DELL M90 XP-PRO FRESH OS INSTALL to WIN 7 PRO

[RoyB]

Looking for someone that has done a FRESH OS INSTALL to their DELL PRECISION M90 XP PRO LAPTOP to the WIN 7 PROFESSIONAL operating system.

There was someone on here a few months back that did this and I would like to get in touch before I start doing my M90.

Tried searching the forums but all I find is my posts of the subj.

Thanks...

[RoyB]

LittleBill - I found that out haha... I still would think the DELL laptop descriptions should back that up better.

I had to bring up GOOGLE PHOTOS and hope they showed the bottom of the DELL LAPTOPS to see the large docking connector to be sure what I was seeing...

Then there was the idea that maybe the docking connector was on some option or not for the same model number.

SO I learned alittle more today in making my decision on where way to possibly go with this...

It seems my M90 DUAL CORE memory may to too old to do much with. I would still like to talk with the one person that indicated he was pretty successful getting his M90s on WIN 7. I's like to learn on that before I buy something else.

thanks for all the help...

Roy Ken

[LittleBill]

Roy,

if you go look at the dock stations, they list every single laptop they support,

its a much easier way to see what laptops have the docking connections

[RoyB]

I was looking to use WIN7 32-bit for the DELL M90 setup...

Was just pipe dreaming getting a newer model laptop like the E6410 M4700 with WIN 7 Professional already loaded on it etc... Those will support 64-bit... Looks like you can get a refurbished DELL E6410 Latitude between $250 and $300 listed on AMAZON. This is a 2010 version laptop. Now that I know that will support a docking station setup like I have I am getting very interested.

If I had lots of money however I would get the DELL PRECISION M6700 to replace my M90s... AMAZON is listing those refurbished for $1500 and up...

oh well...
Roy Ken

[AllegroD]

Win 7 x64 (if that is what you are installing) will not work on Gen 1 & 2 M90. Their chipsets are not capable of 64bit.

[RoyB]

LittleBill - Found this photo on google showing the docking connector on the bottom of the E6410 Latitude



It is amazing that NOT everyone tells you anything about this is the specs. I am assuming 'ALL' E6410 LATITUDE laptops have this connector...

I also see most of the listed E6410 unit usually list only 4GB of memory. Hoping I could get this up to 8GB without too much issue. Did see a few 8GB memory listed but not many...

Roy Ken

[RoyB]

LittleBill - Does your E6410 DELL Latitude have the large docking connector on the bottom of the laptop and interfaces the standard line-up of dell docking stations... Usually the tech specs always leaves this info out...

My docking station is the DELL DRO1X model... I was thinking only the DELL WORKSTATION Series had the large connector on the bottom of the laptops...

The different docking stations are cheap enough to purchase if my DRO1X doesn't work I reckon...

I see under the E-SERIES docking stations alot of different DELL LAPTOPS are listed.

May have to see how much one of these refurbished laptops goes for.

Roy Ken

[LittleBill]

actually all work base laptops will.

i had all the dells docks, currently on a e6410 docked. the lenvo x and w series all dock as well.

i would be very hard pressed to believe the dell upgrade won't go perfect for you,

my e6410's were on xp and moved to 7 without any direct drivers from dell

[RoyB]

Being 73 years old now I really don't need to be getting into anything that cost a lot of money. I probably won't outlive the WINDOW 7 end-of-life hehe... I am currently using a 17-ich Dell something WIN 7 laptop (belongs to the wife) but I miss my M90 setup in a big way... All of my drawings and other things I love to play with are just setting on the side now...

Since the WIN 7 PROFESSIONAL OS system only cost around $130 AMAZON and if I get it to work well on my M90s this would be my best bet getting to use my M90s again. I would do just one of them to see if it converts over OK and run my main software/hardware items.

My two DELL M90 XP-PRO's
Dell Precision M90 Intel Core 2 DUO 2.0Ghz 4GB RAM 93GB HDD DVDRW 17.0" Display
NVIDIA Quadro FX 2500M with 256MB dedicated graphics memory - 32-bit machine

AMAZON is currently selling this DELL M4500 refurbished for $409
Dell Precision M4500 Intel Quad i7 1.73GHz 8GB RAM 250GB HDD DVDRW Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 15.6" 1920x1080 HD Ultra Sharp LED Display nVidia FX 1800M 1GB Dedicated RAM Memory Video Card

The M4500 works well with the DELL E-SERIES FAMILY SERIES Replicators etc... I am not worried about going back to a smaller screen size as I never open up the laptop using the docking stations. My M90 drives dual 24-inch Dell monitors today...

There is not many laptops available that will interface a docking station setup like the Dells have.

I probably should just do this since it already has WIN 7 Professional on it... Or try to find a more later WORKSTATION version like the M4700... Price goes up...

Since I am retired now I have lost all of my work expertise to keep me pointed in the right direction...

Just thinking...
Roy Ken

[RoyB]

I was aware that I have to do FRESH OS INSTALL... Will change my poor choice of wording. Have been doing alot of research on how to save my DELL M90 WORKSTATION LAPTOPS (I have two here) and know what I am suppose to do.

Ran across one post that had good success changing his M90 over to WIN 7 so wanted to get in touch with him and swap some more data on what specifically I may run into on my specific M90 laptop.

I know I can find many other LAPTOPS already using WIN 7 but I have a great setup here using my M90s with the DELL E-SERIES replicator/docking stations. Works right into my style of bringing along my M90 laptop on my RV trips where basically all I do is bring along my laptop and drop it into my docking station and I have almost the exact layout I have here at home supporting my printer, dual monitors, special setup for Ham Radio Message board interfaces etc.

Was really wanting to locate the DELL M90 post that has gone down this road already. It may be this was on another forum since I couldn't find any reference to it doing my search.

Thanks for the responses so far...
Roy Ken

[k1hog]

Windows XP to Windows 7, 1492 is correct about the install. One thing to know is you will not need a external hard drive, as if your installed hard drive has enough space, you can point the transfer to a directory on the installed hard drive. See link below.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-xp-to-windows-7#T1=tab01

Johnnie

[1492]

You won't be able to do an upgrade to from WIN XP to WIN 7. You can only do a fresh OS install. Then re-install all your compatible programs and transfer data files.

You may want to look at this DELL WIN 7 Guide.

[docj]

You're not going to find many posts on this topic because most people did the upgrade from XP to Win 7 many years ago. I suggest you use Google to search the web rather than expecting to find answers on this forum.

What I do recall about the upgrade is that Microsoft did not provide a direct upgrade path since they expected users to have gone to Vista before going to Win 7. As a result, they did not provide a way to keep your applications installed; you would have had to re-install them. I got around that problem by buying a 3rd party program that handled the installation and eliminated the need to re-install applications. I have no idea whether or not such programs still exist.

I have to question why you would bother to install Win 7 on an old computer at this point anyway. Like it or not Win 7 is being replaced by Win 8.1/9 and it seems pointless to go through all that effort again. Furthermore, whatever computer you have XP installed on is "antiquated" by computer standards and I question why you would want to spend any money at all upgrading it JMO.