Vista RTM on TC1100

I have been running Vista RTM on my TC1100 since Sunday and it has been working very well,  I had one issue with the Smart Fetch process stopping, but this would have been transparent to me if Vista hadn’t brought it to my attention.

A lot of drivers are downloaded via Windows Update including:

  1. Wireless network driver (So down try and do the install over a wireless network)
  2. Wacom driver (so don’t get worried when your touch screen doesn’t work)
  3. NVIDIA display driver

However there have been a few annoyances that are driver related:

  1. No Qmenu
  2. No hardware buttons
  3. Sound is not muted when you insert headphones or headset, i.e. it keeps playing out of the speakers as well as the headset
  4. No SD card support (no fix for this that I can find)

you need to download the following drivers:

  1. Sound http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/Compaqtabletpc/us/download/22542.html
    http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/Compaqtabletpc/us/download/22582.html
  2. hardware buttons
    http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/Compaqtabletpc/us/download/19713.html
  3. Q menu
    http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/Compaqtabletpc/us/download/22141.html

Extract them all, normally to c:\swsetup, and then right click on each setup program, pick properties and pick Windows XP SP2 from the compatibility tab.  I think one of the sound drivers will fail, but don’t worry it seems to get far enough to fix the problem (actually I suspect only one of the sound drivers is needed, but I didn’t have time to experiment).

I also found I had to do the following tweaks:

  1. Some of the buttons didn’t work until I did the following, 
    1. Control panel
    2. Tablet PC settings
    3. Buttons tab
    4. Select each button in turn
    5. Click change
    6. Click OK  (this seems to assign the action, even though it appears correct already)
  2. In my case my screen would rotate from portrait to landscape but not from landscape to portrait, I fixed this as follows:
    1. Control panel
    2. Tablet PC settings
    3. Display tab
    4. Sequence – change
    5. I just swapped the sequence round and saved it and it then worked fine

The final issue that I had was that Foxit Reader (an alternative PDF reader which is much faster and reliable than Adobes version) wouldn’t open in the browser.  Which I fixed as follows:

Using your favourite registry editor Navigate to

My Computer
|___HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
…….|___MIME
……………|___DATABASE
…………………..|___Content Type (thx for the headsup)
………………………..|___application/pdf <- click this key once

and then look in the right pane if there is an entry with the name
‘CLSID’ and its data set to {14E8BBD8-1D1C-4D56-A4DA-D20B75EB814E}
might as well make sure there is also an entry ‘Extension’ with .pdf as data

Hacking around trying to fix this problem I also got very frustrated by the fact that the file types dialog in Vista is over simplified but I managed to find the wonderful Creative Element Power Tools which adds back an even better file type associations editor but also some other amazing utilities.

Steve Richards

I'm retired from work as a business and IT strategist. now I'm travelling, hiking, cycling, swimming, reading, gardening, learning, writing this blog and generally enjoying good times with friends and family

16 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    My TC1100 also worked fine, but no aero grass.

    you can use xp’s driver of SD card, you must install the driver manually from device manager.

  2. Anonymous says:

    hmm, I tried installing the latest XP driver from the HP site, and it installed ok provided it ran it with the XP compatibility option. All the devices were recognised. However when I plugged in an SD card (1GB) it tried to install drivers for a PCMCIA MTD-0002 which is shown under Other devices in device manager. I tried updating it’s drivers using those I unpacked from HP but no luck? Any more details of how you actually got it working?

  3. Anonymous says:

    how is it??? sluggish, decent? I have had a lot of tablets, then I sell them, and then I miss them. I was at compusa today, tc1100 without manuals, etc, very clean. $899 I couldn’t resist. I had the original acer convertible, then a tc1000, now I am blanking, a few others, then a motion le1600, samsung q1 and ux-50. Jonesing for some one note functionality again, so I pulled the trigger. I tried vista beta on le1600 and it was early on. Vista is so much better inking and tablet functionality but a memory hog.

  4. Anonymous says:

    I really only use my TC1100 for reading and review. But I often have 30-40 browser tabs open along with 10 PDF files and a few powerpoints and word documents and it performs very well. I do have 1.5GB though and a faster hard drive than normal.

  5. Anonymous says:

    great post! I had the Same problems.

    I really miss the ability provided by the NVIDIA driver under XP. In XP when I docked or undocked my tablet, than it automatically changed the display settings (extend the desktop to the second monitor, or disable the second monitor when I wadded) It is work for you?

    I also have problem with my PCMCIA Card reader.

    Did you try Ready Boost? (I started to use it yes bay, it maybe speeds up a little bit, but I did not take any measures yet.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Hi, I don’t use my Tablet with an external display now as I use it as a complement to my 3 display desktop so I can’t comment on the nVidia drivers and profiles. I have ReadyBoost – a 2GB flash drive – on my Laptop but I haven’t really noticed much impact – although that’s probably because I don’t run many apps on it and it already has plenty of memory. My TC1100 is running very quick anyway so it’s not worth the hassle to use ReadyBoost on it.

  7. Anonymous says:

    What about performance? I have upgraded my tc1100 to 1.5GB of Memory but not the harddrive and I find the performance of WinXP very poor. How about everyone else? And will it improve if I upgrade to Vista?

    Especially interesting to me is the speed for suspending and resuming the system. What about the new sleep mode in Vista?

  8. Anonymous says:

    I really only use my TC1100 for reading and review. But I often have 30-40 browser tabs open along with 10 PDF files and a few powerpoints and word documents and it performs very well. I do have 1.5GB though and a faster hard drive than normal.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Hi,

    sorry for my ignorance but which version did you install (Premium Buisness Ultimate?) – RTM means the final release right?

  10. Anonymous says:

    I installed Vista Ultimate on my TC1100 but could not get the pen to work and could not find a driver from Wacom. Any suggestions?

  11. Anonymous says:

    in my case the wacom driver was downloaded via windows update. give that a try, maybe its an optional update

  12. Anonymous says:

    I reloaded Vista and now the pen works. I can not get the screen to go from portrat to landscape. It has the pulldown but says nothing. I downloaded the driver for nVidia but says it was incompatible. Any suggestions on this?

  13. Anonymous says:

    Hi, I had the same problem. As I explained above this worked for me

    In my case my screen would rotate from portrait to landscape but not from landscape to portrait, I fixed this as follows:

    Control panel

    Tablet PC settings

    Display tab

    Sequence – change

    I just swapped the sequence round and saved it and it then worked fine

    Hope this helps, sorry I have no other ideas, I have used this approach 3 times

  14. Anonymous says:

    I installed VISTA and have a few lingering problems.

    The video driver is the default and I cna’t seem to find one on the Nvidia site that will install either.

    The screen rotation does not work as a result.

    Still working my way down the list of things to reinstall.

  15. Anonymous says:

    I’ve just upgraded my TC110. It seems nice and fast – no slower than XP. The only problem i have is the missing drivers. It sounds like there used to be an nVidia driver on Windows update, I don’t suppose anyone has a copy they could email over?

  16. Anonymous says:

    In addition to the specific tools designed to improve productivity thoughout Windows, there are several features you’ll find in all parts of Creative Element Power Tools. All your settings are saved so you don’t have to type them in every time. All dialogs and windows remember their size and position, so you don’t have to move and resize them every time you open them. And most windows in Creative Element Power Tools are resizable, so you’re not stuck with tiny windows on a big screen or huge windows on a small screen. In short, every part of the package is designed with care to be as useful and efficient as possible, without the annoyances found in so many other products. Cash Advance

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