Samsung to say that they should not have sent the 32bit version knowing it would not make the most of the hardware that I have paid for.