Windows 7 drivers for (ancient) Compaq Presario R3000

[bookraiders]

Installed Windows 7 on this old beast last month. It went mostly smoothly, but I have a couple of issues which I'm wondering if someone might help me with. Obviously, HP doesn't supply Windows 7 drivers for an eight-year-old Compaq beast, so I used the WinXP drivers.

1. My ALPS 5.4 touchpad drivers were incompatible with Win7; I tried running them in XP SP3 compatibility mode, but still got alerts and notifications, and I wanted better functionality anyway (chiral scrolling, horizontal scrolling). So I tried ALPS drivers for random laptops, with varying success. My current drivers (ALPS v.7.5.2015.something) are for a Gateway or Toshiba laptop, and mostly work fine, except that once every few minutes, the cursor "sticks" and won't move for a second or two. Does anyone know of a set of ALPS drivers that would better match my hardware? Or at least a smarter way than downloading random ALPS drivers and trying them out? 😄
2. I initially installed the generic Realtek AC'97 sound codecs/drivers from Realtek's website. They gave me perfect sound, but the computer couldn't tell that I'd plugged in headphones, and the speakers stayed on. So I installed the XP Soundmax driver, and everything works fine...except for the annoying, distant white-noise/buzzing which plagued me on WinXP. Once again, is there a simple way to find newer Soundmax drivers which will work with my hardware?

I'll bet these questions sound pretty stupid, but stupid is as stupid does. 😄

[IT_WinSec]

Hello!

Thank you for posting in HP support forums!

I might upset you but this computer is very old and I wonder how you managed to install Windows 7 in the first place - with 256 MB RAM or 512 MB RAM . Combined with the old single core processor and the age of the machine - this is performance disaster.

I would recommend you return back Windows XP SP3 on this computer if you plan to continue using it. The life back in 5-8 years was completely different, what about the technology - nowadays it is extremely different and improved a lot.

Think about getting modern computing device - laptab - a hybrid device (laptop and tablet 2in1) - find some on www.hp.com

*** Please click the white KUDOS star (on the left). This way you show appreciation for advice or help you received.  If your problem has been solved - click the appropriate button and accept the solution. ***

[bookraiders]

Well, I really don't want to upset you, so I won't say all the things I'm thinking at this moment. I'm not a complete idiot; I upgraded this computer to the maximum 2GB of RAM, and its specifications (2GB RAM, 1.8 GHz processor) are quite within the minimum recommended for Windows 7. In fact, 7's performance is (at the very worst) the same as XP's, and in most cases, I've found that it runs, boots, and resumes from hibernation more quickly. The only way I would consider going back to XP (which Microsoft will be discontinuing security updates for next April) is at gunpoint. And, yes, I probably should have a newer computer. Unfortunately, unlike most Hewlett Packard employees, I don't have the money. 🙂

Anyway, does anyone else have any ideas which could help me with the two questions I asked?

[CherylG]

No guarantees these will work any better, but worth a try.

Soundmax:

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?swItem=ob-77355-1&ac...

Alps:

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?swItem=ob-75593-1&ac...

[IT_WinSec]

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@bookraiders wrote:

Well, I really don't want to upset you, so I won't say all the things I'm thinking at this moment. I'm not a complete idiot; I upgraded this computer to the maximum 2GB of RAM, and its specifications (2GB RAM, 1.8 GHz processor) are quite within the minimum recommended for Windows 7. In fact, 7's performance is (at the very worst) the same as XP's, and in most cases, I've found that it runs, boots, and resumes from hibernation more quickly. The only way I would consider going back to XP (which Microsoft will be discontinuing security updates for next April) is at gunpoint. And, yes, I probably should have a newer computer. Unfortunately, unlike most Hewlett Packard employees, I don't have the money. 🙂

Anyway, does anyone else have any ideas which could help me with the two questions I asked?

---

Hi,

I am sorry - I never meant to offend you. Accept my apologies if you my post frustrated you.

Now with the updated information about the RAM - it does makes sense. Thank you!

Please, try with the ones provided by CherrylG.

For the sound card - If I were you I would stay with the generic driver (as it gives you no buzzing sound).

For the pointing device - I would stick with the Microsoft generic one as it should functions although only basic functionallity will be provided. In all cases full support may not be provided due to the fact that the machine is aging and it has not been tested with Windows 7.

As a work around - if you insist and prefer on  full functionallity - I would suggest you get an external mouse or external pointing device for best functionallity as well as external sound card device (USB one) - with full support of Windows 7 - something similar to these ones -1-  2-  3-

[bookraiders]

@IT_WinSec that's ok, there's no need to apologize; I was probably a bit harsh. I would indeed prefer to use the generic sound drivers, but the speakers of the laptop stay on when I plug in my headphones, and that defeats the purpose of wearing headphones. (I have roommates, so that's kind of a sticking point.) I suppose I could just disconnect the speakers, or install some sort of switch... As for the mouse, I do use an external mouse on occasion, but as I write a lot and have a very small working area, it's rather inconvenient. I would switch back to the generic HID drivers, but they don't allow "tapping" (tap-to-click)! >_<

@CherylG Thank you very much for your suggestion; however, while the ALPS driver installed, it caused the mouse to jitter around on the screen, so I just decided to roll back my drivers to the old XP version. And the SoundMax drivers refused to install, either from the device manager, or by running the setup app.

I guess I should just be happy that everything works. Thanks for your help!

[CherylG]

During many of the XP Downgrades done on Vista laptops the same issue with speakers and headphones occurred. A work-around that helped them may also work for you. Mute the sound using the button then insert headphones.

[bookraiders]

Do you mean to try that while using the generic Realtek AC'97 drivers? I believe I tried that, but I shall try it again and report back.