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Gadling gear review - Windows 7 on the Gateway L3103 Netbook
Yesterday, I wrote about the new Gateway L3103u Netbook. This 11.6" machine just hit the shelves of your local Bestbuy, and offers a 1.2GHz processor, 2GB of memory and a 250GB hard drive in its $399 package. One of the first things I did on the machine was dump Windows Vista Basic and install Windows 7 (release candidate). In my experience, Windows 7 runs smoother on most computers than Vista ever managed to.
The installation of Windows 7 went fairly smooth, and ran off a USB drive. Once fully installed, there were only 2 things that needed a manual update. For anyone considering purchasing the L3103, you'll want to do 2 things after installing Windows 7:
- Use Windows Update to install the latest Radeon X1200 series video driver - no standalone driver package will install, and the only way to get a working video driver is through Windows Update (trust me, I tried everything AMD had to offer).
- Install the WiFi driver - the WiFi card has an Atheros AR5B95 chipset, I tried multiple driver packages, but none of them worked. I finally found a working version though this obscure site.
Filed under: Gadling Gear Review
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Ghostly Jul 26th 2009 2:36PM
That link is bad, the site is down. Apache error?
Rob Jul 20th 2009 5:25PM
Why 32-bit Windows 7 over 64-bit?
Ghostly Jul 26th 2009 1:48PM
64 bit should have at least 4GB of memory. Will this machine take a 4GB module?
Ron Williams Aug 2nd 2009 9:14AM
I am currently running Windows 7 RC 64 bit and having no problem at all the performance index i obtained was Processor 2.4. Graphics 2.5, 3Dperformance 3.0 Memory 4.4 Hard Drive 5.9. I have had no problems with drivers. When i installed i was connected via the Ethernet10/100 Windows went out and found all the drivers except the wireless Driver which i found from a link in a previous comment. and updates.after letting the netbook gather all the updates everything is running smooth I am also Running Foxfire 3.5.1 browser to me seems more stable than Windows Explorer and i have the 32 and 64 bit viersions if it. and trying the Safari Browser also.I got my Virus Software from Panda AV Pro for Windows 7 beta also Using Open Office a sun micro product for FREE instead of paying 200+ for Office 2007
Joshhh Aug 11th 2009 9:39AM
Hello, I recently purchased this Gateway netbook I would like to install Windows 7 on it but I want to know if there is a way to revert back to the factory settings so if I decide that I want to go back to how it was when I got it after I install Windows 7 on it.
Scott Carmichael Aug 11th 2009 7:03PM
Yes - as long as you don't remove any partitions, you'll be able to boot into the recovery mode by holding down F11 during booting. That'll start a process putting Vista back on the machine, and returning it back to it was as-new.
ron williams Aug 11th 2009 6:32PM
yes you can go back to Vista provided you do the recovery dick before you start the upgrade to Windows 7 you'll need to hook up an external DVD drive and make both Recovery disk and the Driver recovery disk and you should have no problem getting the Gateway netbook back to factory if you need it
I really like the Windows 7 64 bit ill leave it like this from now til ...
Joshhh Aug 11th 2009 10:32PM
The only partition that I see when I go to My Computer is the Local C drive, I dont see any other partitions..and when I put Windows 7 on this wont it erase this partition or change it?
dpswireless Aug 30th 2009 3:31PM
I also installed Windows 7 on the Gateway L3103 and it worked perfectly. Updated the graphic drivers on it and was good to go. Until... The track pad just stopped working. It was in my girlfriends hands so I am not too sure what she did on it, but she claims nothing. I did a system restore and the drivers worked again. I rebooted the machine and then they stopped working again. I proceeded to rollback the drivers, and it worked again. I rebooted and the drivers updated themselves and stopped working again.
I was fed up with the install so I did a clean install of Windows 7. The drivers worked perfectly during the installation. I boot it up, it updates the drivers and bam, it isn't working again.
I am using the final release of Windows 7 x64. I have tried assigning the ALPS drivers to the trackpad, but with no success. The problems the computer is having is with the Snyaptics drivers. One version of the drivers work, and one version of the drivers don't. How do I get it to stick with the version that is? Could anyone please send me a link of a version of the drivers they are using that is working.
Thanks,
dave