Windows 7 laptop issue, downgrade to 32-bit possible?

[LimeiBook86]

Hi everyone,

I know this isn't 'Windows on a Mac' exactly, but I thought one of you may be able to help.

Basically my girlfriend has a Dell XPS Core2Duo 13" laptop which had Vista 32-bit on it. I upgraded her to Windows 7 64-bit (which is what I had at the time) and it went well, kinda. However now she's getting random freezing etc, so I think it may be best to downgrade her to Windows 7 32-bit, I suspect it's a driver issue. Dell has fully supported drivers for 32-bit Win7, but for 64-bit Win7 I had to get "creative".

I made a backup system image using the Windows backup tool, but I fear that it's a 64-bit system image. I was hoping to use 'Windows Easy Transfer' as I did to get from Vista to Win 7, but that only works on XP & Vista, the program refuses to install or open. It's a shame because it worked great.

All I really want to do is backup her files and settings and re-install Windows 7 32-bit. However I can't figure out an easy way to do this. I fear the system image I made will only "re-install" on a 64-bit Windows system and I don't want to risk formatting the hard drive just to figure this out...

Any advice?

Thanks!
-Steven

 

[Quad5Ny]

Did you backup before or after upgrading?

If you made a full image of the computer before upgrading then it will restore the computer to exactly the state it was in at that time.

Instead of downgrading or restoring, open up Event Viewer (type event viewer in the start menu search) and post the info from the crashes.

You can even post the memory dumps generated during the crashes (they're either in \Windows\Minidump\ or \Windows\MEMORY.DMP.

 

[LimeiBook86]

The image I made of the computer was a few hours ago. So it was running Win7 64-bit. I have left the machine alone for now, I have not re-formatted it or anything. I'm basically trying to think of a course of action before I touch it. I basically want to go from Win7 64-bit to Win7 32-bit and keep the files / settings (as much as I can).

 

[Grannyville7989]

This does sound like a bit of a teaser you've got there

In what way did you have to get "creative" when you installed the drivers? And when you said that you upgraded her from Windows Vista 32-bit to Windows 7 64-bit, you mean you did a clean installation, right?

 

[LimeiBook86]

This does sound like a bit of a teaser you've got there

In what way did you have to get "creative" when you installed the drivers? And when you said that you upgraded her from Windows Vista 32-bit to Windows 7 64-bit, you mean you did a clean installation, right?

I know right! It's driving me crazy. I can't imagine that there isn't a way to migrate files (back them up) from Windows and do a clean install, without the concern of the system being 32-bit or 64-bit... at least I hope.

What I mean by creative is I googled her model laptop and found drivers other people used. Basically Vista 64-bit drivers work fine with Windows 7 64-bit, or so it seemed. Now who knows if her PC is acting odd due to drivers, but that's what I suspect. The first time around I backed up her files manually which was a pain, but if I have to do it again I might as well. At the time I was not aware of the 'Windows Easy Transfer' feature... it really would be handy if that worked with Windows 7! Oh well. I'll try researching on my own, if I find anything I'll report back.

 

[Grannyville7989]

There is a version of Windows Easy Transfer on the Windows 7 disc. If you open up the disc in Windows explorer go to Support --> MigWiz and run the MigWiz application.