Made a screwup here

[DLeonR]

I just realize that I installed windows ultimate 32bit on the laptop instead of 64bit. Can I upgrade to 64bit without a complete install? I don't want to clean the drive and all fuss. If I can't I will just leave it as is.
Thanks in advance

[PrntRhd]

I believe the answer is no.

[jlreich]

No upgrades from 32 to 64bit. Has to be a clean install.

If this is a fresh new install I would wipe it and start over. What's an hour or less of time to get things the way you want them now instead of regretting it down the line?

If the install has been in place for awhile you have to decide if it is worth the trouble of reinstalling apps and all that. Then again, if it is a couple years old it may be time a for a fresh install anyway. After a couple years windows starts getting flaky even you have maintained it really well.

Another reason to do it is if you are starting to feel the pinch of the 4GB memory limit.

[DLeonR]

Thanks for the reply jlreich, well that takes care of it. The installation is only about 5 weeks old, but it is running sooooo good I would hate to not get it running like this again.

[LochLomonder]

DLeonR,

I don't know if you have a backup strategy in place, but if you have sufficient disk space available on, say, an external drive, then I would recommend imaging the laptop. To do so, you would install the OS and all the programs you want set up as your base build, and then use a disk imaging package to take a snapshot of the system and back it up. That way, if anything goes wrong with the laptop, it's a lot easier to take it back to a state of readiness for usage, rather than having to go through the chore of re-installation.

There are a few different solutions out there for imaging; some are commercial and some are free. As far as the latter is concerned, Clonezilla is a really good option. You should also note Microsoft have also included the ability to create a system image from within Win 7 (see here), but I still prefer Clonezilla.

[DLeonR]

Hi LochLomonder good to see you again. When I installed the windows I clicked on the 32 bit instead of the 64 bit. Thanks for the post, I think I will get the Clonezilla and try it. I will probably trying this in the next couple of days I will let you know how it came out.

[LochLomonder]

Hey, DLeonR. Good to see you, too. If you need any help with Clonezilla, just let me know and I'll be happy to assist you. When it comes to disaster recovery, it goes a long way to getting you back to a working PC/laptop in no time at all.

[DLeonR]

Thanks man, I will get in touch with you if I run into problems.
Thanks again.

[DLeonR]

Well, I have the 64bit windows ultimate installed and everything is fine except for one thing, now I can't get sound from the laptop and I just can't find the drivers for it. With the 32bit windows everything was perfect. The laptop is hp dv5130us. I have driver genius installed and it could not find the sound card drivers for this laptop.
Any ideas out there?

[mjc]

Read through this thread...

http://www.sevenforums.com/drivers/7...-driver-2.html

(Post #22, specifically)

The problem is that you are dealing with HP rebranding the actual hardware AND determining that your particular model isn't worthy for the OS you've installed, even though the exact same audio hardware is being used on other machines that ARE 'official' for the version of Windows you've installed.

That tutorial will show you how to pull the actual device IDs for your audio hardware AND find the 'generic' or reference drivers for the hardware (the ones put out by the actual manufacturer of the hardware) and not something rebadged/restricted by some brand-name reseller of laptops (very few laptop 'manufacturers' actually make their own machines...HP IS NOT one of the ones that does).

[DLeonR]

Thanks mjc, after reading up on these posts from the link, it looks as if I will have to go back to 32bit install. Everything else is ok, but I must have sound.

[mjc]

Post the VEN and DEV numbers...I'm guessing there is a 64-bit driver for it.

You probably won't see any advantage running 64-bit on that machine, though.

[DLeonR]

Post the VEN and DEV numbers...I'm guessing there is a 64-bit driver for it.

You probably won't see any advantage running 64-bit on that machine, though.

This is the part that is killing me, I cant find the name of the sound card. When I go to device manager it only say "multimedia audio controller" I go to properties and when I check for dev it says other devices manufact. unknown. I am really messed up here.

[mjc]

Got a Linux Live CD handy?

If so, boot to it, open a terminal window and type in lspci...then look for the multimedia sound device or whatever it's called and copy down the number string associated with it...

The VEN/DEV IDs are OS independent...

[DLeonR]

I have never done that before. Could you please explain how I boot to it? Sorry, the cd I have is a knoppix.

[DLeonR]

Ok I used the knoppix and did what you said and this is what I came up with:
ATI Technologies Inc. IXP SB400 AC' 97 Audio controller (Rev 02)

[mjc]

Go into the BIOS (or if your laptop allows you to pull up a boot menu, use it) and set the CD to be first in the boot order.

Then put in the Knoppix disk. When you get to the desktop, under System open Konsole. Then type lspci -nn > pci.txt. Then open that text file (it will probably be on the desktop...) and look through the devices listed for the audio device.

It will look something like this...

01:05.0 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: Creative Labs SB Audigy [1102:0004] (rev 03)

The two four digit numbers in the square brackets are what we are after...

[DLeonR]

I think you posted right after I posted my findings. Hope what I found can help.
Thanks for all your help with this.

[mjc]

That is the same chipset he used in the example.

So, yes you can run 64 bit on it, but there won't be any real advantage, at least from a memory viewpoint, to do so.

So use this...

PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4370 "windows 7"

to search the Windows Update Catalog.

[DLeonR]

Thanks a lot mjc. I will try this.

[mjc]

This brings back memories...

Re-writing INF files, piecing together parts of several different driver packages and loads of other fun stuff...back in Win98 to actually get my 'Winmodem' to work correctly. And then after Savage went belly up to create an updated video driver to run some game...