Using a Dell XPS M1330 from 2007 with Windows 10 in 2021 (yes, it still works well)
And here I am. 2021 has started and I upgrade my veteran XPS, that came with Vista and was upgraded to 7, to the latest Windows 10 20H2 version.
And, surprisingly (with only two problems found and solved), it works really well.
My system is an Intel Core2 Duo CPU T7250 @ 2.00GHz 2.00 GHz with 3 Gb of RAM and a 240Gb SSD Kingstone (originally a 160Gb HDD).
I choose the “upgrade system, maintain user files & programs” option and all run without any problem. Once Windows 10 started, all seemed to work well and fine (and not slow for common uses like web browsing, office, music, …).
As I said, I found two main problems: the WiFi works only on the first connection, so if you suspend/power off/change network and WiFi needs to reconnect, then the system was unable to do it. The solution at this point was to go to Device Administrator, choose the network adapter WiFi Link 4965AGN and disable and then enable it again. This was very annoying, because Windows 10 do not shutdown the system, makes an special suspend mode to do a fast restart, so when you restart the WiFi doesn’t work and you need to do all the process again.
The other problem were the speakers: not sound at all. Headphones worked perfectly, but speakers were muted. Again, the solution could be to use external speakers or headphones, but this is a laptop and I wanted my sound back in my speakers.
Those problems apart, all worked really fine. Even the fingerprint sensor worked perfectly.
Lets go to solve both problems, although Dell says this laptop is not compatible with Windows 10, it can work fine.
Solving the WiFi problem
After some time googling, the solution appeared in a remote forum. And is so easy: go to Device Administrator, choose the network adapter WiFi Link 4965AGN, go to Advanced options and change: 802.11n Mode -> Disable
Now go to energy tab and disable the saving mode
All done, restart system and the WiFi will never fail again. Excellent, this was the main problem!!
Caveat: I suppose we are now in WiFi g mode, because n is disabled, so maximum velocity is now 54 Mbit/s. Not a problem. In my tests with my provider internet basic router, I’m getting 20 Mbit/s, enough.
Solving the speakers problem
The solution I found, after googling, were in and old 2013 forum from Dell, and is the same solution applied to a Windows 8 with the same problem:
Solved: Dell Laptop XPS/M1330 (speakers not working) — Dell Community
Basically, download the Sigmatel original drivers for Vista, setup the EXE to be Vista compatible and execute as admin.
Must be, exactly, Vista (not SP2) or installer will fail.
And that’s it! The system is now fully functional and no unknown devices.
Why to upgrade a 13 years old laptop (will be 14 in some months)? Hmm, and why not, if has a reasonable performance?
Seems like this laptop has still a lot of life with Windows 10.
