Elias Saba’s Blog

The Intel 855GM video driver in the Dell Inspiron 700m is not and will not be supported on Windows 7. The following methods worked for me to get native (1280 x 800) resolution in Windows 7. Everything except Windows Aero and Dual monitors seems to be working with this method.

1. Download and extract the following drivers to your laptop:  DOWNLOAD DRIVER
2. Open a command prompt as administrator. (Click start > type ‘cmd’ > right-click on cmd under programs> select ‘Run as administrator’ > agree to any/all messages)
3. Copy and paste the following into the command prompt: takeown /f c:\windows\system32\drivers\vgapnp.sys
4. You will get a SUCCESS message in return.
5. Copy and paste the following into the command prompt (replace ‘Elias’ with your username): cacls c:\windows\system32\drivers\vgapnp.sys /G Elias:F
6. Type ‘y’ to confirm.
7. Open the following file in notepad: c:\windows\system32\drivers\vgapnp.sys
8. Type ‘a’ to the beginning of this document.
9. Save and close.
10. Open your device manager (Press the windows key + r > type ‘devmgmt.msc’ > click OK)
11. Uninstall ‘Standard VGA Adapter’ under ‘Display adapters’ (Expand ‘Display adapters’ > right-click on ‘Standard VGA Adapter’ > select ‘Uninstall’)
12. Restart laptop
13. After restarting you will see an error message. This is desired and normal.
14. Open your device manager (Press the windows key + r > type ‘devmgmt.msc’ > click OK)
15. Under ‘Other devices, find ‘video controller (vga compatible)’. Right-click on it and select ‘Update Driver Software’.
16. Click on ‘Browse my computer for driver software’.
17. Click ‘Browse…’ and select the ‘Win2000′ folder within the extracted driver files you downloaded above. Click OK.
18. If your screen goes black, wait a few minutes and then press the enter key several times.
19. The laptop should restart.
20. Open the following file in notepad: c:\windows\system32\drivers\vgapnp.sys
21. Delete the ‘a’ you added earlier.
22. Save and close.
23. Enjoy Windows 7 at full resolution.

In response to a submission on digg.com entitled “10 cheap and easy upgrades for your old PC”, user gaqua posted a “better” list in the comments that I found funny enough to want to give it its own post on my meaningless blog.
The comment in its entirety:

Here’s a better list.

1 - Clean up your shit, dad. I’m tired of coming over and finding a new toolbar on IE or Firefox every time. I’m tired of thirty icons in the systray, half of which have some bizarre relevance to programs that are no longer installed. Go to add/remove programs, and remove anything you don’t use.

2 - Defrag that shit. 74% fragmented. SERIOUSLY? How is that even possible? I’m scheduling this for every Wednesday night at 10pm dad. I know it’s going to freak you out when it starts doing this all on its own but just leave it alone and let it do its magic.

3 - 512MB of RAM? Do you know how cheap RAM is? PC2700 DDR1? Oh my God…I think I might throw up. For $50 I can get you to 2GB of RAM. $50.

4 - I’m installing Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy - your system has over 200 known spyware problems. I’m fixing them. I’m making this machine bulletproof. Don’t fuck with it anymore. I’m installing AVG anti-virus. It’s going to ask you to update it - UPDATE IT WHEN IT ASKS.

5 - Holy shit I can’t believe this - you’re running XP without even SP1 installed. I’m installing SP3, Dad. It’s a lot more secure. Jesus christ this is like the dark ages of computing.

6 - Oh fucking shit - 3 hours to download? What the fuck - you’re still on that 512k DSL? Mom is paying for Cable! She’s paying for Cable internet, Dad. I’m going to unplug this wire from the DSL modem and plug it into the cable modem. Yeah. No it’s very easy. And I’m calling AT&T and canceling DSL. There, I just saved you $50 a month. And yeah, the internet is faster.

7 - Oh look, you have a cutesy animated desktop background. Yeah, your celeron 1.6 GHz probably doesn’t like that, especially with the 16MB integrated graphics. I’m going to turn that off. I know, I know. But it’s best for everyone.

HOLY SHIT YOUR COMPUTER IS FASTER NOW DAD. Please, tell everyone in the family that you “don’t know what he did but the computer is so much better, you should call him and have him come take a look, I’m sure he’d be happy to!”

There’s nothing I love more than that, dad. I love fixing Uncle Butch’s disgusting laptop with the inexplicably stained keys and I love playing around with the disgusting beige eMachine that Aunt Patsy uses to send all those cool inspirational email forwards with pictures of kittens or penguins or koalas or pandas.

No, I understand. As the oldest and most computer knowledgeable, it’s my responsibility. Just like Uncle Mason would help us all out if we got into legal trouble right? Well, if he weren’t disbarred for fraud, I mean.

So you connected a hard drive to Windows XP, you right-clicked on the drive inside “My Computer”, you selected “Format…”, you went to change the “File system” option from NTFS to FAT32, and finally you mashed your head into your monitor because windows is not giving you the option to select FAT32 even though you know you’ve seen it there before.

Don’t fret. I just went through this process moments ago and here is how I got around it:

NOTE: This process will delete all data on your drive!

1. Download fat32format.exe (zip)
Don’t worry, you don’t have to install anything. It’s just a single file standalone utility you’ll use once and delete.
2. Place fat32format.exe in your C:\ folder
3. Right-click on “My Computer” and select “Manage”
4. Click “Disk Management” on the left under “Storage”
5. Right-click on the drive you want formated to FAT32 and select “Delete Partition…”
6. Click “Yes” to delete all partitions
7. Right-click on the same drive and select “New Partition”
8. A wizard will open up, click “Next” to continue
9. Select “Primary Partition”
10. Enter the partition size
11. Choose a drive letter and remember it (for example: “F”)
12. Select “Do not Format this partition”
13. Click finish
14. Open a command prompt (Start menu -> Run… -> type: “cmd” -> Click OK)
15. Type “C:\fat32format F:” and hit enter (where “C” is the drive you placed fat32format.exe in step 2, and “F” is the drive letter you selected in step 11)
16. Type “y” and hit enter
17. Close everything and enjoy your FAT32 drive.