Xps 17 (L702x) OS downgrade from Win7 Home 64 bit to Win7 Ultimate 32Bit

Hi All,

I just received me new machine 2 days ago.
I told the rep that I wanted to put Win 7 32 bit on it and he informed me that although they didn't offer factory build with 32 bit, that if I bought the OS myself, that the machine would run 32 bit win 7.
(I have an old app that I cant do without that will only run on win 7 32bit, so I purchased a full version of Ultimate(32bit)).

The machine came with Win 7 Home (64 bit) installed, so I did a fresh install from bootup formatting the drive and installed the ultimate 32 bit.
A message something along the lines of "some hardware may have issues running" - I think the wireless centrino card was one of these.

A lot of the devices were unknown / had no drivers, and the screen resolution was not as it was on the factory build.

I then went to the dell website, but there are no 32 bit drivers available. I tried to install 1 or 2 of the 64 bit drivers but they failed installation.

My question is :
Is it possible to run the Win 7 ultimate 32 bit on this machine ?
and if so, can you please advise how I should go about getting 32 bit drivers for the components? I'm unsure whether the hardware limits the os that can run on it ?

I am in a real fix here, so any help is gratefully appreciated.

Oh and I know the downside of 32 bit memory usage etc, I just have a lot of old apps that I want to run, without having to go the VM route via xp mode.

Thanks,
DinoG.


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• XPS L702x : 2nd generation Intel Core i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz

• Display : 17.3in HD+ WLED True-Life (1600x900) with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera

• Memory : 4GB (2X2GB) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel

• Hard Drive : 640GB Serial ATA (7200RPM)

• Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including software

• Graphics : 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M Graphics Card

• Wireless : European Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000

• Operating System : English Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)

 

You should be able to download the drivers you need from the individual manufacturers, rather than using Dell packaged ones.

For example

nvidia
NVIDIA DRIVERS 270.61 WHQL

Intel (wireless)
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...7, 32-bit*&DownloadType=Software Applications

It'll be fun!

 

Thanks Zygotic,

Can I ask about the chipset and/or Core I7 processor?

If I go down the route of installing drivers from the manufactures do I run a bigger risk of the laptop having conflicts/issues with drivers not provided by dell ? (See some warning on the NVidia site along the lines)

One other thing, the dell has this turbo boost application, I'm not sure what this is and if it is required when I rebuild, or even if i can get it for the 32 bit, can you offer advise on this ?

Thanks a mill,
DinoG.

 

You won't need a driver for the processor. For the chipset, everything's there on the Intel site. I would guess that you'll get a base Windows 7 install going without chipset drivers, then install them. Suggest you get the wireless drivers ready on a USB key, otherwise you might have difficulties.

Not sure what the turbo boost application is. Maybe it's the monitor tool that shows you what speed the processor is doing. The actual turbo boost itself is part of the processor and doesn't need drivers or tools.

 

Why do you want to do this in the first place?

 

"Stated the need for compatibility with old applications that only run in 32 bit"

As for me I would be looking for 64 bit application solutions. 64 bit has been out for too long (over a decade) for compatibility problems. . .

I understand as I have several applications that run under 64 bit but only at 32 bit restrictions so there is no performance advantages.

 

Thanks Zygotic.

It is a monitoring tool(shows a moving bar, with different color when peaking above 2 ghz), I didn't know whether the turbo was reliant on this software, so thanks for shedding light on that.

wildjim - it's a machine for my old man, he's been using this software for years, and is gone beyond retraining. I've tried, but am reminded that I can't teach an old dog new tricks


Can I ask for help on one more thing guys?
Running the 32 bit covers most of my issues bar one....

He uses (I don't want to say this) a dos based program called Dataease.
This he cannot live without, which is why I went with the ultra so that I can run the VM or xp mode. He needs this to run fullscreen, and has it working on his old xp machine before it died.

In the current build - I installed the xpmode and the dos based app runs no problem, but when I try to go full screen (alt + Enter) I get a message saying something like fullscreen is not supported. Any solution to this ?

Thanks for you help guys, appreciate it.

DinoG

 

I understand since I am running an W732 with an i7 and 12gb of XMP memory on my desktop but I will go (commit) with 64 bit soon. Probably after my XPS 17 arrives in a week or so ; )

I've ran 64 bit last year for awhile I should have stayed with it but I get hardware upgrade impulses more than OS upgrade impulses.

Anyway I will assume that W732 will run fine after you track all the drivers far and wide ; ) Dell should offer the 32 bit option.

 

Like the other responses, you will need to go for each harware you need a driver to the manufacturer site. Start with the driver list and go one by one to find the 32 bit version. Some devices may be recognized by Windows already so you don't need to look. At the end check in device manager and make sure you don't have left any unknown devices.

Jut a note as you have 1 GB RAM card this memory space is removed from the 4 GB you have ( 32 bit version can use a max of 4GB memory space). Also there is usually around 512MB for PCI space so most likely you will be left with 2.5 GB of memory usable by applications.In x64 you have all your 4GB usable for aps.

I would rather keep the x64 version and install VMware with a 32 bit version of XP (or W7) and run your app in it. Of course if that app is the main one you use you may not like this as there is some performance degradation running in VM).

Dell will not release 32 bit drivers as they don't sell the 32 bit configuration. If they provide them they should test with them all apps and configurations included.Testing is very time consuming and could take months. So you are on your own if you want to use an unsupported (means untested) configuration.You also can not ask for tech support for any unsupported configurations. I expect that soon, you will see the 32 bit version only on cheap netbooks as most laptops come now with at least 4GB RAM.