Tag Archives: windows 7

ACPI\SMO8800 Dell [SOLVED]

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Q. Hello, I have a Dell laptop and I just reinstalled Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on it. Now I have an unknown device ‘ACPI\SMO8800’ in device manager. What driver can I download to fix it? A. Here are the download links for the driver that should solve your ACPI\SMO8800 Unknown Device issue: [download id=”10460″ format=”1″], Dell dl link NOTE: The driver is for your Dell laptop’s ST Microelectronics Free Fall Sensor (accelerometer), it is what shows up as Unknown Device ACPI\SMO8800 🙂 More

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Upgrading M4400 -> How to backup/get my favorite folders from XP to Win7

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NOTE: you can also view all the entries in this Q & A series… On 10/7/2011 11:38 AM, David wrote: PS. My 4400 is pretty clean (hard drive that I am swapping out). What I mean by that is I only have some evaluation versions of 3D software, my stock trading software, and Windows Explorer etc… I plan on reloading all of my program software onto the SSD. Many of the programs will need to be download again in x64. However,

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DELETE a Recovery Partition when Disk Management won’t let you

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Today I was preparing a 2.5″ SATA laptop hard drive for use in my wife’s mini-PC. The hard drive I was attempting to use came from an old Acer laptop. I connected the hard drive via a USB enclosure and attempted to clear out the old partitions and reformat. Unfortunately I found that the Windows 7 Disk Management interface would not allow me to delete the “System Recovery” partition. Here is how I went about deleting that protected partition so I could

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HOW TO do a (relatively) clean install using Windows 7 Upgrade DVD

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In the past it seemed like you could do a straight-up clean Windows 7 install using an upgrade DVD on a new PC. Last night we tried a clean install on my buddy’s new PC, using just such a Win7 x64 “Family Pack” upgrade DVD, and everything installed just fine (selecting “custom install” instead of upgrade install). BUT, after booting the Windows product key wasn’t accepted… So, the solution was #1 to go ahead into Windows (by not entering the

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Windows 7 ethernet goes to sleep! [solved]

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Question. Hello! I have a problem with my network connection in Windows 7. Everything works great until the computer has been at rest for a while, then my ethernet connection drops out! As soon as I move my mouse or keyboard the ethernet comes back on. My laptop is NOT in sleep/hibernate mode when all this occurs! Please help!? Answer. Great question :-). Here’s a potential solution for your Ethernet woes 😉 Go to Control Panel -> Network and Internet

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SOLUTION: Getting Broadcom Crystal HD decoder to work in Windows 7

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NOTE: this is a first draft of this post, more info and some screenshots to be added. After installing the Broadcom card and drivers I had a difficult time getting MKV x264 video files to play. Solution: Disable all “internal filters” Set external filter to Broadcom Applies to: GOM Player, Media Player Classic Home Cinema Basic info to the Broadcom card itself: XBMC & Broadcom Bring 1080p Decode Upgrade to ill-equipped netbooks, nettops, Apple TVs http://www.anandtech.com/show/2898In one of my last

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Install (or “downgrade”) to Windows XP on Sony VAIO-Z series

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It’s that time of year again. Time to reinstall Windows after my laptop has finally succumbed to the mass of programs I’ve installed or evaluated. It’s getting slow, not painfully slow, but slow enough that I crave a clean install. Currently the laptop has Vista on it. Rather than paying for a Windows 7 upgrade, I’m considering “downgrading” to Windows XP. I would have done that a long time ago, as I am not a Vista fan… but at the

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