Got my Windows7 Disk as well and did a fresh install on my PC last night... I must say I'm loving 7. The taskbar took some getting used to but overall performance from boot up to normal operations certainly feels much faster and snappier. Not to mention the themes are gorgeous.

Here's a guide for those who want to do a fresh install:

1. Backup all your important info.
2. Insert Windows 7 Upgrade disk into your drive when it boots
3. Hit F12 when the Dell logo pops up (this is actually pretty fast so I actually recommend you let you lappie boot up normally first, insert the disc, then restart and hit F12).
4. At the Boot up menu selection, pick "Boot from CD ROM"
5. Let Windows 7 Load and it will eventually show a menu with 2 Options - Upgrade and Custom.
6. For Fresh Install, select Custom
7. It will show all the drives you have including partitions, the C: OS drive should be selected but if not, select it.
8. Here is one important part, make sure you click the extra disk options button. This will unhide the Format option.
8. Format the C drive (Erases Everything!). If you miss this step, it will actually copy all your old Vista files into another folder then install on top and is not 100% clean.
9. After Format, proceed next menu and let Windows 7 run its installation. Took me only around 15-20 minutes to get the OS installed.
10. Once installed, you will get prompted for user name, password, network setup. Its pretty straightforward.
11. Boot into Windows 7 and admire its beauty!
12. First step you should do now remove the Win7 upgrade disk and put in the Dell Win7 driver/software disk.
13. Go through and install all the drivers from the disk as needed. It pretty much covers the main drivers and programs (Quickset, Touchpad, IDT audio, HDMI audio, PowerDVD, FaceAccess). Some drivers not included are basic hardware drivers - graphics, card reader, etc but Windows 7 will actually update these automatically so you actually don't need them. They work right off the boot up :].
14. Oh yea... don't forget to update Windows 7. As mentioned, Win7 will also update some of the hardware drivers like graphics driver so you should review the updates and uncheck if you are using your own.

Potential Problems:
OS unable to boot. This has higher chance to occur with upgrade or not formatted install. Solution is simple, just follow exact same steps above again to format and reinstall OS.

This post has been edited by Charcoal: Nov 7 2009, 02:57 AM

If you have some other folders in your C drive, I believe it also remains there if you use custom option but skip the format. Could be useful if you don't have space else where to backup your files since it will copy the old Vista to another folder and keep other folders that existed in C before.

Personally I did encounter boot up problems with this method. I suspect the issue is caused by those other leftover folders having old drivers etc that may cause issues when you start reinstalling your drivers and software over. I would recommend creating new partitions (ex. partition F), then copy backup data to the new partition, then formating the old one when u install win7 for clean install.

Anyway, if you don't want to backup, don't want to partition and just want a new OS, try the method to do and install without format. If you get any issues, then just follow the same steps but format the second time.

This post has been edited by Charcoal: Nov 7 2009, 05:24 PM

Why scared? i love my XPS! Its sleek, speedy, runs everything i can throw at it and has a beautiful screen . I've not had any issues so far! The current price 3999 base is the best for XPS16 so far with the new Gcard and processor.

This post has been edited by Charcoal: Nov 7 2009, 11:51 PM

most of that are actually common problems for any pc and usually related to software . Not necessarily related to XPS itself. If you look into all the laptop threads in this forum, you will find issues in every one. Personally I never had any issues with bluetooth, webcam. Facial recognition on XPS works great and recognizes me within 2 seconds , bluetooth syncs with my SonyE fine and almost no bluescreens (except when that microsoft buggy patch came out, thats MS fault not Dell ).

haha... anyway most of us here are pretty happy with our XPS 16.. if you can find a better lappie for this price range with Full HD (beautiful), backlit kb and graphics power then go for it. There is a couple of laptop threads that have good info so you can definitely explore to see other lappies :].

No operating system DVD sounds fishy but seeing as the store folks did the OS upgrade for your friend, they might have accidentally left out the disk. Thats pretty sloppy considering that they didn't test the boot-ups properly too. Not Dell's fault on that XD. Anyway as many people mentioned, you can contact dell anytime either by phone or email to ask for DVDs. I requested a copy of Fastaccess disk before.

The biggest improvements I found over Vista besides nicer eye candy is really much quicker boot up, faster overall (menus, function, loads etc.. every mili-second counts! XD) performance and less bugging from the UAC for every copy and paste activity . Windows 7 Aeropeek is quite a nice feature too.

Vista always felt sluggish to me..

Just a few questions to help troubleshooting, are you using modded drivers or the stock Dell drivers? Also did you do the upgrade on top of Vista, custom install without reformat or custom formatted install?

I would say just reinstall the graphics drivers.

- Download the new windows 7 drivers from Dell or from ATI website (if you use ATi website ones, you need to mod the ATI drivers using ATI mobility modder first)
- Uninstall the current drivers in control panel, maybe use Driver Cleaner from Guru3d if you want to ensure everything is removed.
- Reboot
- Install the new drivers again.

I think the steps goes something like the above. Most people actually recommend not installing CCC (uncheck it during installation menu) since it always causes problems.

The Windows 7 upgrade disk is actually contains the full Windows 7 setup. So yes, you can reformat the PC however you want and still install Windows 7 as long as your BIOS is intact and you can boot from the Windows 7 DVD.

Yea, the upgrade disk does not verify against previous version. You will get a new license key with the upgrade disk. Just key in that when they ask you during installation.

Are you using ATI Catalyst Control Center to change the resolution or the Windows 7 display settings?

Spec wise, the ATI 4670 can definitely output esolutions beyond Full HD (1080p) so its unlikely to be the graphics card issue. I suspect either software, driver or the monitor not detecting properly.

BTW can you provide the model number of your external LCD screen? We can try checking for drivers etc. If you can secure another VGA cable or HDMI cable to test, might help too.

Ok i've tried reading around online to see if I could find a solution to your issues. Here are some of the things I found out:

1. Issue could be likely due to incorrect EDID information set in the monitor by the manufacturer. EDID tells the computer what resolution to run at and a bad EDID would limit the resolutions. Have you tried the monitor with another laptop or PC to see if the same problem occurs? If so, then definitely bad EDID. Sometimes bad EDID would also show the monitor being listed as different models which you can check from Device Manager.

Some folks have actually recommended installing PowerStrip to override the EDID problem. Frankly I have not tried it so I do not know the risks and whether it will work for. You will need to run at your own risk. Quoting from the forums:
Download powerstrip.
Install powerstrip.
Run power strip as an admin user.
Select the display profiles->configure option from powerstrip menu
Click the advanced timings button from this window.
Select custom resolutions from the new window that appears.
Scroll down the list until you find the 1680 X 1050 X 60 Hz option.
Click the add resolution button.
After powerstrip warns you that you may have selected an incorrect resolution you will need to reboot.
You should after rebooting the machine have access to the native res of the 226BW which is 1680 X 1050.
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-repli...fm/1207444.html

2. Monitor drivers are not updated properly.
Right click Desktop -> Screen Resolution -> Select monitor from drop down list -> advanced settings -> Select "Monitor Tab" -> Click Properties -> Drivers Tab -> See who the driver provider is. If its a Samsung driver, i would figure it would say Samsung there. If not, Click Update Drivers -> Browse -> Insert the manufacturer cd -> search and install from there.

Windows 7 compatibility issues for Maple maybe? Better to check Maple forum for solution to this