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EliaNG · Feb 14, 2010, 12:40 PM

Does anyone here have experience upgrading their Vista operating system to Windows 7, and if so have they found a lack of drivers available/compatible with Windows 7?

Last year I rebuilt my mom's PC (HD, MB) and installed Vista Home as the operating system. At the time I purchased Vista MS was offering a free upgrade to Windows 7 - thus why I puchased Vista over XP. After applying for the upgrade a few weeks ago the Windows 7 disk arrive this past week, and yesterday I happily upgraded my mom's PC. Happily - NOT. The upgrade load went smoothly, and the new OS seems to run more efficiently than on Vista...

The problem is that Windows 7 doesn't seem to be backward compatible with Vista regarding drivers - specifically wireless network items. My mom's PC uses a Zyxel G-220v2 wireless network antenna to talk to the wireless router/modem. Windows 7 does not recognize the older drivers - so the PC can't find the wireless network in their home - thus it is now disconnected from the web. I can't find any updates to Windows 7, I can't download Microsofts Live suite of email and other tools - nothing. My folk's e-mail is now disconnected, since Windows 7 doesn't support the earlier e-mail software of Vista. Windows 7 also doesn't seem to recognize the ASUS MB software, either. To say I'm annoyed is putting it lightly. For all the bad press about Vista, it installed and worked almost perfectly right out of the box.

I've gone to Zyxel's website for support; there isn't a driver shown for the G-220v2 that is compatible with Windows 7. I've e-mailed their customer support and await a response.

Have any of you experienced the same, and if so, do you have any recommendations or solutions to my computing problems?

Many thanks in advance,

ScottGem · Feb 14, 2010, 12:51 PM

First, before you upgrade to ANY new OS, you should check drivers. I don't see the G-220v2 listed as a supported product on Zyxel's site nor as a Compatible product on Microsoft's Compatibility list.

I installed Win 7 on an 8+ year old IBM Thinkpad. Win 7 picked up ALL the drivers except the sound card, but when I installed the drivers for that from the Thinkpad support site the sound worked. When I installed Win 7 on my test box, it picked up everything including a 10 year HP 3 port parallel port print server. So Win 7 is very good at driver compatibility.

I am suspecting that card is either A/B or A/G card. Which makes sense that its not support. The answer is actually very simple. Get a new Network adapter. You should be able find then for under $50.

EliaNG · Feb 15, 2010, 03:53 PM

Scott,

Regarding the network adapter - do I only have to purchase a new network adapter? Or do I also have to purchase a network adapter and a new router/modem?

I've been to Microsoft's Windows 7 website and have been looking at network adapters that are Windows 7 compatible.

Thanks in advance,

Elia

ScottGem · Feb 15, 2010, 04:33 PM

Just the network adapter.

EliaNG · Feb 18, 2010, 07:24 PM

Scott,

I did a little research and bought a wireless network adapter that has Windows 7 drivers. Unfortunately they weren't on the disc that came with it so I downloaded them from the mfgr's website (D-Link). I'll try them this weekend (my next stop over at my folk's house). BTW - in order to load different drivers - how should I go about it? Should I go to the device manager window, select the component, open the tab showing its attributes and load the driver from there? Or somewhere else? I ask because I found Windows 7 drivers (a whole bunch of them) for the motherboard (ASUS) I had put into the computer and will have to install those as well.

Thanks in advance,

ScottGem · Feb 18, 2010, 11:56 PM

Depends on the drivers. There arre various ways to load them.

EliaNG · Feb 21, 2010, 11:03 AM

Scott,

Odd things have happened, all for the good. I bought a D-Link Rangebooster wireless adapter... found that it didn't work at all - apparently defective unit. But the Zyxel unit, after an uninstall, a restart, and then plugging it back in - it works fine (for what it does). I brought the PC over to my place and it all worked fine on my home's wireless router. Got a bunch of Win 7 updates, downloaded Live Mail and all the other desired MS "simple stuff" for photos, etc. My mom's PC now works just fine; I also used the ASUS control of the CPU fan to quiet the PC's operation (since my mom is a very light user, with no real CPU crunching activities). Thank for your help. I'm going to post over in the Networking section on poor wifi reception and possible solutions.

Thanks again,

Elia