# Windows 7 Help



## Sarn Darkholm (Aug 11, 2009)

I downloaded and installed Windows 7 RC1 onto a newly built PC.  I like it so far, but I have a few issues.

1). It says I have a floppy drive even tho none is connected
2). Sometimes the Optical Drive disappears and it takes a restart to bring it back
3). My ATI Radeon 2400 Pro HD 256 MB card is only recognized as 128MB (I know its 256 cause that is what my old Dell saw it as)

Any ideas?


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## ToeClaws (Aug 11, 2009)

Well... you _are_ running a release candidate.  You can't expect it to work properly - even actual releases of Windows can take years and multiple service packs to finally work right.


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## AshleyAshes (Aug 11, 2009)

"You're only using a Release Candidate, did you expect it to work perfectly?"

We were running an event and one person volenteered his laptop to run the projector in a theater.  He was running a Win7 beta and couldn't get the VGA output port to work.  I was pissed off at the time, cause he's the typical 'stupid nerd, must install latest thing even if it's not done yet'.  I was yelling 'WHY ARE YOU RUNNING A BETA OPERATING SYSTEM ON MISSION CRITICAL HARDWARE!?'


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## Sarn Darkholm (Aug 11, 2009)

AshleyAshes said:


> "You're only using a Release Candidate, did you expect it to work perfectly?"
> 
> We were running an event and one person volenteered his laptop to run the projector in a theater.  He was running a Win7 beta and couldn't get the VGA output port to work.  I was pissed off at the time, cause he's the typical 'stupid nerd, must install latest thing even if it's not done yet'.  I was yelling 'WHY ARE YOU RUNNING A BETA OPERATING SYSTEM ON MISSION CRITICAL HARDWARE!?'



I did not expect it to work perfectly.  I was just curious as if anyone has had the same issues and what they may have done to rectify the situation.  Also I am not the typical "stupid nerd"  I am the "cheap nerd"  If i had the money to get Vista or XP I would have.  Win7 RC1 was free and I needed an OS.


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## Runefox (Aug 11, 2009)

> 1). It says I have a floppy drive even tho none is connected


Floppies aren't plug and play; More than likely, your BIOS still has a floppy specified as present.


> 2). Sometimes the Optical Drive disappears and it takes a restart to bring it back


Have you checked the Device Manager when the optical drive disappears? It's actually possible that software may be causing this.


> 3). My ATI Radeon 2400 Pro HD 256 MB card is only recognized as 128MB (I know its 256 cause that is what my old Dell saw it as)


It may not actually be 256MB, but for the sake of argument, are you using drivers downloaded from AMD/ATI's website, or the drivers that come with Windows?

Also, re the projector bit, that's precisely why I have XP Pro running alongside it in a dual boot configuration. When Windows 7 bombs (and it has), I can take shelter there and continue doing whatever I was doing.


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## ArielMT (Aug 11, 2009)

Drivers and BIOS settings seconded.

Windows has always been shaky with built-in device support before launch, and often at launch as well.


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## Sarn Darkholm (Aug 12, 2009)

Runefox said:


> Floppies aren't plug and play; More than likely, your BIOS still has a floppy specified as present.
> 
> Have you checked the Device Manager when the optical drive disappears? It's actually possible that software may be causing this.
> 
> ...



Downloaded and using the latest drivers from the ATI website.  My old computer which I took this out of recognized it as a 256MB.


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## ToeClaws (Aug 12, 2009)

Sarn Darkholm said:


> Also I am not the typical "stupid nerd"  I am the "cheap nerd"  If i had the money to get Vista or XP I would have.  Win7 RC1 was free and I needed an OS.



You'll be pleased to know there is a whole world of Open-source software out there with hundreds of free OS's, nearly all of which are more functional, useful and stable than Windows.  Why not give one of them a try if price is a factor?


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## Shino (Aug 12, 2009)

I feel I should point out that the Win 7 RC (x64) I'm running has been infinitely more stable than any other Microsoft OS this machine has run in the past. So there. *immaturely sticks out tounge*

Ok, now that that's out of the way:
1) The floppy issue is probably a BIOS setting. Go into your BIOS, find where it says _Diskette A: 3.5" 1.44MB_ and change it to _Disabled_.
2) The optical drive problem is probably a driver issue / conflict. Do you have any drive emulation software like Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools installed? Do you have any unusual burning or hot-swap software running in the background?
3) Most likely a driver issue (make sure you're running ATI's latest drivers, not the WHQL ones from MS Update), but could also be a BIOS setting. Check you BIOS for and video-card related memory settings. If you find 128MB selected somewhere, check and see if that menu has a 256MB option. Could be your BIOS got reset when you did the OS upgrade.

Good luck!


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## Sarn Darkholm (Aug 12, 2009)

Shino said:


> I feel I should point out that the Win 7 RC (x64) I'm running has been infinitely more stable than any other Microsoft OS this machine has run in the past. So there. *immaturely sticks out tounge*
> 
> Ok, now that that's out of the way:
> 1) The floppy issue is probably a BIOS setting. Go into your BIOS, find where it says _Diskette A: 3.5" 1.44MB_ and change it to _Disabled_.
> ...



okay I went into the BIOS and disabled the floppy, that fixes that issue.  Cannot find an option for the video card at all so I obviously cannot check that.  DVD drive is still flaking out every now and then.  I will replace the flaky IDE DVD drive with my Dell's SATA as soon as I get a molex to sata adapter or a new powersupply.


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## Stensca (Aug 15, 2009)

AshleyAshes said:


> "You're only using a Release Candidate, did you expect it to work perfectly?"
> 
> We were running an event and one person volenteered his laptop to run the projector in a theater.  He was running a Win7 beta and couldn't get the VGA output port to work.  I was pissed off at the time, cause he's the typical 'stupid nerd, must install latest thing even if it's not done yet'.  I was yelling 'WHY ARE YOU RUNNING A BETA OPERATING SYSTEM ON MISSION CRITICAL HARDWARE!?'


Did the person use WinKey + P, or were they trying to do it by hand?


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## tikian12 (Aug 20, 2009)

I'll just say that build 7600 of windows 7 is running WAY better than the beta or RC


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