Upgrading my Dell Precision 390 to Win 7

[Doog]

Ok so I am upgrading to win 7 (maybe). Ran the MS win 7 upgrade advisor report and it says my Broad-com NetExtreme 57xx Gigabit controller might be a problem. Everything else is compatible.

How do I tell if it will work? Or should I get a refurbished system for $399 with win 7 already on it.

The Win 7 disk is $60 and a newer controller is probably $200.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Where are you seeing that a new/different NIC will be $200?

Just install Windows 7. If it doesn't like the Broadcom NIC then spend $10 on a new one and call it a day.

Better yet, if you're going through the trouble, might as well install Windows 10. Your 390 has a Windows 7 product key sticker on the side, yes? Apparently Windows 10 will still accept and activate old Windows 7 keys just fine... for now.

EDIT: Never mind about a Windows 7 product key sticker for installing Windows 10. Looks like the 390 is from the Windows XP era.

 

[Kawiguy454]

I am corporate IT and we had a fleet of 390's doing cad work. Win 7 works fine on them and optionally get some cheap memory up to 8GB and throw in a dirt cheap SSD and it'll be snappy enough for light duty. If any specific driver does not load just google it and you'll find answers. Keep in mind it will never be a gaming beast. If you have to spend too much you'd be better off buying a newer platform though. I would never put Win10 on that box cause its a big fat pig and memory will definitely run out.

Go to http://support.dell.com and input the service tag # and you'll see all the latest drivers for that specific box.

 

[wha232]

This is good advice. I had the same problem with an old Dell. New ethernet card fixed it cheap.

 

[Doog]

My 390 has an xp sticker on it. I don't want win10 because it's a hog. What NIC would be a good one to get?

 

[Quattro Pete]

I can't imagine W7 having an issue with a network card.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Install Windows 7 first before you go NIC shopping.

Windows 10 isn't a memory hog. It's at least if not more efficient than 8 or 7.

 

[JustinH]

Shop the dell outlet website, and search for coupons.

You can get a nice workstation, refurbished for like 400 dollars with windows 10.

I don't know why you would spend money on a 7 license, when you can buy new hardware that comes with an OEM license for 10.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: Kawiguy454
I am corporate IT and we had a fleet of 390's doing cad work. Win 7 works fine on them and optionally get some cheap memory up to 8GB and throw in a dirt cheap SSD and it'll be snappy enough for light duty. If any specific driver does not load just google it and you'll find answers. Keep in mind it will never be a gaming beast. If you have to spend too much you'd be better off buying a newer platform though. I would never put Win10 on that box cause its a big fat pig and memory will definitely run out.

Go to http://support.dell.com and input the service tag # and you'll see all the latest drivers for that specific box.


What!? My gear is all only around 5 years old or so, but everything runs much better on W10 than W7, even my old netbook.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

Does not look like Dell provides Windows 7 Drivers for the 390:

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/SupportedOS/precision-390

My older Dells did require upgraded NIC to get full speed from Charter. My HP computers and Thinkpads from same Era were fine.

When I wanted Windows 7 I purchased a Optiplex Refurb at Micro Center for $80.00. Needed to buy 4 gig memory to have 8 gig installed, then a video card, then NIC card, and Samsung SS hard drive. Runs well for what it is. The Samsung hard drive made the biggest difference. By the time I was done my $80 computer was a $200 computer. The user of this computer could not handle Windows 10. They had brand new Windows 10 computers with better specs at Micro Center in the $200 range.

My older computers like Linux a lot. If I were going for Windows I would go for newer computer.

 

[Doog]

Yeah I am just upgrading the OS to be able to run a new VOIP phone app. SO this is a work computer strictly and I'd like to squeeze another year maybe two out of it. I did find a nic on ebay for $21 but I will wait to see if it runs.

 

[gojoneeded]

You could get a USB Ethernet connection fairly cheep. Try searching for Windows Vista drivers for the NIC, most are compatible with Win 7.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

You don't need official driver support from Dell when Windows 7 will probably pick up most hardware, and drivers can almost always be downloaded from the chip manufacturer anyway. Just make sure you update the BIOS to latest and run a long diagnostic via F12 menu to make sure this is even worth doing in the first place. Stop dwelling on the possible NIC issue.

https://www.broadcom.com/support/ethernet-nic-netxtreme-i-desktop-mobile

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
You don't need official driver support from Dell when Windows 7 will probably pick up most hardware, and drivers can almost always be downloaded from the chip manufacturer anyway. Just make sure you update the BIOS to latest and run a long diagnostic via F12 menu to make sure this is even worth doing in the first place. Stop dwelling on the possible NIC issue.

https://www.broadcom.com/support/ethernet-nic-netxtreme-i-desktop-mobile


I already tried all of those drivers. None will work. However, I did download DRIVERMAX and it found a 2012 driver update and it installed successfully. Plus a driver update for my Nvidia quadro and now the speed increase is already noticeable. So, I'll simply get a win 7 disk off ebay and do the upgrade and buy myself 2-3 more years. Then get a new machine.

I have been running refurbished computers for about 10 years now. I am almost up to $200 for the 390 and it runs great.

The server I have in my office is a Dell Poweredge 2600 I bought in 2001 from a Dell old stock reseller for $1600. I got an extra set of scsi HDs with it and it has been running now since it was new. I swapped out the drives in 2012. So it has been on for 15 years.

My key to long life is leave them on 24/7/365 and have good APC power management so they have clean power and avoid all of the spikes and sags.

 

[Doog]

UPDATE: I did the DRIVERMAX full scan on my 390 and it found 15 drivers out of date. So I will update the entire system.

 

[kc8adu]

better run malwarebytes,super antispyware,jrt,adwcleaner to remove all the malware and pups that thing brought with it.driver updaters and system optimisers are with very few exceptions at the worst are malware and at the least totally worthless.
Originally Posted By: Doog
UPDATE: I did the DRIVERMAX full scan on my 390 and it found 15 drivers out of date. So I will update the entire system.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Originally Posted By: kc8adu
better run malwarebytes,super antispyware,jrt,adwcleaner to remove all the malware and pups that thing brought with it.driver updaters and system optimisers are with very few exceptions at the worst are malware and at the least totally worthless.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[Doog]

Will do. Should I get win7 32 bit or 64?

 

[MONKEYMAN]

When looking for keyboard driver that would work on my Optiplex 760 Dell support did show I needed 4 updates after putting in service tag. I am running 7-64 bit.

The bad part was finding a reputable site to download keyboard driver from. Some sites seemed questionable. So I ran a virus scan. Sure enough this morning Kaspersky found a few trojans on external hard drive. Malwarebytes found 4 pups to remove. Super antispyware nothing. So you seem to be giving sage advice.

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted By: Doog
My 390 has an xp sticker on it. I don't want win10 because it's a hog. What NIC would be a good one to get?


Funny thing about Windows on a Thinkpad T500 with 8gb ram. Dog on XP, better on win 7 and massive improvement in speed and graphics on Win10. Win10 does uses disk space but in terms of resources is far more efficient in running on elderly hardware.