Acer Aspire 5672 + Win 7

This is just my attempt to put Windows 7 on my Aspire 5672.
Maybe this will help others

I know its an older model now, heck it came out in 2006 before even Vista.
So I've kept it on Win XP for quite a while, hoping Vista drivers would be worked on.
Now that I'm cleaning out all the junk, I figure might as well reformat.
Sadly Acer doesn't provide Vista drivers for this model.

Might as well try Windows 7 RC and try finally moving to 64-bit.


Windows 7 installs smoothly, no fuss.
Getting drivers is now the issue.
If I can get the minimal devices to work with the same usage as I had under XP, I'll stick with Win 7.

- Video: this uses the Mobility Radeon x1600.
Sadly ATI deliberately does not support it through their Catalyst drivers.
So have to use the Mobility Modder.
Sadly it doesn't seem to work for the latest Catalyst versions

Ultimately I went with DNA-ATI drivers which are pre-modded.
9.4 removes support for everything but their HD 2000 and higher series.
9.3 causes a WDM crash
9.2 seems to work okay
http://www.donotargue.com/page.php?id=1105

One thing now is that the driver is unsigned and won't load.
Using the Driver Signature Override tool doesn't seem to work, nor the test mode bcdedit switch.


So what we need is ReadyDriver Plus, which will cause the boot loader to disable driver signing automatically.
A neat program
http://www.donotargue.com/dna_ati/rd...DriverPlus.exe

Of course, for Win7, you'll need to map a drive letter to the "System Reserved" partition so that the boot loader can be modified.

Whoohoo...
we get video and a resolution other than the nasty 1024x768
Full Aero should get enabled too, assuming you've activated and such.


- Acer OrbiCam
Mine is the Logitech version.
There's a whole thread about the Orbicam here
http://www.theacerguy.com/2007/06/an...bicam-problem/

Sadly I haven't gotten it to work.
It won't work with the Logitech package that Acer has.
Won't even detect it properly.
I've forced it to use the Vista x64 driver but all I get is a "This device cannot start.
(Code 10)"

The easiest direct link I've found (because Acer's site is horrible to navigate)
http://download.cnet.com/Acer-OrbiCa..._4-164032.html

Good I don't need the webcam

- Mass Storage Controller
PCIVEN_104C&DEV_803B&SUBSYS_00941025
Really not sure what this device is.
This machine never had an input for a card reader or something like that
So yep, unidentified

- Unknown device
ACPISMCB0005&31DABA6F&0
Not sure what this is either.
Something to do with the ACPI / chipset?
Still not hindering me using the laptop

- RC-605 eSATA ExpressCard (Optional)
This is what I'm using to connect to my external SATA drives.
While it seems the disc that Rosewill provides does not load up the drivers automatically, you can update drivers on this Mass Storage Controller to use Vista x64 and it will load up correctly.
Woohoo


So far, the rest of the inbox drivers work.
I get sound, LAN, wireless as well.
For my needs, I'm satisfied and its way less time installing drivers than even for XP.

And Windows 7 itself is working beautifully.
These probably aren't the best scores, but for an older machine, I'm okay with this.
(CPU / RAM / hard drive have all been upgraded, may not represent stock system)

Windows Experience Index
Processor: 4.9
Memory (RAM): 4.9
Graphics: 3.3
Gaming graphics: 4.0
Primary hard disk: 5.9