Author Topic: Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet? (Read 117,653 times)

MilesAhead · « **Reply #100 on:** December 01, 2009, 06:51 PM »

Quote from: Innuendo on December 01, 2009, 04:55 PM

Quote from: MilesAhead on December 01, 2009, 06:02 AM
If it was defrag it would run on. I'm talking about a ticking like a clock every one or two seconds. The LED just lights, then goes out.

Last time I saw something like that was when Windows 95 was out. A driver update and a new BIOS fixed it.

Quote
It doesn't stay on like when the HD is being accessed steadily such as during defrag.

Defrag-when-idle doesn't just access your hard drive steadily. It'll defrag a couple seconds, stop a couple seconds to see if any other program needs to perform any operations, defrag again a couple seconds, etc.

I think we are mixing issues. One is if you get excessive HD access that interferes with using your own machine(as in Vista pre SP1.) The other is a ticking LED. The ticking LED will not go away no matter if your HD is fragged, defragged, the defragger is not running, you boot to safe mode with no network support, windows search on off, superfetch on off. In short, it's a hardware polling that's likely some defect in a driver.

The people who have HD access that interferes with them using their own machine don't have my issue. If you google you'll see that over the years there has been a steady complaint with a small number of people with HD LED ticking like a clock. If it was common there would be more posts about it. That's why I deem it a hardware polling issue.

All these other suggestions about turning this or that service off, eliminating scheduled tasks, yadda yadda, been there, done that. It's not it.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #101 on:** December 01, 2009, 06:58 PM »

Quote from: f0dder on December 01, 2009, 07:38 AM

Simply "polling" a harddrive (which I can't imagine being done) shouldn't cause the LED to light - only if you're reading or writing the drive... but that can happen for a lot of reasons. I don't see that happening on my install, but I've stripped off windows search/indexing and defragger.

What other software do you have running in the background?

It's not software running in the background. If it was, it would not tick like a clock. This is constant 24 hours a day/seven days a week. If there is HD access it is in addition to the "ticking". If you don't believe me Google "LED every second auto-insert notification" and see what you get.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #102 on:** December 01, 2009, 07:02 PM »

Quote from: Innuendo on December 01, 2009, 04:55 PM

Defrag-when-idle doesn't just access your hard drive steadily. It'll defrag a couple seconds, stop a couple seconds to see if any other program needs to perform any operations, defrag again a couple seconds, etc.

btw I appreciate you are trying to solve the problem but this is not what I'm seeing. What I get is exactly like a metronome. Every second or so the LED lights and immediately goes out. There's no variable length staccato lighting of the LED as one would expect from background defragging. It ticks is the only way I can describe it. I've been using multi-tasking systems since around 1987. It's not defrag.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #103 on:** December 01, 2009, 07:04 PM »

Quote from: f0dder on December 01, 2009, 07:38 AM

Simply "polling" a harddrive (which I can't imagine being done) shouldn't cause the LED to light - only if you're reading or writing the drive... but that can happen for a lot of reasons. I don't see that happening on my install, but I've stripped off windows search/indexing and defragger.

What other software do you have running in the background?

Of course it "shouldn't". That's why I'm trying to fix it. Sheesh!!

superboyac · « **Reply #104 on:** December 01, 2009, 07:32 PM »

You know, I had this problem once a long time ago. i don't remember what it was exactly, but I posted about it in these forums and it was fixed. perhaps it is similar. if I remember I'll let you know for sure.

OK i found it...
This is the thread. The problem was SpySweeper. That probably doesn't help you. Sorry.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #105 on:** December 01, 2009, 07:36 PM »

Quote from: superboyac on December 01, 2009, 07:32 PM

You know, I had this problem once a long time ago. i don't remember what it was exactly, but I posted about it in these forums and it was fixed. perhaps it is similar. if I remember I'll let you know for sure.

Thank you. I posted on HP business support forum. If it's an HPism somebody there has probably seen it. I've seen posts by people with a similar issue with auto-insert notification where they say XP SP1 won't do it, but putting SP2 on did, or SP2 didn't do it, but putting SP3 on did, etc.. It's got to be something to do with the HD controller and those memory stick slots. If it ain't then I'll really be surprised. Just the fact that almost nobody is seeing it makes me think it's brand specific weirdy.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #106 on:** December 01, 2009, 09:20 PM »

Hmmmmmm, whatever it is, it goes away when I disable the CDROM in device manager. I have AutoRun set to 0. That should fix it. Apparently not in W7.

As soon as I enable the CDROM in device manager, the 1 second ticking starts right up again.

edit: I can tell it's going to be one of those deals where you put on the OS you want to run and there's no way to tell before hand if you'll get the dreaded blink or not. Newer OS or SP may fix it, but it may also break it. Guess the guy with the duct tape approach might have something after all.

delwoode · « **Reply #107 on:** December 01, 2009, 10:12 PM »

Quote from: Innuendo on November 24, 2009, 03:14 PM

Quote from: delwoode on November 24, 2009, 01:16 PM
For me its all about maximum program compatability. This is why I am using xp and not a mac os or umbuntu or whatever.

I did the "I'm going to run the less popular, but infinitely more cool OS" thing a long time ago. It was the Amiga & to this day modern OSes could learn a thing about it's elegance and grace. AmigaOS could pre-emptively multi-task very well with just 512K of RAM. Installing device drivers was a simple matter of copying one or two files into a certain directory on your hard drive. Remove the device later? Just delete those two files & you're done. Independent file formats ensured that any word processor could load a file written with another. Same with images and graphics programs. Just try to tell me that wasn't elegant.

I moved to a PC when I realized that, for me, a computer isn't about it's OS. It's about the apps.

Quote
I tried Win7 for a couple of weeks. Too many of my apps didnt like it or would not work. I tried work arounds. So I will stay with xp for a couple more years until the apps catch up with the operating system.

No offense, but your problem isn't a case of your apps not catching up to the operating system. That's already happened. Anything that can work on Vista (a two year old OS) can work on Win7. Anything that can't needs to be upgraded or replaced. Any apps still in development will work with Win7. If yours don't then chances are development stopped a long time ago and you need to start searching for a replacement that'll do what it did.

well to be honest I cant now remember which progs I could not get to run. I just know they were ones I wanted to use! I especially had problems with some portable apps. Anyway in the end I thought, hmm not a bad os but I will come back to it in a couple of years, by then the current progs will all work, at least I hope! Since I moved back to xp I cant say I missed anything about Win7. To be honest the only reason I moved from win98 to XP was because my favourite program at the time Adobe Photoshop stopped making their app compatible with 98 so I was forced to change.

dMbTiger · « **Reply #108 on:** December 07, 2009, 02:09 PM »

I loaded W7 onto 2 machines (64 &32). Haven't used either much yet, but I figure problems with security, obsolete apps, etc. will sort themselves out eventually. Have to go with the flow if you want to stay with Microsoft OSs. I still have XP Pro on my workhorse machine and Vista Home on one laptop (other two are XP Pro). Make a gradual transition as I have the time to familiarize myself with 7. I have a quad core box that I want to install W7, Ubuntu, and Snow Leopard on, but I can't get a copy of VMWare or a reliable boot loader, so that's on hold for now. Anyone have any ideas that would help me get that project going would be greatly appreciated.

Dan

cmpm · « **Reply #109 on:** December 07, 2009, 02:53 PM »

http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html

says it's free and works on w7
i think it has limits though....

libeco · « **Reply #110 on:** December 10, 2009, 12:31 PM »

On my old laptop I'm using XP and I'm still very happy with it. On my new laptop (once I get a new one after the previous one died after three days) I'm kind of stuck to 7 x64. If I would be able to use a proper XP x64 I would still prefer it over Vista or 7. I'm trying the newest Ubuntu on my PC and I like it, however, it comes with a price: no Adobe-products or a proper Office-suite (no I really don't like OpenOffice).

chrisGrind · « **Reply #111 on:** December 10, 2009, 02:57 PM »

I may have missed it but the go to program to determine what is causing your disk to be thrashed is Procmon. Highly recommended.

Innuendo · « **Reply #112 on:** December 10, 2009, 04:02 PM »

Quote from: MilesAhead on December 01, 2009, 09:20 PM

As soon as I enable the CDROM in device manager, the 1 second ticking starts right up again.

Have you tried swapping out the CD-ROM drive? Maybe it is border-line defective? Also, something less drastic to try is to make sure it's running the latest firmware.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #113 on:** December 10, 2009, 06:36 PM »

Quote from: Innuendo on December 10, 2009, 04:02 PM

Quote from: MilesAhead on December 01, 2009, 09:20 PM
As soon as I enable the CDROM in device manager, the 1 second ticking starts right up again.

Have you tried swapping out the CD-ROM drive? Maybe it is border-line defective? Also, something less drastic to try is to make sure it's running the latest firmware.

I don't get the problem on XP SP2. On google I see people with the same thing. One OS and SP level will do it, another won't. To me that doesn't indicate defective hardware. I'll likely be putting on a newer W7 once the time runs out on this one. I'll see if that fixes it. The burner is working well. Not the time to update firmware.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #114 on:** December 10, 2009, 06:56 PM »

Could be a duff driver or a driver conflict with another device. If you are still using the beta version why not do an image backup and install the RTM version to see if the problem was cured in the final release.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #115 on:** December 10, 2009, 07:34 PM »

Quote from: Carol Haynes on December 10, 2009, 06:56 PM

Could be a duff driver or a driver conflict with another device. If you are still using the beta version why not do an image backup and install the RTM version to see if the problem was cured in the final release.

It's not that big a deal. I'm going to use the beta until the time runs out. When I buy W7 it will have at least SP1 integrated. I already know it's OS dependent. Why do all that reinstall? When the time runs out then I'll have to. I can wait until then.

yoyuo · « **Reply #116 on:** December 11, 2009, 09:04 AM »

Indeed win 7 got more favorable review than Vista. I also want to switch my XP to Win7. But still doubt it.

majorspacecase · « **Reply #117 on:** December 11, 2009, 11:52 AM »

Well I'm biting the bullet and making the upgrade from XP Home 32bit to Win 7 64bit. Ordered the upgrade this week and will get it next week.

I had been running the RC for months with no major problems but switched back to XP due to needing to use a program for work that wouldn't run on the RC.

That being said, I'm now in the process of my preupgrade prep-work -
Downloading drivers, critical programs, etc.and burning them to disk)
Cleaning out all unneeded junk files
Backing up files

One thing I'll do just before the upgrade is to use Sysinternals' Disk2vhd to make VHDs of my existing XP harddrives and putting them on my network storage. That way, after the upgrade, not only can I mount the VHDs in Win 7 so I can have access to all my old files (in case I miss anything) but also using either Virtual PC or Virtualbox I can use the VHDs to run my old XP setup as a virtual machine (with a little luck and tweaking)

Darwin · « **Reply #118 on:** December 11, 2009, 04:11 PM »

Quote from: majorspacecase on December 11, 2009, 11:52 AM

Well I'm biting the bullet and making the upgrade from XP Home 32bit to Win 7 64bit. Ordered the upgrade this week and will get it next week...

That being said, I'm now in the process of my preupgrade prep-work -
Downloading drivers, critical programs, etc.and burning them to disk)
Cleaning out all unneeded junk files
Backing up files

One thing I'll do just before the upgrade is to use Sysinternals' Disk2vhd to make VHDs of my existing XP harddrives and putting them on my network storage. That way, after the upgrade, not only can I mount the VHDs in Win 7 so I can have access to all my old files (in case I miss anything) but also using either Virtual PC or Virtualbox I can use the VHDs to run my old XP setup as a virtual machine (with a little luck and tweaking)

Er, AFAIK you cannot do an in-place upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit - you'll have to do a clean install and reinstall all of your software. You should be able to back up up program settings and restore them afterward.

majorspacecase · « **Reply #119 on:** December 11, 2009, 08:10 PM »

I'm fully aware that this will be a clean install and will have to reinstall my software, that's just time spent and no big deal.

As for program settings, that's one reason why I'm converting my hardrives to VHDs on network storage and will be able to access their contents at will to retrieve anything I'll need.

As far as any system settings, new system - new settings, that way I won't be bringing over any wonky settings from XP (I do so love to tweak & fiddle

)

Personal files and documents? Those I already keep on network storage.

cmpm · « **Reply #120 on:** December 13, 2009, 02:50 PM »

Quote from: dMbTiger on December 07, 2009, 02:09 PM

I loaded W7 onto 2 machines (64 &32). Haven't used either much yet, but I figure problems with security, obsolete apps, etc. will sort themselves out eventually. Have to go with the flow if you want to stay with Microsoft OSs. I still have XP Pro on my workhorse machine and Vista Home on one laptop (other two are XP Pro). Make a gradual transition as I have the time to familiarize myself with 7. I have a quad core box that I want to install W7, Ubuntu, and Snow Leopard on, but I can't get a copy of VMWare or a reliable boot loader, so that's on hold for now. Anyone have any ideas that would help me get that project going would be greatly appreciated.

Dan

Gizmo Drive works on w7.
Free, up to 10 virtual drives.
Maybe more depending on setting it up.
More features too.

I use it, I'm sure anyone can.
Updated yesterday.

http://arainia.com/software/gizmo/overview.php?nID=4

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #121 on:** December 13, 2009, 04:38 PM »

VMWare Workstation is now supposed to be Windows 7 compatible. I am using the latest build on XP but haven't yet tried it on Win7.

Rocketboy · « **Reply #122 on:** December 15, 2009, 11:43 AM »

Here's what I did on my pc...

I started with XP 32bit
Added 2 gigs of memory (to be just under 3 gigs)
- Things ran nicer, but still, not great

Installed Windows 7 64bit
- Things started flying

Going to 7 and 64bit made a HUGE improvment to my pc. Also, I use Vista at work (tech support & excel tool programming), and all of the things that annoy me in Vista, are fixed, and actually make sense now.

If you have the drivers to do it (right now, I still can't get any of my old printers working, and my Realtek audio driver front end is no-where near as functional as it was in XP), I highly suggest you do.

Also, the pre-order was a great deal, but a bit too late for that now...

Innuendo · « **Reply #123 on:** December 15, 2009, 04:22 PM »

Quote from: Rocketboy on December 15, 2009, 11:43 AM

If you have the drivers to do it (right now, I still can't get any of my old printers working, and my Realtek audio driver front end is no-where near as functional as it was in XP), I highly suggest you do.

Printers can be difficult to get going, especially if they have an HP badge on the front of them. As for your Realtek audio make sure you are running the latest drivers from their site. I have a *lot* of gripes about Realtek, but the frequency of updates for their audio chipsets isn't one of them. They release new drivers quite frequently.

sinum · « **Reply #124 on:** December 15, 2009, 06:12 PM »

I switch from XP Home and use Windows 7 32 Home (German) since release day on my main PC, it runs very well. The bad thing is, i cant load some Programs (Coretemp, ProcessTamer) at system start without Admin password or account. Even with Administration rights I'm not able to load this proven Programs for standard users. I try all known tricks with taskplaner, you can save the task with Admin Password but it still don't load the program for standard users, i hope Microsoft fix this (BUG?) soon. Microsoft don't secure anything when they force users to use Admin accounts, turn off UAC or hand out Admin passwords to run some software on standard user accounts. No GpEdit in Windows 7 Home is annoying too.

I never see a single blue screen or system crash. The explorer window crashes after right clicking a drive letter within the tree.