Related
After several failed attempts of cloning VISTA from the HTC Shift's to the my Samsung 64GB Solid State Drive using Norton Ghost (the cloned drive always blue screens at boot), I've decided to do a clean VISTA install from scratch to the SSD Drive.
With only one USB Port on the Shift, I didn't have enough ports for the Bootable USB Pen w/ Ghost on it + Drive 1 + Drive 2, so I had to stick both 1.8" ZIF drivers in USB adapter enclosures and then clone from one to the other from a desktop computer with multiple USBs (using a hub on the Shift to use the 3 devices at the same time from its single USB connector didn't work either because the drives are not detected at BIOS)
To do a clean install, are the updated VISTA drivers for the Shift posted on HTC's Support Site, all the drivers I will need? I don't seem to see certain things like the SIM Modem for example. Also how do I install the Windows Mobile Application to communicate with SnapVue, etc? I have the feeling I will be missing a ton of drivers and software by the time I have the Shift with a Retail Version of Vista, not the original system restore one with all the drivers (and clutter).
Once I get the system up and running (and tweaked), I'll post some benchmarks here and a video showing boot-up and app launch times with the Samsung SSD (currently the fastest 1.8" ZIF Drive on the market). I want to custom make VISTA as streamlined as possible with the least amount of garbage to gain maximum performance on the Shift and with the lowest possible mem usage On my dsktop my clean install is less than 1.5GB!
If you'd like a detailed post of the disassembly, drive swap and re-assembly as well as final description of all the tweaks performed, services disabled, etc., I can post them here in detail as well.
Thanks for the input of the software and drivers I will need before I start the work
VeEuzUKY said:
To do a clean install, are the updated VISTA drivers for the Shift posted on HTC's Support Site, all the drivers I will need?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, they are all you need. Windows Mobile Device Centre is included with Vista, and that deals with the connection to Snapvue. The sim card is managed by Snapvue, so wiping Vista will not affect it.
Thanks for the reply Pantaloonie
Im hoping that a Vista clean install will be a fraction of the work and time I've spent trying to install XP and Ubuntu Mobile. Both of them got "almost" to fully work but some functionality was always lost no matter my tries. Since I am "slimming" down Vista to its bare minimum, I wonder if there are components I have taken out on my desktop's clean install, that I may actually need for the Shift (Windows Mobile Device Centre being one of them that immediately comes to mind)! Is it required to upgrade to Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 on the version built-in within Vista is enough? I usually stay away as much as possible of ANY upgrades what-so-ever
By the way, what are the VistaECDrv and Extension Kit USBLan Drivers for?
VeEuzUKY said:
By the way, what are the VistaECDrv and Extension Kit USBLan Drivers for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
VistaECDDrv seems to be the Embedded Controller Driver. It is the part that manages communication between the build-in stuff such as USB and SD. It also might be the part that prohibits us from using the SD-card from the Snapvue side.
The other one seems to be the driver for the LAN adaptor... I am not sure what the "Extension Kit" signifies.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
(I actually don't really know what I am talking about )
greetz,
Pfeffa-rah
Are the drivers needed for the Shift's video camera built-in Vista? I cannot find any available drivers to download from HTC's support site
Yes, it works quite happily with the generic USB Camera drivers in Vista.
can you do a benchmark of your SSD from Samsung? ans post the picture?
http://www.hdtune.com/
I think about a Mtron 3018 32GB or 64GB SDD (April 2009) with 100/100MB/s
I Thnik there is no other faster 1,8" PATA SSD on market?
Hi!
Is there any news on the speed on your Shift when changing to the Samsung SSD?
I don´t know, but i´m shure, with Mtron 3018 SSD it is much faster then with SAmsung SSD.
BTW: in the mid of april Mtron release the 64GB Edition with 100/100 Read/write (maybe 300€)
Hy,
with so many ppl out there making there own audio-video-charging-whatnot cables for Smartphones of all kinds (especially the Omnia i know of) i would like to know if it would be possible to get any kind of external USB device like Keyboard, Mouse, USb-Hub or HDD working on a custom cable and driver of some sort. Sure when u allready have a USB-Port on your device the special cable is not needed, but the Driver part is, so interest and demand of this should be rather high me thinks...
Since i have no knowledge to program it, this post is more like a suggestion or request. If the hardware of Smartphones is not as reconfigurable like the Bluetooth-components that can be teached to understand Bluetooth-Keyboards and Mouse then let me know and close the thread
Thanks
Flashhawk
these are possible...if someone agrees to write drivers for all the stuff we want to run...atleast thats what ive heard n read (and remember )
Default Zeno USB Host Drivers v6.0a
Zeno USB Host Drivers v6.0a
==========================
Date: 2009-02-12
Original thread and discussion found here:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=480899&highlight=zeno+usb
Requirements
============
PDA or Smartphone running WM5, WM6, WM6.1, propper USB cable for your device, PTP digital camera.
Information
===========
Made by Zeno Sloim. Based on RATOC Systems drivers.
The package contains:
- USB Mouse driver
- USB Keyboard US-101 HID driver
- USB-based external CD-DVD unit
- USB-based HDD unit, Memory Flash, USB-based card-reader MassStorage Driver
- USB-to-Serial Port driver (start Terminal in Start-Programs for configuration).
- RS232 USB Serial Driver (start RS232 USB Serial Driver in Start-Programs for configuration).
- PTPView for HOST & PTP Digital Cameras driver (non-USB Mass Storage such as Sony, Canon etc.).
- download photos and movies from PTP digital camera to your PDA
- photo preview
- multiple files download
- delete files from digital camera
All features tested on Fujitsu Siemens Pocket Loox 560N running WM6.1 with Transcend 16 GB SDHC Class 6.
Used with OEM USB keyboard, OEM external HDD, Kingston 8 GB memory-flash, OEM card-reader and various SD, SDHC cards, Microsoft various USB Mouses, Jura F9 automatic-coffee-machine serial port controller, OEM serial GPS unit, Canon Powershot G3, Canon PowerShot S3 IS
Download and run installer.exe on your pc, autorun.exe on your pda, autorun-s.exe on your smartphone.
History
=======
- Version 1.0: 2009-02-06 (first version)
- Version 2.0: 2009-02-07 added USB Host Mouse support for generic USB mouse. Only left-click and right-click support included, scroll-mouses are reduced to simple left and right click mouses.)
- Version 3.0: USB-to-Serial Port support added. V3 includes all previous versions, no need for uninstall. V3 does automatically soft-reset, which was not the case for v1 or v2.
- Version 4.0: PTP digital camera support added. V4 includes all previous versions, no need for uninstall.
- Version 5.0: added compatibility with older devices WM2003, as well as for WM Smartphones.
- Version 6.0: improved USB-to-Serial Port driver and added a second RS232 USB Serial Driver more suited for serial GPS units.
- Version 6.0a: modified installer, no longer forced reboot after full install, due to conflict with TouchFlo, SBSH iLauncher which caused a repeated reboot. You should manually restart your device after complete install.
FAQ
===
1. What you see on screen when you connect something?
For HDD, Memory Flash or CardReader, you can see in Explorer(Resco Explorer or WM Explorer) the new unit labeled as "Hard Disk".
For keyboard, you don't see , but in any program using the device own keyboard (Touch Screen or slide - HTC Touch Pro), you can just type on external USB keyboard.
For mouse you see a yellow-green mouse cursor on screen which follows the external mouse movements.
For DVD you see : "External Mass Storage"
For Serial port a little window prompts you to configure the serial port settings and communication protocol.
Or start Terminal in Start-Programs for configuration, or start RS232 USB Serial Driver in Start-Programs for configuration.
For digital camera start the program PTP View.
2. Is program limited to only devices with USB-host?
Yes and no. It depends on the hardware construction, accesible USB connector, even older devices without usb-host can have usb-host functionality. Many models and manufacturers has hidden this feature which really exists in their devices. The only way to find is to test it and if not working, search if other users succeeded. Original Fujitsu Siemens Pocket Loox 560N has included by default usb-host connector, with support for HDD-Memory Flash only.
3. Cables and power supply - which ones?
I always tested it with powersupply incoupled for my Loox, even if HDD or DVD-unit self was powered separated. More info on how to build an injected USB power supply here:
http://tabletblog.com/2006/01/usb-po...host-mode.html
or here:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...or&btnG=Search
You can use the cables/accessories from an external powered usb 2.5" hdd unit and adapter mini-usb to usb (usb cables with 2 heads at one end for external power supply).
4. I ran your installer but nothing happened, and nothing got installed?
You must run installer.exe on your PC with your pda connected via Active Sync. Or copy autorun.exe to your pda and run it from your pda.
The installer detects if any of the 7 modules are already installed and it jumps to next component to check if it is installed. If all components are installed you see the message that nothing has been installed. After install, if you want to remove a certain component, you can do it by choosing Setting-System-Remove Programs. You'll see all 7 components and just uninstall the desired one like any other ordinary installled program. There's no common uninstaller for all 7 components at once, but for any of the 7 individually.
5. Does it work on my device?
There's nothing harmful, nothing malicious hidden in my program, so you can test it on your devices without risk for dataloss or other unpleasant effects.
The installation (CABs) is not locked to certain device, it is uninstallable, it is not compressed to avoid installproblems on certain devices. On my FSC Loox 560N I could install/uninstall without problems. Test my program, if it works, I'll be glad I could help other users, without thinking of money or profit. If it does not work, I can not guarantee I can help you. Just try and see.
6. Can it read data from attached DVD-unit or NTFS partitions?
Yes. The DVD unit I used is an Acer USB-based CD&DVD-RW made 2004 for an Acer Tablet-PC.
7. Barcode readers?
A user commented that even an USB barcode reader worked ok.
8. Incompatibility problems with other programs?
I can only test on my FSC Loox 560N. You can try on other devices and report in this thread on your experiences.
9. Legal aspects. Is this program legal?
Yes. All informations and sources are based on free available information and sources. No licences or copyrights were infringed. All is legal to use.
10. How much does it cost?
This program made by me, Zeno Sloim, is completeley free to use and test. I do not demand any payment or any other material form of recompense.
My program is done as Freeware and may be used by anyone.
However it may be not used or included by any person or company in a shareware product or which demands paying.
http://rapidshare.de/files/45220151/...v6.0a.rar.html
Maaan!!!
That is great!! Will try as fast as i can!!
Thank you so much!!!
Flashhawk
if u read the whole thread u will know that it is not working for majority of the devices. i hope that someone could solve this problem soon.
That driver doesnt work on many devices, touch pro and diamond cant use it.
Hi all,
I bought my (German WM, standard ROM) Shift about 4 months ago, and have spent a lot of time getting it working “just how I want it”. That’s been very successful. I’ve had a huge amount of help, both from here and in German language Shift forums, so now maybe I can give something back.
My Shift has:
Windows 7 Ultimate English
2mb memory
128gb SDD
SHAGCtrl with working buttons
Resolution changer with working buttons
EVERYTHING is working – Wi-Fi, NDIS GSM, Bluetooth. The power management (hibernate etc.) is faultless. My Shift is really fast, super useful, and I carry it at all times. I love my Shift - a machine that was discontinued before its time. HTC?
My wife likes my Shift so much I had to buy her one as well, that’s not (yet) upgraded giving me a great chance to compare side-by-side, modified and un-modified. I didn’t try to differentiate between performance changes due to upgrading to W7, upgrading memory or upgrading to the SSD, as I only wanted to dismantle my Shift once!
Using the built-in Windows 7 “Performance Information and Tools”, the standard and modded Shift were identical EXCEPT:
Memory (RAM) subscore DROPPED from 3.7 on standard to only 3.4 on modded. I don’t know why, maybe the 2gb module is slower?
Primary hard disk subscore went from 3.7 to a massive 6.1!
As far as I can tell, the SDD makes NO DIFFERENCE to battery life – it’s just a whole lot faster!
The 2gb Shift with 128gb SSD takes just 0:42 seconds from power-on to “Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete”.
The 1gb Shift with original disk takes an eternal 1:45! The modded Shift is MUCH snappier and is a pleasure to use.
I believe Windows 7 instead of Vista, 2gb instead of 1 and the SSD ALL made a difference. Of course, this was not a cheap exercise, but the resulting Shift is still a pretty unique device and it’s up to you if you want to spend so much as well.
Problems? Yes. My wife is German-speaking so I tried to install the optional German language pack. That killed SHAGCtrl completely and I haven’t found a solution yet. Also (and this is really obscure), we access a hosted Microsoft Exchange server for our emails. This connection requires you to configure a HTTP proxy in Outlook, to connect to the server. This failed on logon with an odd error message containing “cannot find TILES”! After a lot of work, I found that the Shift’s fingerprint scanner was interfering with sending the password to the Exchange server. Uninstalling the VitalKey software fixed this – I can do without the fingerprint scanner. You are unlikely to encounter this unless you too access an Exchange server from Outlook with HTTP proxy.
OK, the details.
The most useful tool you can BUY when attempting this is a copy of Acronis True Image. Take frequent images so you can go back when it all goes wrong – and this is very likely, however careful you are. Saves a huge amount of time. Note that the original recovery partition remains intact, so you can always go back to Vista, up to the point you change the disk.
Attach the Shift USB network dongle and ensure that all radio devices are enabled (Wi-Fi, GSM and Bluetooth) before starting with installation of W7. I even found a memory card and plugged that in. This is so that W7 finds and installs drivers for everything during the install.
Since my Shift initially had a working copy of (German) Vista running on it, I found a USB memory stick and installed True Image in Vista, writing a bootable copy to the Nano mentioned below, so that I could boot directly into True Image using the F10 key. I also attached a large USB hard disk to store (and restore) images. Guess you could also boot TrueImage from that, however I used a Nano 8gb USB flash drive (http://www.memorydepot.com/details.asp?id=NANOUSB-16G) for True Image as this can remain attached afterwards and the Shift still fits in its slip case. These Nano drives are available from many vendors with different names but seem to be all the same device.
I installed W7 from yet another USB stick, having first copied all the install files from the MS W7 with SP1 DVD. Creating this USB stick is well-documented elsewhere and very worthwhile as it is much faster than attaching a USB DVD drive. Mine was a clean install, not an upgrade from Vista. I could never make the upgrade route work!
Boot (F10) from the W7 installation stick and follow EXACTLY the process at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=513638. I downloaded and placed all drivers in individual folders preceded by the “a. b. etc.” to be sure of installing them in the correct order.
Once you have a working W7, SWITCH OFF AERO before going any further and certainly before installing any HTC stuff, by selecting a non-Aero screen background. Take an Acronis image at this point.
Be sure to follow the advice given in the post referred to above – install ONLY the downloaded HTC drivers, in the order given, run as administrator, with Vista compatibility mode. DON’T install any other updates or drivers yet.
I will not repeat the instructions in the post referred to above, but will just repeat, IF YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY, it will work!
The parts.
I found both the memory and the SSD on eBay. Please don’t post questions like “Is this SDD XYZ suitable?” – I don’t know and won’t answer! This is what I bought and it works.
My 128gb SSD came from a vendor named “ventures_cn1”. The item description was “1.8" 128GB ZIF SSD*OQO 02/E2*DELL D420/D430 *SAMSUNG Q1”. At this date (October 2010) he’s still selling them at (ouch) $333.00. I believe small and bigger capacities are also available, correspondingly cheaper (and dearer)! The few questions I had were answered very quickly and shipping was both fast and reasonable.
My 2gb memory came from a vendor named “mem-store”. The description was “2GB DDR2 214pin Micro Dimm MicroDIMM Memory HTC SHIFT”. At this date (October 2010) he’s still selling them at (ouch again) $189.00 plus a hefty $25.99 for international UPS.
Both vendors were very responsive and I would not hesitate to buy again.
However…
CAUTION – I don’t know if the following is correct – try at your own risk! The memory module came in the usual sealed anti-static package, but with a large anti-static handling warning stuck over the original Kingston memory type label. I carefully peeled that off and that revealed a damaged Kingston type number label, which (I think) said “KTD-INSP6000B/2G”. A Google search reveals that this part number is a 200-pin SO-DIMM DDR2 667MHz module, apparently used in some Dell laptops, and available at a lot less than $189 plus $26!
Maybe some brave soul can try buying this and post the results here? TRY AT YOUR OWN RISK! I will not accept any responsibility if this does not work!
I used the guide also at XDA Developers to dismantle the Shift. This takes some care and if you are clumsy you might want someone else to tackle it. The case is eggshell thin and very easy to break, especially around the openings, particularly the air vents on the back. You need a tool to help pry apart the case – DON’T use anything metal. I used a soft pointed wooden stick stolen from the kitchen, used for Kebabs I think. Even then there were a few marks on the back of the case. Fortunately you don’t have to entirely dismantle the Shift as described in the guide, just the first few steps. In particular, be careful not to get finger grease on the adhesive tape used to secure the ZIF ribbon cable to the hard drive socket – you need to reuse that to ensure the (very fragile and hard to find) flat disk cable does not pull out of the ZIF socket a little leaving you with a “No disk” BIOS error. From memory the paper label on the SSD needs to be visible when the disk is installed, as it’s not clear which way around it should be. I tried both ways, managing to temporarily reinstall memory and battery so that I could see the new disk was recognised by the BIOS. I suggest you test in the same way, only re-attaching the tape once you are sure the disk is recognised.
Lastly, I use a Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 9000 with the Shift. This comes with a Bluetooth dongle, but that’s not needed as the mouse works fine with the Shift’s own Bluetooth. It is also small and has a nice hard carry case
OK, I think that’s about all.
If you have questions relating to the above, please ask, but please try not to ask non-related questions or dumb questions about installing W7 or Shift in general.
Richard S.
Switzerland, October 2010.
Absolutely beautiful, RSargeant. Congratulations and thank you for sharing your experience back on the forum. Great!
What about the Windows Mobile side of the Shift, what are you using over there?
All the best!
Note: the second link that you provided leads to >HTC Shift > Shift General. Was it your intention to point only to the general surface or did you want to go deeper to a particular thread (as I expected) and the link is wrong?
Thanks for that Axel. Link corrected.
On the WM side, I'm using the original German 6.1 ROM (5.2.1620, build 18125.0.4.2) (1.30.407.0 GER) which I've "soft" liberated. I'm tempted to try a hacked ROM, but ask myself what useful (to me) functionality I'd gain. GPS is seductive on that big screen, but my Eten X800 + CoPilot is already very good and there's no memory for maps. I can already surf and check my emails on the WM side whilst benefitting from the very long battery life when not running W7, so the risks don't bring me personally much benefit. I'll think about it.
That brings me to a good point. During this 4 month struggle, I had to ignore my usual urges to immediately upodate drivers as soon as Windows update announced them, especially device drivers. The Shift always worked before the update, and often didn't work afterwards. Case in point - I downloaded and installed the latest touchpad drivers. Afterwards, the ShagCTRL and Resolution buttons no longer worked. System restore... Newer drivers are not always better! Acronis and system restore are your friends!
RS
Thanks, great guide!
Will include it on [REF] Guides | Tutorials | FAQs | Stickies | Read here before posting thread
Great post
Great that you shared this experience with us, I think I now have the macho to embark on my own mod journey now.
Excellent, informative post, very well written.
I may have to dig my Shift out of the cupboard and have a play...
sir,Jimmit here...plz tell me where u bought htc shift frm?....it tht available anywhere in uk?...i cant get in our country in india...plz help...thanks
I bought mine secondhand from a local (Swiss) auction site. Shifts often appear on ebay, but take care to get the correct model. There are 2, the 9500 which is GSM and the 9501 which is the US CDMA model.
Good luck,
RS
What if W7 drivers are newer than the ones described in the W7 thread
Boot (F10) from the W7 installation stick and follow EXACTLY the process at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=513638. I downloaded and placed all drivers in individual folders preceded by the “a. b. etc.” to be sure of installing them in the correct order.
Hi, I have tried many times to get W7 working on the Shift but I have never been able to get it working flawlessly. I decided to try one more time once I saw your post. Question for you. I am using a Windows 7 Professional license that has a newer Intel VGA driver(7[1].14.10.1461) than the one included in the link quoted by you. Should I install the old driver? Did you ran into something like this?
Cheers
Hi,
My Windows 7 DVD came from Technet, so although I didn't check the VGA version, I am sure it was the very latest and probably newer than the (b) driver mentioned. However I simply didn't encounter any problems when I installed a), b) c) etc as in the post. Installing the b) VGA driver almost certainly overwrote that newer driver. I did check both ShagCTRL and res switch at each stage and made checkpoints as I went, just to be sure.
What problems are you having exactly? W7 is so superior on Shift it's worth perservering. I've found that my usual habit of blindly updating to newest drivers is fatal with Shift. Rule is, when it's working, don't tinker and snapshot before all changes. Example, updating to latest touchpad controllers messed up both res switch and ShagCTRL. Only the originals from HTC restored order!
Richard
Hi Richard,
I send you a PM.
Cheers
Stephan
Hello,
I still use a WM phone (waiting for WP7 Focus or HD7 or Omnia7 like phone or iphone 5 to come to verizon to upgrade). I have WP7 x 64 enterprise (legit) on my PC and my laptop. My PC runs the remote ndis network no issue whatsoever. Using the same phone and cable or other cables on my laptop and the ndis appears when I first plug it in and then disappears before I can even use it to browse the web.
I thought maybe it was something I installed on my laptop so I just did a fresh format - even tried my technet version of Windows 7 with SP1 integrated - it still has the same issue before I install any other drivers - the ndis adapter shows up for a second then it is gone and my phone is no longer connected for network sharing. I can however still access the storage space on my phone from my laptop. I also tried updating the inf chipset.
I have a much older Z laptop that doesn't have this issue. It only occurs with my z1190x. I was curious if anyone else has encountered and resolved this issue as I'd prefer not to replace my laptop for at least another year.
I forgot to mention, I also updated to the latest BIOS and installed all other latest Sony drivers after and it still occcurs. I've also tried disabling power savings and plugging in the laptop to power.
I'm able to ping an IP for about 5 seconds if I start in time otherwise it goes away before I can even ping.
I also just tried formatting it with Windows 7 x32 and it has the same issue.
I realize that not everyone will have experience if your hardware differs since it seems unique to this particular laptop but I was hoping someone might have experienced it and found a work around.
I read good review about Acer W500 and people installing Windows 8 on it. I just bought a used Iconia W500 with the attention to tryout W8. However the tablet package I got does not have any document or CD (restoration CD I assume) with it.
When power up, Win 7 show up, I tested a little bit and quite disappointed with the performance on both the Acer tablet and Windows 7 on it. It is far down away company to Dell Streak 5 and Samsung Galaxy S II.
Questions to the experts:
1. Should I upgrade the tablet (hardware perspective) so that it can run faster? Or just exchange with other brand name tablets, which has more power?
2. I still want to stick with Windows 7 or 8, because of the nature of my works. I need windows. What other android tablet which allow me to install windows 8 on it?
3. As for the Iconia W500 I have right now, please guide me how to back up Windows 7 first? What software do I need to make the back up the entire OS? I do have portable USB external drive about 500 GB. I also have USB portable DVD drive.
Thanks
Alpharetta
1. Should I upgrade the tablet (hardware perspective) so that it can run faster? Or just exchange with other brand name tablets, which has more power?
Upgrade
Hi, keep in mind that windows 7 and the windows 8 developer edition does not support ARM processors (windows 8 will, soon). The processor in the tablet you have now must be a x86 processor for it to be running windows 7.
Also, check the start menu for restoration media creator or something of the like. Machines nowadays do not come with restore media. But they do come with a program to create that restore media.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
I installed Win8 on my HP Mini 500 and there is a performance increase across the board.
Boot up is faster
Ribbon explorer makes it really easy for touch
Win8 has a dedicated keyboard for tablets
Less system resources used by junk processes
alpharetta said:
I read good review about Acer W500 and people installing Windows 8 on it. I just bought a used Iconia W500 with the attention to tryout W8. However the tablet package I got does not have any document or CD (restoration CD I assume) with it.
When power up, Win 7 show up, I tested a little bit and quite disappointed with the performance on both the Acer tablet and Windows 7 on it. It is far down away company to Dell Streak 5 and Samsung Galaxy S II.
Questions to the experts:
1. Should I upgrade the tablet (hardware perspective) so that it can run faster? Or just exchange with other brand name tablets, which has more power?
2. I still want to stick with Windows 7 or 8, because of the nature of my works. I need windows. What other android tablet which allow me to install windows 8 on it?
3. As for the Iconia W500 I have right now, please guide me how to back up Windows 7 first? What software do I need to make the back up the entire OS? I do have portable USB external drive about 500 GB. I also have USB portable DVD drive.
Thanks
Alpharetta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got a W500 for Christmas and a 64gb hard drive. I immediately swapped out hard drives before the first boot and put Windows 8 on it. I love this machine with Windows 8. I didn't load any of the Acer bloatware and only loaded what I had to have. It is speedy and very responsive. Windows 8 dp has a lot of room for improvement, but is better than Windows 7 for this machine. Everything works as it should and I don't see any reason to put Windows 7 on it.
beartrap said:
I got a W500 for Christmas and a 64gb hard drive. I immediately swapped out hard drives before the first boot and put Windows 8 on it. I love this machine with Windows 8. I didn't load any of the Acer bloatware and only loaded what I had to have. It is speedy and very responsive. Windows 8 dp has a lot of room for improvement, but is better than Windows 7 for this machine. Everything works as it should and I don't see any reason to put Windows 7 on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is socialite working?
sruthika said:
Is socialite working?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hadn't tried until I read your post. No, it is not.
I've just finished swapping to windows8 on my iconia w500
the first thing is It was not so easy.....I've made it from USB drive and swapped for 64bit one.
System is more responsive
Ease of use comparing to Win7 much better
I see that I need bigger HDD the 32 Giga one that it came with was already on 23.7 from 29.8 avaliable in just 3days of use!!! That was on win7
now on win8 and it is on 17.9 after updates.. so not to good not to bad.
i've already found mSATA 64gb for 83£ wich is the cheapest here in Uk
AFAIK thais the only update You can do to your Iconia W500
my opinion swap ssd and go for win8 you will like it more
Regards
I bought a refurbed W500 cheap the other day. I had W8 up and running within about an hour. I didn't bother backing it up first.
Since then, I've done lots of monkey and have learned a great deal.
W8 32 bit seems to be the best way to go. The drivers from Acers site work to get the g sensor and screen rotation stuff working. The only thing that doesn't work correctly is Firefox. You can't click on bookmarks from the touch screen.
W8 64 works but the drivers don't work. There's also no reason to have 64 bit windows running with so little ram.
BTW I installed from an external DVD. The USB method appears to work, but is seems to be more of a pain. I had to buy an external DVD drive and got a writer for $32.
I'm very impressed with the performance. W8 runs great. Almost was recognized by the OS and all I had to do was install drivers for the G Sensor etc.
The Metro stuff is silky smooth.
After an install and a fairly judicious disk cleanup, I have about 20 gb of space remaining. I disabled hibernation to get rid of the enormous hybernation file.
There are still little quirks in W8 but it's not even a beta. I have high hopes for newer builds.
This thing is the tablet I've wanted for a long time. For $368 and the cost of the external drive, I couldn't be happier.
FYI, I also have Ubuntu running on it now and still have 12 GB free.
Greg
FYI, to get the thing to boot to the dvd: Shut down, hold Windows Button and Volume Up and press Power. Took me a while to find that.
geebake said:
I bought a refurbed W500 cheap the other day. I had W8 up and running within about an hour. I didn't bother backing it up first.
Since then, I've done lots of monkey and have learned a great deal.
W8 32 bit seems to be the best way to go. The drivers from Acers site work to get the g sensor and screen rotation stuff working. The only thing that doesn't work correctly is Firefox. You can't click on bookmarks from the touch screen.
W8 64 works but the drivers don't work. There's also no reason to have 64 bit windows running with so little ram.
BTW I installed from an external DVD. The USB method appears to work, but is seems to be more of a pain. I had to buy an external DVD drive and got a writer for $32.
I'm very impressed with the performance. W8 runs great. Almost was recognized by the OS and all I had to do was install drivers for the G Sensor etc.
The Metro stuff is silky smooth.
After an install and a fairly judicious disk cleanup, I have about 20 gb of space remaining. I disabled hibernation to get rid of the enormous hybernation file.
There are still little quirks in W8 but it's not even a beta. I have high hopes for newer builds.
This thing is the tablet I've wanted for a long time. For $368 and the cost of the external drive, I couldn't be happier.
FYI, I also have Ubuntu running on it now and still have 12 GB free.
Greg
FYI, to get the thing to boot to the dvd: Shut down, hold Windows Button and Volume Up and press Power. Took me a while to find that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey when you say the drivers for 64 bit do not work can you be more specific about what drivers? I installed 64 bit on my touch screen ASUS all in one desktop and it worked, but the touch screen drivers did not work. So it was a very poor experience for me...I mean the whole point is to be more touchscreen friendly....I have not found any solution yet to this issue for my computer and I Was surprised the drivers were not easily identified and working with such a new computer....let me know what you all think. Thanks!
rockhumper said:
Hey when you say the drivers for 64 bit do not work can you be more specific about what drivers? I installed 64 bit on my touch screen ASUS all in one desktop and it worked, but the touch screen drivers did not work. So it was a very poor experience for me...I mean the whole point is to be more touchscreen friendly....I have not found any solution yet to this issue for my computer and I Was surprised the drivers were not easily identified and working with such a new computer....let me know what you all think. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the case of the W500, the G-Sensor driver is where the problem lies. It only means that the screen won't auto rotate when you flip it around. I'm sure you don't do that with your all in one desktop so it's probably not an issue common to both models.
The touch screen on the W500 works perfectly out of the box. In fact, the only driver I had to install to make it work was the G-Sensor driver.
Interestingly, I found another issue. In 32 bit W8, Firefox doesn't work completely correctly. When you open a menu (ie bookmarks) you can't use the touch screen to select anything in the menu. Works fine if you use a mouse. However, in 64 bit W8, Firefox works perfectly. So you're left with a choice. Proper screen rotation or correctly working Firefox. I'm sure this will get resolved with either a Firefox update or perhaps the full beta of W8.
I have Iconia W500 for a month now.
If you would like to keep Win7 (for any reason), connect an ext hdd and create a windows image on it, you can restore it later any time.
I installed Win8 32 bit, you will have a completely different experience - Win7 is a S##t on W500.
Installing Win8 is pretty easy --> http://www.microsoftnow.com/2011/09/how-to-install-windows-8-on-acer-iconia-tab-w500.html
BTW: I faced some minor bugs in W8 but on the other hand, you have a decent windows tablet.
Go for Win8 and you will like it
Good luck.
alpharetta said:
I read good review about Acer W500 and people installing Windows 8 on it. I just bought a used Iconia W500 with the attention to tryout W8. However the tablet package I got does not have any document or CD (restoration CD I assume) with it.
When power up, Win 7 show up, I tested a little bit and quite disappointed with the performance on both the Acer tablet and Windows 7 on it. It is far down away company to Dell Streak 5 and Samsung Galaxy S II.
Questions to the experts:
1. Should I upgrade the tablet (hardware perspective) so that it can run faster? Or just exchange with other brand name tablets, which has more power?
2. I still want to stick with Windows 7 or 8, because of the nature of my works. I need windows. What other android tablet which allow me to install windows 8 on it?
3. As for the Iconia W500 I have right now, please guide me how to back up Windows 7 first? What software do I need to make the back up the entire OS? I do have portable USB external drive about 500 GB. I also have USB portable DVD drive.
Thanks
Alpharetta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
like yourself I also got an acer w500 tablet because I have been reading good reviews about this tablet with windows 8. I bought mine brand new because any tablet after dec 2011 was upgraded to the amd c60 processor, tbh I love it, it is the definition of mobile computing
So to answers your questions
1 only upgrade if you want to spend 1000+ for a tablet as good as the w500
2 stick with windows 8 once you get used to it, its much faster than windows 7 in terms of productivity. And no android tablet will allow the installation of windows.
3 Google will be your best bet for that, because I got mine new, I have all the recovery disks.
Got the W500 less than 2 weeks ago and first thing I did was install Win8RP on it.
Easy as pie. Just extract the Win8ISO directly onto a fresh USB drive and boot off that.
Once Win8 is installed, you will need to install the Gsensor driver from acers site, and the Device Control app to turn on Bluetooth for the first time. (Windows will install the generic BT drivers but they are sorta wonky)
You will want to get the latest ATI Beta drivers (I like them at least) from guru3d.com (The 9.0.0 JUNE base drivers, not to be confused with the 12.X version naming), also the official Realtek drivers from their site (not the Acer ones) and the Atheros Bluetooth drivers from http://www.atheros.cz/ (Just get the DRIVER FILES ONLY download for your OS (x86/64). No need for anything outside of that. To install the BT drivers, just extract the files to a folder, and go into device manager and update all the bluetooth devices it shows by point them to the folder that has the extracted drivers. Once you do that you should be able to turn on and off the Bluetooth from the Wireless tab in Windows 8 Settings and you can delete the device control app from the system.
The Bluetooth remains a bit wonky, My guess because it isnt an official Win8 driver, but it does work for the most part. It may say it cannot turn off the BT on occasion but do it twice and then wait a second, it usually will get the radio disabled on the 2nd try lol.
IM0001 said:
Got the W500 less than 2 weeks ago and first thing I did was install Win8RP on it.
Easy as pie. Just extract the Win8ISO directly onto a fresh USB drive and boot off that.
Once Win8 is installed, you will need to install the Gsensor driver from acers site, and the Device Control app to turn on Bluetooth for the first time. (Windows will install the generic BT drivers but they are sorta wonky)
You will want to get the latest ATI Beta drivers (I like them at least) from guru3d.com (The 9.0.0 JUNE base drivers, not to be confused with the 12.X version naming), also the official Realtek drivers from their site (not the Acer ones) and the Atheros Bluetooth drivers from http://www.atheros.cz/ (Just get the DRIVER FILES ONLY download for your OS (x86/64). No need for anything outside of that. To install the BT drivers, just extract the files to a folder, and go into device manager and update all the bluetooth devices it shows by point them to the folder that has the extracted drivers. Once you do that you should be able to turn on and off the Bluetooth from the Wireless tab in Windows 8 Settings and you can delete the device control app from the system.
The Bluetooth remains a bit wonky, My guess because it isnt an official Win8 driver, but it does work for the most part. It may say it cannot turn off the BT on occasion but do it twice and then wait a second, it usually will get the radio disabled on the 2nd try lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i just installed the acer drivers for this tablet from acer's website, no issues with Bluetooth, rotation, graphics, audio ect. i think you just downloaded the wrong Bluetooth driver, just get the one from acer along with the device control app, it makes everything a whole lot simpler and it works like a charm, no hangs, drops, ect.
geebake said:
In the case of the W500, the G-Sensor driver is where the problem lies. It only means that the screen won't auto rotate when you flip it around. I'm sure you don't do that with your all in one desktop so it's probably not an issue common to both models.
The touch screen on the W500 works perfectly out of the box. In fact, the only driver I had to install to make it work was the G-Sensor driver.
Interestingly, I found another issue. In 32 bit W8, Firefox doesn't work completely correctly. When you open a menu (ie bookmarks) you can't use the touch screen to select anything in the menu. Works fine if you use a mouse. However, in 64 bit W8, Firefox works perfectly. So you're left with a choice. Proper screen rotation or correctly working Firefox. I'm sure this will get resolved with either a Firefox update or perhaps the full beta of W8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey dude. I had a W500 for some time, but sold it, but that's not my point.
Regarding the G-sensor fix, i figured out how to fix it.
What you need to install is:
G Sensor Driver
Auto Screen Rotation Blocker
HID Monitor for acer Ring
(From http://support.acer.com/product/default.aspx?modelId=3853)
If it doesn't rotate after this, try and find the HIDmonitor.exe file on your computer, then run it and try again.
I put the file in startup to make sure it always worked. And it did
Hey guys,
I want to buy one for desktop replace. Is it good for cheap price? How's performance for browsing? Sometimes I need to open few heavy websites.
arpu26 said:
Hey guys,
I want to buy one for desktop replace. Is it good for cheap price? How's performance for browsing? Sometimes I need to open few heavy websites.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends what you use it for really..I haven't used my desktop since I bought this. Love it. Side note, my keyboard only pops up when I use the metro IE and touch a input box but not with the desktop IE. I have to press the keyboard icon on the taskbar for desktop browsing. Any one have any ideas why that'd be?
arpu26 said:
I need to open few heavy websites.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the-wrangler said:
Depends what you use it for really..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My work is testing websites. So I will plug with hdmi to my monitor. Can it handle with second monitor with extended desktop? What max resolution can it have? Also I need to have opened 3-4 heavy websites. Have it enougt power for that?
Now I'm working with very old and laggy Athlon XP 2500+ 1,8 Ghz 512 GB RAM PC.
What is program compatability on Win8?