Given how smoothly Windows 7 had been running on the NC10, I really did not think twice about updating to the (unofficially released) latest version 7057. Windows 7 is still peppy and I’m running the Ultimate version on the netbook rather than the more limited version which is likely to come pre-installed on most future netbooks. I have not had a chance to test whether power management has been improved in this build but plan to do do shortly.
I did my update last Sunday and then Monday flew to London. I noticed a network problem immediately on Sunday evening but thought it was my usually very reliable cable connection rather than my computer. I did not have time to really test things out and instead rebooted the cable modem and went to bed. The next day I was completely unable to connect to Boingo at JFK and only after a reboot did things work. My time was limited so I checked a few messages and boarded the plan. At my hotel in London is where I finally realized the problem was consistently related to the new Windows 7 build. Both my wireless and wired connection options were dropping after about 30 minutes and given the hassle of frequent reboots I chose to just leave the NC10 in the safe and use my work machine instead. This morning however back at home, I’ve had time and the patience to try and few things and it seems I’ve solved the matter for real …
Windows comes with it’s own generic drivers and I had them running alongside my Atheros Driver from Samsung though the Atheros was the preferred choice. I guessed there was a conflict between the two and decided to remove the Atheros via the Setup utility (in the installer download). When the Windows 7 generic driver also failed to stay connected I removed that as well and then re-installed the Atheros driver – leaving just that as my only wireless connection option.
I’m happy to report that after over an hour of connectivity I am still connected and there are no detectable issues. Previously I would see the Yellow Caution Triangle appear on my wireless signal meter within 15-30 minutes killing the connection. Clearly beta is beta though with a bit of troubleshooting Windows 7 is back online reliably.