Late last week, ATI released updated Windows drivers for its Catalyst 10.1 HD2000 series and newer cards. The new drivers support Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. The driver release is intended to resolve some issues with the way the drivers interact with other hardware and software.

Video Playback Could Be Improved With New Driver

According to ATI, the new driver release will address a host of issues that arose from a variety of common actions, including playing YouTube videos using the Adobe Flash player on Firefox, and problems with video or system response while using certain games. The new drivers are available for immediate download.

ATI is one of the premiere video card manufacturers and it’s no surprise that these drivers contain a number of fixes for nagging issues. In addition to fixing problems, the driver updates also improve the performance of certain cards on specific games, like Left 4 Dead 2.

Not all Windows users are lucky enough to find driver updates so easily, however. For many users, the process of downloading and installing drivers manually is time-consuming and frustrating. Manufacturers often make several different updates available for either a variety of products or different configurations of the same or similar products.

New drivers may or may not be available based on the chipset that your computer or hardware device uses, and users may not know offhand which devices they have installed. This can be a recipe for disaster, or at least a lot of wasted time and poor outcomes. Downloading the wrong driver can be as bad as downloading no driver at all, or working with a damaged driver.

I always recommend working with a driver management software package like Driver Detective. Driver Detective has a database of millions of drivers and can determine precisely which drivers are required for your specific hardware configuration. You don’t have to worry about using the wrong drivers or missing a driver update.

Once Driver Detective is installed, you can trust it to monitor your existing drivers and look for updates. If an update is located, Driver Detective will automatically download it, install it and archive it.

The archiving feature is important because Driver Detective can also watch your system to make sure your existing drivers don’t get corrupted, damaged or deleted. Should this happen Driver Detective will download a fresh copy and you’ll be on your way! You can continue to hunt for new drivers, download them and install them as you always have, or you can automate the process and get back to work on the things that really mean something to you.

As for me, I’m going to try these new drivers on Left 4 Dead 2.

Photo Credit: Tom Francis, via Flickr

In my last two posts, I’ve talked about using a bootable USB drive to load Windows 7 onto a netbook or other computer that does not have a CD/DVD drive. The latest operating systems carry a lot of information and hardware drivers. That makes bootable media a requirement for upgrading the operating system.

Not All Netbooks Are Created Equal

The major issue with netbooks is that the earliest models came pre-loaded with Windows XP and an upgrade to Windows 7 would require a clean installation – a neat trick when you don’t have a CD/DVD drive from which to boot. To be fair, you can attach an external USB CD/DVD drive to a netbook and get along just fine using the standard-issue Window 7 media.

One disadvantage of this method is that the data transfer rates between the netbook and the CD/DVD drive will be slow. Upgrading or performing a clean installation on a capable netbook may take up a lot more time than you thought it might. In fairness, reading media from any external device will seem slow. The USB stick uses faster data transfer protocols so the process moves along much faster.

One last consideration: not all BIOS support booting from USB drives or other external devices. You’ll need to go into your BIOS setup to determine whether you can boot from a USB drive. Even if your BIOS does support external booting, computers aren’t always configured to look for boot sectors on devices other than the hard disk. If yours can, you’ll need to activate this setting if it’s not already activated. You may have to change more than one BIOS setting to enable this function. You normally access the BIOS settings immediately after you turn on your computer. You’ll see a direction that says something like Press F(N) to Enter Setup. (N) will be a number. Press the corresponding “F-key” to enter your computer’s BIOS setup.

Now, down to brass tacks – making a bootable USB drive. You’ll need to start out with a USB stick that has at least 4GB of space to accommodate the Windows installation media. If you can use a dedicated stick, better for you. You’ll need to wipe the stick’s contents, so if you can’t permanently commit your USB stick to the role of being bootable, you’ll have to transfer the data you have stored on it somewhere else temporarily. You’ll also need to use a computer that’s running Windows Vista or Windows 7 and have administrator privileges to make the bootable USB stick.

1. Attach your USB drive to the computer. Select Start > All programs >Accessories > right click on Command Prompt and select run as administrator.
2. At the command prompt, type DISKPART. (Press enter)
3. Type LIST DISK. (Press Enter) The disk number of your USB drive will be displayed. Note this.
4. Type SELECT DISK #. (Replace # with the disk number of your USB drive, noted in Step 3.)
5. Type CLEAN (Press Enter)
6. Type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY (Press Enter)
7. Type SELECT PARTITION 1 (Press Enter)
8. Type ACTIVE (Press Enter)
9. Type ASSIGN (Press Enter)
10. Type DETAIL DISK (Press Enter).
11. Type EXIT (Press Enter)

Note the drive letter of your DVD drive and the drive letter of your USB stick.

12. Type FORMAT #:/fs:fat32/q (# is the assigned drive letter for your USB stick. Press Enter)
Approve the warning that appears regarding the information on the USB stick (Press Y, press Enter.)

13. Enter a label name for your USB drive and press Enter.
14. Put your Windows 7 DVD into your DVD drive
15. Type xcopy d:\*.* /s/e/f #:\

This command string assumes that d:\ is your DVD drive. If your DVD drive has a different letter, substitute it for d:\. Also substitute the drive letter for your USB drive for the # in the command string above.
Once the copying is finished, you should have a bootable USB drive loaded with Windows 7 media.

Photo Credit: Ambuj Saxena, via Flickr

If you’re planning to install Windows 7 on a netbook or other computer that doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive, you can use a bootable USB stick as substitute installation media. The installation process seems faster than it would if you were installing from a DVD disc, but keep in mind that’s largely because you’re doing all of your preparation work ahead of time on the USB stick, including locating Window drivers.

Pay Careful Attention To The Requirements!

The process of loading Windows 7 from a bootable USB stick can be timesaving if you’re properly prepared. Proper preparation includes having a USB stick that’s large enough to accommodate the Windows installation media. Do not attempt to prepare a USB stick that’s smaller than 4GB. Sticks smaller than this are simply not large enough to hold all of the required information. You’re also better off using a “devoted” USB drive. If you have other material stored on your candidate, remove it or store it elsewhere for the time being.

You’ll need to make the USB drive bootable, if it isn’t already. There is a utility on PCs called DISKPART that will enable you to make a clean, bootable partition on your USB drive. You can’t skip this step because you need to install the OS from a bootable drive. I will cover the process of making a bootable USB drive in my next post. The process isn’t hard or even time-consuming, but there are several steps that you’ll need to take to ensure you get the proper result!

You’ll need all of the Windows 7 installation files. You can get these from licensed Windows 7 media. Be sure you’re not using some form of the release candidate, or using media that’s already licensed to someone else. If you use the release candidate as the source of your Windows 7 files, you’ll soon find that your computer will start rebooting itself periodically, which frankly, can ruin your day. You’ll also need to ensure that the media is properly licensed because unlicensed software or software that’s registered to someone else won’t work.

You may want to verify that Windows has the proper drivers for your target upgrade device before you load the Windows media on your USB stick. If Windows doesn’t have the correct drivers for your setup, you can manually download the drivers you need after you’ve completed the basic installation. You may also want to use a program like Driver Detective, to ensure that you have the most up-to-date drivers for your computer. Driver Dectective is ideal for netbooks because it can be downloaded and installed from the Web, and will work to ensure that you always have the proper driver setup.

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If you’ve gotten a netbook, or are considering the purchase of one, you may be surprised to learn that these devices are more (or less) than little laptop devices. A “netbook” is a small computing device that looks like a laptop. It has a small keyboard, trackpad and screen, which may measure as little as 9″ across. The first generation netbooks were sold with Windows XP and have few options for loading a new OS on them. Compounding the problem of upgrading is the fact that many netbooks have limited storage and memory capabilities, and do not come with a CD/DVD drive or accommodate the use of a mouse. You may also have trouble finding the correct Windows drivers for your netbook device.

“Net” In Netbook May Limit OS Options

The original purpose of a netbook was to provide a small, highly portable device that could be used for basic functions like connecting to a network, checking email, and browsing the Web. They were not (and are not) meant to take the place of a full-sized laptop computer. Several of my technician friends use these devices for network maintenance, inventory control and other limited-use tasks that require network access.

Netbooks are not known for their upgradeability and initially posed a problem for users who wanted to upgrade the OS of the netbook, since there was no CD/DVD drive from which to load a new OS. Upgrades to the netbook operating system were/are supposed to come via network download. For the original netbooks (which run/ran Windows XP) loading Windows 7 requires a fresh install – a pretty tall order when you have no drive from which to read the new OS media.

Enter the USB stick. Today, USB sticks are large enough in most cases to hold all upgrade media for an OS install on a netbook. To be fair, you can connect an external DVD drive to the netbook and load your OS media that way, but having to collect a bunch of external devices to make the netbook work properly defeats the original design intent for the netbook – a highly portable device that can be used for basic functions like connecting to a network, checking email and browsing the Web.

Either way, if you want to upgrade an older netbook to Windows 7, you’ll need to make sure your netbook has at least 1 GB RAM and at least 8GB of storage space on your hard disk. You’ll also need a USB drive with the Windows 7 media previously installed. If you need to make a bootable installation device, your USB stick will need to have at least 4GB of available space, and you’ll also need the services of another computer to help you prepare the USB drive for life as a media installer. In my next post, I’ll continue this discussion.

Photo Credit: zieak, via Flickr