Downloading New Drivers

I spent an inordinate amount of time downloading a new driver from my Wireless Interface card. The card is made by NetGear and there is a horrible interface problem with Windows Vista. It seems the card will not work with more than 2 Gigabytes of RAM installed. Dell says that is a NetGear problem.

I disagreed with them and they kicked me off there web forum. But I revisited the Dell forum and noted my original comments are still there and they have seemed to have found a potential fix. Dell was defending their close relationship with Microsoft saying that it was a hardware interface problem. The NetGear folks say they have complied with Microsoft's rquirements and that it is a Vista issue. I wonder if they will continue their close relationship now that they have bought Perot Systems.

I had this kind of a memory problem before when living in Argyle and I was trying to install Windows 98 on my computer. That was back about 1997 or so. Windows 98 would not load. I finally did an Internet search and found an obscure reference to the amount of memory being used. I reached in a removed one of the two sticks of memory and tried to load it again. Bingo, it loaded up and I reinstalled the second stick of memory and all was okay.

Well it seems NetGear and some other companies' wireless interface cards will not work with Vista (even though they did work with Windows XP) when more than 2 Gigabytes of RAM is installed. The forums seem to indicate this fix will not work over the long haul. We will see.

When I bought the computer from Dell, it came with 4 Gigabytes of RAM. I have been operating it with 2 Gigabytes of RAM so that I can have my wireless interface card operate. This limitation is irritating. Vista ought have fixed this problem by now but it seems the arrogance of Microsoft rears it head and denies a fix to a problem (Or is that why Windows 7 is being rushed out the door - do we have another Millennium fiasco?).

I dropped Dell because they have agreed to back load all their computers sold after a certain date to Windows 7. Guess what, my computer was bought just 2 weeks before this cut off date. And no, they will not back date or update for free. So I will have to pay for Windows 7 (and still not know if I have a fix).

I do know this, the new driver is working with the computer using 2 Gigabytes of RAM. That is a good sign. I hate to even think about getting another wireless interface card, it is the principal of the issue. The principal being is that Microsoft ought to fix the problem instead of saying it is the lessor vendors problem.

We will see. . . .