Motion/LS800/Windows Vista Clean Install Notes
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Windows Vista installation notes
Preparing to Install Vista
Motion Computing Support for Vista
Motion Computing is supporting upgrade installations of LS800 and LE1600 models to Vista. Motion has issued general information about Vista support and specific upgrade instructions, including a small section on clean installs.
Why Do a Clean Install of Vista?
Upgrade installs leave a lot of information in the registry that frequently slows down the computer, makes it prone to problems, and can render certain programs non-functional.
Why You Should Be Careful About a Clean Install of Vista
Some drivers will not install under Vista, resulting in your hardware losing some of its functionality. In some cases, Vista-compatible drivers will be available; in other cases Vista-compatible drivers will not be available.
Can you Do a Clean Install with an Upgrade DVD?
The only restriction on using an upgrade DVD is that it must be used on a computer with an authenticated copy of Windows. Starting from Windows XP you can do an upgrade install of Vista or a clean install of Vista. Starting from Vista you can re-do an existing Vista installation as a clean install. You only need a full (non-upgrade) copy of Vista if you have a hard drive without an authenticated copy of Windows.
Details of the Vista Installation
Hardware and software
- Motion Computing LS800 with 1 GB RAM and 60 GB hard-drive
- Windows Vista Business Upgrade DVD
- Motion Computing Mobile Dock connected to:
- Gateway FPD2275W 22 inch monitor, native 1680 x 1050 resolution
- External speakers
- Motion CD / DVD drive
- Diskette drive
The Clean Installation
The first step in moving to Vista is to make sure you have the current BIOS (A09) installed. Although this is mentioned on Motion's page of Vista drivers for the LS800, it is not mentioned in the current version of Motion's Vista upgrade instructions. To determine what BIOS version you have, use the "System Information" program (msinfo32.exe). When doing a BIOS update remember not only to be on AC but also to be on a power setting that doesn't put the computer to sleep. In the days when Motion's pens were heat-sensitive, many people created a setting that put the computer to sleep after a while even on AC, and using such a setting when doing a BIOS update can trash your computer.
Before doing a clean install there is no need to uninstall software and drivers beforehand since this gets wiped out by the clean install.
To do a clean install of Vista you need to choose "Custom" installation instead of "Upgrade" on the "Which type of installation do you want" screen.
After the Vista installation has completed, Motion recommends installing (from their page of Vista drivers for the LS800):
- Motion Dashboard Driver: right-click on setup.exe and choose "Run as administrator".
- Graphics Drivers for the LS800's 915GMS chipset: you will need the drivers for some external monitors. Beware that the installation seems to stall, but be patient. After re-boot, unless you have turned off User Account Control there are security questions about the drivers (igfxcfg.exe, igfxtray.exe, igfxpers.exe and hkcmd.exe).
Motion also recommends installing Intel's wireless drivers but this is not necessary since the Windows wireless software works very well.
Things that work in the LS800 itself
- Display
- Pen
- Wireless
- Infra-red printing
- Built-in speakers
- Buttons, including:
- Dashboard - though some features are not hooked up
- Wireless on / off button (note that this setting needs to be on for the Windows Mobility Center setting for Wireless to work).
- Screen rotation hardware button (despite Motion's report that it doesn't work and the line in Motion's instructions that "Vista does not allow screen rotation on LS800") and screen rotation using the Control Panel's Tablet PC Settings.
Things that don't work in the LS800 itself
- Intellisonic Speech Enhancement / Noise cancellation software is not available as per Motion's page of Vista drivers, but the built-in microphones seem to work well.
- Aero features of Vista - the graphics card is not Aero-compatible.
- SD card reader - according to Motion this doesn't work, but a procedure for getting it to work is described in the GottaBeMobile forums. It is not clear whether the SD card reader can be a useful way to speed up the tablet using Vista's ReadyBoost.
- Waking from sleep - as in Windows XP, sometimes the LS800 doesn't wake up properly from Sleep. According to PC World, most problems with waking from Sleep / Standby "can be traced to graphics boards and sound cards". It is not clear whether the problem is in the hardware or in the drivers - the audio drivers have not been updated since XP (detailed above) and the graphics drivers have problems in Vista (detailed below).
- Battery hot swapping - after the upgrade to Vista, it was no longer possible to hot-swap the battery with the computer in Sleep without losing power, as was possible in Standby in Windows XP. Based on testing at Motion it seems that this is an issue with Vista, not a problem with decline of a battery inside the computer.
Things not tested in the LS800 itself
- OmniPass security software: the upgrade instructions offer a trial version with a below-market upgrade to a Vista-compatible version.
- Farstone virtual drive software: the upgrade instructions offer a trial version with a below-market upgrade to a Vista-compatible version.
- Bluetooth: Motion's page of Vista drivers says that no working Bluetooth drivers are yet available, but Windows has its own Bluetooth drivers.
Things that work properly when connected to or docked to the LS800
- Keyboard, even a classic IBM clicky keyboard using a special USB adaptor.
- Mouse
- Diskette drive
- CD / DVD:
- Reading CDs and DVDs worked without needing any drivers beyond those in Vista and its automatic updates.
- Writing CDs and DVDs worked after installing Nero's latest CD / DVD writing software suite (version 7.10.1.0 as of July 2007). This upgrade is available to those who got the Nero OEM Suite from Motion with their CD / DVD drive for the slightly discounted upgrade price of $64. Vista offers some DVD writing capabilities in the Home Premium and Ultimate versions, but it is not clear how those compare to the Nero software. Although the Nero suite has many additional features I installed only the ones for writing CDs and DVDs: StartSmart and Burning ROM.
- External speakers didn't work initially, although they worked fine under XP. A Motion Knowledgebase article suggested installing the XP audio drivers, and this restored sound from the speakers (click on the setup.exe file in the LE1600 version folder). (Note that this procedure must be done again after installing the Vista SP1 or SP2 upgrades).
- After re-boot a message appeared "StacSysTray: Error initializing Sigmatel Control Menu: (11) Automation error". This went away after de-activating StacSysTray using Microsoft's Autoruns utility.
- The XP audio driver page says "Intellisonic Noise Cancellation Software must be re-installed after installing this update. This can be done from your local machine at this location: C:\Windows\Motion\KnowlesAcoustics" but that file is gone after a clean install and Motion's main driver page says "Speech Enhancement: Intellisonic not available for Windows Vista".
- Dial-up modem: Motion Computing's USB Modem was used. Using the computer connected to the Web via Ethernet, the modem, connected to a live phone line, was attached via USB. Vista recognized the modem as a "USB HSF Modem" and then completed downloading and installing "USB Soft Data Fax Modem with Smart CP". Using "Control Panel | Network and Sharing Center | Set up a connection or network | Set up a dial-up connection" a profile for the modem was created. To discourage Vista from offering to dial periodically, in "Control Panel | Network and Sharing Center | Manage network connections" right click on the dial-up connection and unselect "Set as default connection" and in "Control Panel | Internet Options | Connections" click the "never dial" radio button. The "USB Modem" CD and vintage 2005 instructions supplied by Motion were not used.
- For a slate that is often docked one can un-check on the TabletPC Input Panel's Options | Opening "Show the Input Panel tab when the pen is out of range" to get the TIP out of the way when docked.
Things that don't work in the docked LS800
- Monitor. The external monitor can be set to 1680 x 1050 resolution using the Intel graphics program, but unlike XP, where the monitor would click into 1680 x 1050 on docking the LS800, the change from 800 x 600 seems to need the step of choosing manually a an Intel Graphics program display screen after every restart or re-docking. The reason for such problems appears to be that Intel never made any Vista graphics drivers for the 915G chipset, and Motion just provides the XP drivers, which don't work properly under Vista. Some of the curious phenomena that occur:
- After a restart, the external monitor is initially 1680 x 1050, but it gets re-set to 800 x 600.
- The Windows Mobility Center's External Display section always reports "No display attached".
- Wireless On/Off button. This button on the left side of the computer works, but there is an interaction with the graphics display such that pressing the button resets the graphics scheme. A workaround that prevents the most common occurrence of this problem is to turn off wireless before docking the computer.
Other annoyances
Right-clicking on the desktop is slow. This is due to the slowness of Intel's graphics program (igfxsrvc.exe) launching. As detailed on Intel's Web site, you can remove this from the right-click context menu using the reg file they provide, which removes the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\igfxcui key. To change display schemes, as is needed after any log-on or docking, use the tray ("notification area") icon.
Authorship
This article was started by Mickey Segal. Others are very welcome to add more information, and solutions to the external monitor problem would be most welcome.
