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186
 
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 07/04/2008 23:24:42
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According to the email sent to me by Gateway, their MT3104b notebook is designed only for use with Vista and cannot not be used with 100% functionality with any other OS.
I really do not like being denied choice and I especially dislike discovering this after
forking out the readies so in the spirit of true bloodymindedness, I spent several hours installing an alternative OS and drivers - they got me on the audio though as the OEM was forbidden by Gateway to release any drivers for the on board STAC 920... but a USB dongle gives equal 5:1 audio quality.
If Gateway had made it clear that they now make Vista an integral part of their notebooks, I would have strongly advised against purchase
Why not come out into the open and call themselves GATESWAY?...it would be a clear indication of their allegiance to Microsoft and all that is implied by that association.
************************************************************************
Hello Brian,
 Thank you for your e-mail. I apologize but changing the Operating System
is not supported because your computer is designed for Windows Vista
and there are possibilities that somedrivers will not work in XP.
However its your choice to install XP in your computer however we cant
provide you the drivers you need for sound because we only have here
drivers for vista and some drivers for XP but doesnt have a sound driver
for xp. What I can do is to recommend that you contact the Motherboard
manufacturer of your Gateway Computer to get the driver you need that is
compatible with XP.
Thank you.
Please reply to this message if you require further assistance with this
issue. If your reply is received while I am out of the office, to
ensure a speedy resolution, your issue will be handled by one of my
colleagues.
Sincerely,
Sid
Badge GWEL4336
https://support.gateway.com/Support/copilot/en/us/chat_us_gw_upgrade.asp?id=retailsig
Original Message Follows:
-------------------------
General Customer Service Questions
phone:
Subject: Gateway General Customer Service Questions AA3
Purchase Location:
Email Address: bsansonkirk@tiscali.co.uk
First Name: Brian
Last Name:
Address1: Bubwith-East Yorkshire-UK
City1: Selby
State1: OTHER
Zip1:
Country: Other
Order Number:
Issue Description: Bought for me as present by dad. Came with Vista but
vista not my preferred choice.
Managed to install XP except for audio driver-STAC920+945pm Chipset.
Cannot find non-vista driver for MT 3104b notebook. Will have to sell
product if you cannot help. Why restrict OS to Vista? You will lose
customers permanently by doing this!
Hope you can help or adios laptop and Gateway!!!
Regards
B Sanson!
FADingfast
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Pentium
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Today @ 02:38:56
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Creative haven't bothered with Vista drivers. I know your feeling of annoyance.
I have to say though, that Vista is not a problem. After the initial stick, it's a good and useable OS, so why you are running away?
Disclaimer: Any advice I provide is only applicable in my reality and may need altering to fit yours There is no place like 127.0.0.1
Best Video Evar! UPDATED
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Pentium
Group: Forum Members
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Pentium
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Thats not much help though Bruce if the apps he wants /needs to run are windows based.
Cheers, Keith.
Raidmax Sagitta case, E4400(overclocked),parkle 8600GTS,Asus P5N-E SLI (with VFM's chipset fan mod) ,250 GB SATA,Antec TruePower Trio 630W PSU , 2GB Patriot DDR2 6400 RAM.
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Santa Pig
Group: Moderators
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A 1.7Ghz Celeron is more than enough to power Vista for the tasks most people want to do i.e. some surfing, emailing, writing letters, looking at photos and some light editing such as red eye.
My Mrs has such a machine and I have sold many like it and everyone is happy - q.v. later comment on ram.
But for what most of here want to get up to it is of course in adequate 
What is deficient in those specs is the 512mb of ram, that will strangle Vista horribly.
TBH XP needs more these days, what with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewalls etc.
To make matters worse they have installed it as 2 x 256 so at least one stick will need to be chucked away to add more.
A Kingston 1GB DDR2 533MHz/PC2-4200 Sodimm is £13, that is the minimum you'll need.
Better with two of them.
As for the laptop only beng available with Vista, for better or worse the world has moved on and Gateway are not alone.
I've just been looking at some of the newer Asus laptops and they are all Vista.
Just checked the Acer site, same there too.
Dave R
XP Pro + various VMs: Q6600 @ stock, Asus V3-P5G33, 2GB DDR2 800, 7600GT
XP Pro: E1200 @2.4Ghz, GA-G33M-DS2R/S2, 2GB DDR2 800, 3450 on HDMI
Mandriva S 2008: SOA Athlon 2200, 1GB DDR, 9550
Windows Home Server: S3000, ASUS V2-M2V890, 512mb DDR2 667, 1TB
4GB USB Pendrive: Mandriva 2009 - my portable PC
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486
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I have heard reports that in some parts of the world PC's and Laptops that would otherwise be capable of running various different OS's are sold with the BIOS locked to a single OS.
Nasty.
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486
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 22:58:57
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You might want to edit your email out of that post, unless you really love spam..
As Dave says, the world continues, and how much new hardware comes with a windows 98 driver these days?
Some manufacturers drop support for old operating systems faster than others.
On the other hand, some of the big boys are virtually demanding Linux drivers from their suppliers.
The market changes, sometimes in surprising ways.
*************
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The sig between the asterisks is SO COOL that ONLY REALLY COOL people can even see it!
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Pentium
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Last Login: 29/11/2008 15:03:08
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Welcome to the forum.  You should give Vista a chance it's a good O.S.
Intel e7200 @ 4.0GHz (4.32GHz SuperPi(e)) Lapped Asus P5E-VM (Vdroop pencil modded) 4Gb Patriot Pc6400 4-4-4-12 250Gb Samsung Spinpoint Sapphire ATI 3870/Akasa Vortexx Neo Enermax 600 Watt PSU Ubuntu/Win XP All in a Thermaltake Handbag... Or flying @ 4.21GHz in the Stacker. Try some MM Super Pi(e) here!
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