Windows 7 on a Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop (Dell says not compatible)

[HGC]

My 2007 Inspiron 1501 laptop is not on Dell's Windows 7 compatible list. There are no drivers available.

Can I install it anyway, perhaps using Vista drivers?

I bought Windows 7 OEM (non-returnable) from NewEgg before I noticed this problem. I can still use it on a desktop, but would rather do it on the laptop if possible.

Thanks for any experiences or ideas!

 

[VirtualLarry]

You could install it, and not enter the key, which means that the OS will timeout after like 30 days. But that should be long enough for you to see if you can obtain the necessary drivers for it. If you finally get it installed how you like, then input the key and activate. From then on, though, you cannot re-use that OEM copy on another system or motherboard though.

 

[JackMDS]

I am not familiar with the 1501.

However many of the old Laptops are declared as none compatible because of the Video card.

It probably would install and work but video hardware acceleration would not work, and the Screen resolution might be limited.

As an example if you try to run Solitaire the cards animation would not work.

If you just do regular email, word processing, surfing stuff, it might be OK.

 

[us3rnotfound]

Yes, you can install Windows 7 on the Dell Inspiron 1501, I have done a 32 bit install of W7 Ultimate on that exact laptop. It runs just as well as XP ran on it previously. Don't even visit the Dell website for any support or drivers, you won't need it.

The proper drivers for everything are found and installed at the completion of the Win7 install, except for 3 items:

a) ATi/Intel Video card driver, that's obvious, just find the Windows 7 drivers for them.
b) Ricoh Media Card Reader. Google for it.
c) You may not experience this issue, but on the 1501 I setup with Win7, there was an odd problem with the touchpad doing funky stuff with the cursor while typing, so I googled for the Synaptics touchpad driver, installed it, and I disabled tapping for left-click, and haven't had the problem since. Of course you could just disable the touchpad altogether without installing the Synaptics driver (Win7 recognizes it as a generic PS/2 mouse). Ideally, you won't even have this problem to begin with.

If you run into anything shoot me a PM, I can probably help.

 

[HGC]

Thanks all for the input. I'm going to give it a shot. I'll post my results in a few days.

Is it really impossible to uninstall an activated OEM Windows 7 and install it on another computer? I was under the impression that as long as it is only installed on one computer at a time it is not an issue.

 

[HGC]

I forgot to mention that I am installing the 32 bit version.

Thanks for the tips us3rnotfound. In my experience, diamond members are never wrong.

 

[notposting]

Generally MS license agreement would say it is tied to that computer. However, motherboards have been known to die, so it's a not a new computer...just a repair. Remember that when you have to call to reactivate.

On that note, I have *never* had to call to reactivate, and I have transferred OEM copies several times.

 

[corkyg]

My experience is that any machine that can run Vista can run W7.

 

[HGC]

Good to read that, Corky.

I'm guessing they are purposely not certifying older machines as compatible, in order to encourage average owners to buy a new "Windows 7 computer".

<Insert Microsoft-Dell-HP conspiracy theory here>

 

[HGC]

Well, I installed Windows 7 on the Inspiron 1501 and it's working great. Windows 7 and Windows update had all the drivers except video. I installed the Vista ATI driver from Dell. It was listed under legacy drivers. Seems to be working fine.

I was a little taken aback by how fast and easy the install was. After decades of hassles installing Windows, it felt kind of odd!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Thanks all for the input. I'm going to give it a shot. I'll post my results in a few days.

Is it really impossible to uninstall an activated OEM Windows 7 and install it on another computer? I was under the impression that as long as it is only installed on one computer at a time it is not an issue.

That is true for the RETAIL editions of MS OSes. OEM editions can only ever be installed onto ONE physical computer, generally defined by the motherboard.

 

[Raduque]

That is true for the RETAIL editions of MS OSes. OEM editions can only ever be installed onto ONE physical computer, generally defined by the motherboard.

License limited only.

If the system won't activate, call the Microsoft activation, answer the questions correctly (How many computers is this isntalled on? "One") and away you go.

Technically not allowed (EULA's are garbage), but it works fine.

 

[Meghan54]

That is true for the RETAIL editions of MS OSes. OEM editions can only ever be installed onto ONE physical computer, generally defined by the motherboard.

Yep, that's what the EULA says all right. Not exactly what happens in practice, though. As mentioned before, it reactivates quite easily after hardware changes.

 

[HGC]

I've installed earlier OEM Windows versions and had no problem uninstalling and putting it on another computer and reactivating. It may be moot, though, because it is running beautifully on my laptop. All I had to do was install the Vista legacy Radeon and Ricoh drivers as suggested.

I did have a problem with IE 8. When clicking on a link, a new tab or page would not open. It would just say "connecting..." forever. After googling unsuccessfully for fixes, I dumped it for Firefox. Firefox, besides actually working, is noticeably snappier.

 

[edj]

help!!! i install windows 7 in my dell inspiron 1501 and i have problems with the screen resolution!! in Win7 only is available a maximum resolution of 1024x768 and i need the full resolution that my laptop allows wich is 1280x800....i bought the Win7 without cheking that my laptop is not in the "Compatible" list of Dell for Win7 but i had read in some forums that exist a Codec or Controlator that make it work perfectly...does anyone know it that is possible?? how can i do?? :hmm:

 

[de8212]

I know this thread is old but I have a similar issue.

A co-worker has the 1501 w/Vista on it. I have an extra W7 but it's 64 bit. I see several people got it to work with the 32 bit, any guess on whether or not 64 should?

 

[Steltek]

I know this thread is old but I have a similar issue.

A co-worker has the 1501 w/Vista on it. I have an extra W7 but it's 64 bit. I see several people got it to work with the 32 bit, any guess on whether or not 64 should?

It won't work as there is no 64 bit video driver for this laptop. There is a 32 bit Vista driver, which is what others are using to get Win7 to run.

Instead, you'd want to get a 32 bit install media and use your 64 bit product keycode to install Win7 (keycodes in Vista/Win7 support both 32bit and 64 bit installs, and any Vista/Win7 install media can be made to install with OEM or retail keycodes ). You can probably download one corresponding to the X86 version of your Win7 from Digital River (who is a Microsoft distributor) - the following link includes separate download links and a guide on how to create an appropriate install media:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html
or
http://codesagar.com/content/guides/win7download.html

Do note that you will likely have to call to do the product activation via telephone. Were it me, I'd probably run it for a couple weeks without activating anyway to be sure it was going to be suitable for my needs.

http://social.answers.microsoft.com...l/thread/7788dfa2-94a7-4db3-8bcd-b0e109bd7b95

BTW, I've read that you can upgrade this laptop to at least 4GB ram despite Dell saying 2GB is the limit. I don't have any specific links, though, so you might want to do a Google search if you are interested.

 

[de8212]

good info. thanks.

 

[brad162]

Windows 7 64-bit certainly works fine, just install the 64-bit Vista drivers and you're good to go.

I have an Inspiron 1501 with 7 x64 running like a champ with 4gb ram and a 1tb hard drive, been using windows 7 64-bit on it for about a year now with no issues

This is the driver you need:

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownlo...px?type=2.4.1&product=2.4.1.3.13&lang=English

 

[simbo1905]

Well, I installed Windows 7 on the Inspiron 1501 and it's working great. Windows 7 and Windows update had all the drivers except video. I installed the Vista ATI driver from Dell. It was listed under legacy drivers. Seems to be working fine.

I mistakenly installed the WindowsXP legacy drive and the system would not boot. So tread carefully.

 

[simbo1905]

help!!! ... in Win7 only is available a maximum resolution of 1024x768 and i need the full resolution that my laptop allows wich is 1280x800... how can i do??

The vista driver is called:

ATI IGP Xpress 1150 8.31.100.3.2 VISTA WHQL 061124a2-053906C-Dell

if you google that then click on the link (not the top result today) to get it from the support.us.dell.com site then you download a program called:

R168685.exe

Run that and it just puts the drivers in to C:\dell\drivers\R168685 and starts the installer program and you must choose the Express install (custom install option finds nothing to install and you have to restart the installer from the dell\drivers folder).

Now we would have expected the installer to have installed something and set the display and the like. This is not the case. It created a folder under My Programs but I then had to manually install the driver:

Start > Control Panel > Hardware & Sounds > View Devices and printers > Generic PnP Monitor > (right click) > Properties > Hardware > Properties > Change Settings > Driver > Update Driver ... > Browse My Computer > C:\dell\drivers\R168685.

First time around I accidentally did a manual install of the WindowsXP version of the drivers recommended on the dell site and my computer did not boot properly such that I had to do a system restore.

All of this was such a pain in the neck. I did this to fix my sisters laptop. I have had so many years of having to work out such things I finally bought a mac last year. It took me a while to "just see the easy way" to do anything with dragging and dropping things between all the apps as you dont need to know where files are on the harddrive - windows teaches you bad habits of having to "know" where things are on disk and how to get things to working which is not needed with a Mac. Having built my own PCs when I was young and having a linux netbook for a while I was gritting my teeth handing over my credit card to buy a mac but I *really* don't miss all that pain like the stuff above which is typical of windows.

Simbo

 

[computerq]

The vista driver is called:

ATI IGP Xpress 1150 8.31.100.3.2 VISTA WHQL 061124a2-053906C-Dell

if you google that then click on the link (not the top result today) to get it from the support.us.dell.com site then you download a program called:

R168685.exe

Run that and it just puts the drivers in to C:\dell\drivers\R168685 and starts the installer program and you must choose the Express install (custom install option finds nothing to install and you have to restart the installer from the dell\drivers folder).

Now we would have expected the installer to have installed something and set the display and the like. This is not the case. It created a folder under My Programs but I then had to manually install the driver:

Start > Control Panel > Hardware & Sounds > View Devices and printers > Generic PnP Monitor > (right click) > Properties > Hardware > Properties > Change Settings > Driver > Update Driver ... > Browse My Computer > C:\dell\drivers\R168685.

When I do this, Windows gives me a message saying that the right driver is already installed and doesn't install the R168685 one.

Is there any way to get around this?

 

[JackMDS]

What ever you want to install has to be compatible with Win 7.

====================

Download the drivers and unpack them to a folder of your choice.

In the Device manger, right click on the adapter.

Click on Update Drivers, and choose the Browse my computer for drivers,

Choose let me pick from a list , Click on Have a Disk, and point to the folder with the Drivers.

.

 

[Harvey]

When I do this, Windows gives me a message saying that the right driver is already installed and doesn't install the R168685 one.

Is there any way to get around this?

Check the version of your video driver in Device Manager. If it's an earlier version than the new download, you may have to uninstall it before you install a newer version.

 

[Geezer G]

I'm glad I found this forum as I'm doing an "why the heck not?" upgrade on my 1501 to 4GB ram, a 500GB Scorpio Black hd and Win7/64. Dell tech support is lacking, but I've already found many answers to my driver questions here. Thanks! Does anyone know of any BIOS issues with this upgrade? I've run into that before and didn't know if that would be a problem here.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Geezer