A Leslie Wong Blog

I’ve been trying several builds of Windows 7 x64 on my Macbook that uses the Intel 945 Express Chipset. Recently, I did a clean install of Windows 7 build 7100. The display driver that is installed is a Prerelease WDDM 1.0 Driver (8.15.10.1620).

When I tried to play a DVD with Windows Media Player, I received the message “Cannot play DVD video.” Microsoft gives several possible reasons for this message:

1. Your video card driver is out-of-date.
2. Your computer is missing a compatible DVD decoder.
3. Your computer hardware is not powerful enough to play DVDs.

Since build 7 is Windows 7 Ultimate, I assumed a decoder was built in to the OS. I was indignant that suggestion 3 was questioning the manhood of my Macintrash.

Then I remembered the OpenGL problem I had with one of my programs. After I installed the Intel Vista 64 bit drivers 7.14.10.1504 for the 945GM Chipset from downloadcenter.intel.com, WMP was able to play DVDs. I’m not sure why the Prerelease WDDM 1.0 Driver didn’t allow the decoding, but the released Vista driver works – just be sure to run the installer in the compatibility mode for Windows Vista.

My Windows Experience Index also went up a tad compared to build 7068; compared to build 7000, the WEI from 2.0 to 3.0. So my computer is getting faster as it ages or Microsoft is improving Windows 7.

I did an upgrade installation of Window 7 build 7068 (x64) over build 7000 that I installed in January on my Macbook (13-inch Late 2006 with an Intel Core2 Duo Mobile Processor T7200, 3GB RAM). Winver gives: 7068.0.amd64fre.winmain.090321-1322

I ran the Windows Experience Index assessment again, and the base score went up from 2.0 (build 7000 64-bit) to 2.8 (build 7068 64-bit).

With build 7000, my Macbook’s low score was because of the 2.0 subscore of the disk data transfer rate of the primary hard disk, a 120 GB Toshiba MK1234GSX. With build 7068, the subscore of disk data transfer rate of the same primary hard disk went up to 4.3.

With build 7000, the Processor and Memory (RAM) subscores were 5.0, while the Graphics and Gaming Graphics subscores were 3.1. With build 7068, the Processor and Memory (RAM) subscores were 4.8, while the Graphics and Gaming Graphics subscore was 3.1. The Desktop Performance for Windows Aero dropped from 3.1 (build 7000) to 2.8 (build 7068).

The main problem I’ve been experiencing with build 7000 is that Windows Explorer will get sluggish or hang after waking from sleep. Trying to switch directories or file copying, even locally, will trigger the problem. Ending the explorer.exe process and restarting the process doesn’t always solve the problem. A reboot does.

I installed the Windows 7 Beta (7000) on my Via pc2500, powered by a 1.5 GHz Via C7-D, an x86-compatible desktop processor. The Via motherboard is installed in a SilverStone SST-LC11S-300 HTPC case connected to a Sony KV-36FV1 television.

I wanted to use the Via pc2500 as a DVD player and Netflix streaming player but the performance of Windows 7 Beta on the Via pc2500 isn’t really that great, even with a PCI video card (a EVGA 256-P1-N399-LX GeForce 6200 256MB 64-bit GDDR2). With 2GB of system RAM and the latest version of Silverlight, Netflix streaming is jerky. DVDs played with Windows Media Player also do not play smoothly.

The Windows Experience Index was only 1.3, and the blame was on the Via 1.5 GHz processor. Task Manager showed 100% CPU usage while trying to stream Netflix. (My ATT-Yahoo DSL connection (Elite 6.0/768) speed is about 5.2 mb/s down and 437 kb/s up, so Netflix streaming looks OK on my more robust PCs.) I don’t really see how the new netbooks can have any decent performance with Windows 7.

The pc2500 is currently my hardware looking for an applicaton. Now I’ve tried Windows XP, gOS, Ubuntu, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Linux MCE. The Via hardware is just anemic. Maybe with a Mimo USB monitor, it’d be OK as a carputer.

Windows 7 Beta on my vintage (purchased 2002) Shuttle SB51G works OK. The Shuttle XPC has an Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz CPU (SL6HL), 1 GB RAM and an ATI All-In-Wonder 9600. I normally boot Windows XP 2005 MCE and use it as a file server, media server (using TVersity), DVD player and Netflix streaming client (through a browser).

Windows 7 performance feels comparable to XP MCE, that is to say, it doesn’t feel slow. But there also isn’t any other crap installed – anti-virus and other applications. The Windows Experience Index was 3.0, and in this case, the sluggard was the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 Ultra ATA/100 320 GB hard drive.

Since there are no Windows 7 video drivers for the lowly ATI Radeon 9600 / X1050, I used the ATI Catalyst 9.1 Display Driver for Windows Vista. I wanted to use ATI Catalyst Control Center application to hotkey switch between the primary and secondary display (Dell 2007 WFP and a Sony KV-36FV1), so I can watch DVDs on the Sony TV in the living room. The hotkey switch that works in XP doesn’t work with Windows 7.

I installed Windows 7 (64 bit) on my Macbook that uses the Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset. One of the apps that I use is ClearView, an RC flight simulator for radio controlled planes and helicopters, so I can learn how to fly my Heli-Max Axe CP. On the first run, ClearView said that OpenGL wasn’t installed. The Windows 7 Beta display driver (Pre-release WDDM 1.0) didn’t have OpenGL.

I installed the Intel Vista 64 bit drivers 7.14.10.1504 for the 945GM Chipset from downloadcenter.intel.com, which installed OpenGL 1.4. ClearView seems to work OK.

July 22, 2009: Windows Update notified me that there was a updated Intel display driver for the 945 Express Chipset for Windows 7 RC. I installed it, version 8.15.10.1825, and it runs OpenGL on my flight sim program. It also works with these Intel chipset families:

Intel® 3 Series Chipsets
Intel® 82945G Express Chipset
Intel® 82946GZ Graphics Controller
Intel® 82G965 Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (GMCH)
Intel® 82Q963 Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (GMCH)
Intel® 82Q965 Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (GMCH)
Intel® 945 Express Chipset Family
Intel® 946 Express Chipset Family
Intel® 965 Express Chipset Family
Intel® G31 Express Chipset
Intel® G33 Express Chipset
Intel® G35 Express Chipset
Intel® Q33 Express Chipset
Intel® Q35 Express Chipset
Mobile Intel® 945 Express Chipset Family
Mobile Intel® 945GM Express Chipset Family
Mobile Intel® 965 Express Chipset Family

Update, January 19, 2010 (backgrounder): Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX

I downloaded the new Windows 7 Beta (64-bit) and did a clean installation on my 3GB MacBook (13-inch Late 2006 with an Intel Core2 Duo Mobile Processor T7200). I used the Apple BootCamp64.msi drivers and all the Apple hardware devices installed correctly.

In November, I tried the 32-bit version of Windows 7 (build 6801) and the Windows 7 Beta (build 7000) doesn’t seem too much different.

When I ran the Windows Experience Index assessment, the base score was 2.0 (build 7000 64-bit) compared to a base score of 3.0 with the 32 bit version of build 6801. The low score was because of the 2.0 subscore of the data transfer rate of the primary hard disk, a 120 GB Toshiba MK1234GSX. But I don’t feel there is any sluggishness while using the computer.

The Processor and Memory (RAM) subscores were 5.0, while the Graphics and Gaming Graphics subscores were 3.1, not unreasonable for the Intel GMA 950 graphics processor. Anyway, I don’t have much ambition to play Crysis on my Macbook.

I installed Windows 7 (Build 6801) on my MacBook “Core 2 Duo” 2.0 13″ (Black) with 3GB RAM.

To manage the boot menu for my Vista and Leopard partitions, I use rEFIt instead of Boot Camp. After I made a backup disk image of the Vista partition, I booted the Windows 7 DVD, reformatted the Vista partition and began the installation. It went a lot faster than the Vista install.

The Boot Camp drivers from the Leopard DVD installed without any problems in Windows 7 – the Apple Built-in Bluetooth, the Apple Built-in iSight, the Apple Trackpad Enabler, the Apple Keyboard, the Apple IR Receiver, the Atheros AR5008X Wireless Network Adapter, the Marvell Yukon 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller, the SigmaTel High Definition Audio Codec and the Boot Camp Control Panel. Windows 7 installed the Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family (Prerelease WDDM 1.0 Driver) for the display adapter.

I used Randy’s SharpKeys 2.1.1 (a registry hack) to remap the Apple enter key (on the bottom row) to a forward delete key so I don’t have to hold down the fn key and delete for that function. I also mapped F8 to Prtscr – another Windows key that’s missing on the MacBook keyboard.

Thankfully, my two year old MacBook still feels responsive in Windows 7 (and in Vista). I’ve never had any major problems with Vista, and so far, Windows 7 seems to be an improvement.