Loading Windows 7 beta 1 on the Dell Mini 9 netbook - take note!

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 10 January 2009 11:20

Opinion and Analysis

The ACPI.SYS error was surprising to see because I hadn’t encountered it with earlier Windows 7 pre-betas.

So after doing some Googling, I discovered that I needed to do a firmware update to the Dell Mini 9 to solve the problem.

Having a look at my BIOS details showed me that I had the A01 version of the firmware loaded, and an A03 version was already available.

So, I went to Dell.com.au, clicked on support, typed in my service tag, and downloaded the new firmware.

I still had the older Windows 7 pre-beta loaded onto the computer, as the 7000 build had failed after all, so I copied the A03 .exe update file to a USB stick, transferred it to the Dell Mini 9, and ran it.

The BIOS update procedure only took a couple of minutes, after which I rebooted the computer twice, and then tried load the Windows 7 beta 1 again.

This time, it worked! Everything loaded like a charm.

I should have checked for any BIOS updates before installing the new Windows 7 beta 1, but as I hadn’t had the problem earlier, I didn’t think I needed to update anything.

It’s a good and simple lesson: updates are almost always worth installing for your hardware and software.

I say “almost” because there are times when updates have made things worse, or disabled features, and a quick Googling to see what other people have experienced with an update you’re considering is always a good idea.

But in this case the update was crucial, or I’d be stuck with an older pre-beta of Windows 7, and that wasn’t what I wanted!

So, if you do encounter any Windows 7 problems, whether you’re using a Dell Mini 9, or any other brand of computer, a BIOS update might be required for you, too – before you decide to blame Microsoft!