XPS M1330 – Windows 7 and 10

System Upgrades

Service Manual

Ensure you reference your service manual before carrying out upgrades:

The most recommended upgrade for this system is a Solid State Drive, here is my affiliate link to Crucial here. If purchasing a SSD or Memory Upgrade please use these links as I will get a tiny bit of commission which will help fund my guides.

SSD Drive Upgrade

Memory Upgrade:

This system supports 8 GB of RAM (2×4 GB Modules). This can also be purchased using the affiliate link above.

Media Direct

Media Direct should be installed before the Operating System in order for the Media Direct Button to function correctly.

Operating System

It is recommended to install Windows 10 on this system see Windows OEM FAQs and Downloads. The Windows Vista OEM or Windows XP Product Key won't be compatible with Windows 10 Installation Media however you can run Windows 10 Unlicensed. Windows 10 will have most of the system drivers required inbuilt however you can install the Windows 7 Drivers if you have any unknown Devices in the Device Manager.

Drivers and Downloads for Windows 7

Legacy BIOS

System Utilities (Windows 7 Only)

Chipset (Windows 7)

Card Reader

Video (Windows 7 Only)

Communication

Input

Dell Wireless Cards

Audio (Windows 7 Only)

Install the Registry Edit and then the Audio Driver.

Registry Edit

HTML

Open up Notepad or Notepad++, copy and paste the above and save the file (as all types) ending with the extension .reg. Once done right click the reg file and run.

Add the entries to your registry before installing the Audio Driver.

Application

Security

36 thoughts on “XPS M1330 – Windows 7 and 10

      1. I never made the registry edit…

        You can open the registry file up in notepad and then manually delete the entries in the registry editor….

        This is untested however.

  1. For the fingerprint reader I would like to suggest the Upek Protector Suite 2012 5.9.8.7279. It works and also supports Chrome registrations. This is the only version of the Protector Suite that works on M1330 with 64 bit WIN 8.1.. All other versions stops the installation when it asks for the .NET 3.5 or higher to be activated. Does not help that you do activate .NET of any version. Anyways, you can download it from here(it also has the drivers); http://www.touslesdrivers.com/php/constructeurs/telechargement.php?v_code=36509&v_langue=fr

  2. Just noticed that since Chrome Web Store is more closed, the Upek Protector Suite 2012 5.9.8.7279. extension is no longer allowed(gets disabled by Chrome)..

  3. In windows 8.1 64 bit the integrated webcam doesn't work.
    In Device Manager all is ok (don't have a problems with drivers), bat in the skype and in the integrated camera program, the Webcam doesn't work
    If you install the application "Dell Webcam Central", inside of the program, the webcam work fine.

    1. It could be Dell Webcam Central running in the background and not allowing other applications to access the webcam

  4. No… I have installed the Webcam Central running at the end of the experiments (I thought the webcam was broken)

  5. Philip,

    Great site, saving me hours of time installing W7 on my XPS13. However, a few problems still elude me:

    – The A15 BIOS update fails with "Unexpected error, please reboot and try again" Code 0x00000207. I ahve downloaded it twice and saved it to the desktop but same error occurs. I currently have A10 running.
    – Two devices still do not have drivers after I followed all your steps:
    – Intel 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB 3.0 Extensible Host Controller Installation Disk – 1E31 (hardware ID is DEV_1E31)
    – Unknown Device (Hardware ID ACPI\INT33A0)

    Can you identify drivers for these?

    Plus I have a trivial issue with my Inland Bluetooth mouse: I can't get it into Discoverable mode to pair it with the XPS13. It shows up in the Bluetooth Devices pane but it doesn't work. Any ideas?

    Thanks!

    Geoff in NJ

    1. Geoff

      I think you have got the wrong XPS 13 model here. This model doesn't have USB 3.0 ports and is far older. See here there are multiple XPS 13 models:
      http://downloads.dell.com/published/pages/#esuprt_xps_laptop

      Please make a new post in the Dell Community Microsoft board and provide your model of XPS13:
      http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/default.aspx

      I was doing a 2 month placement in Edison and was meant to fly back there right now but got declined re-entry by US customs. Now I need to reroute my journey home to the UK exclusively via Canada.

      Philip

      1. Thanks Philip. My model is L322X. I didn't see that model listed in your doc so I just chose the closest match.

  6. Dell XPS M1330 with Windows 7 64 bits. Best audio driver I have probed is R226903 (IDT 92HD73C1, version 6.10.0.6217, A15), as suggested here:

    http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3517/t/19338996

    Improvements over previous versions (R186858, R190517 and R218148, all of them essentially the same 6.10.0.5886 version from Sigmatel) include a working system tray icon (must be enabled from control panel) and a new control panel adjustment app, with more controls (e.g. equalization presets).

      1. Additional steps are needed just if you already have installed Sigmatel drivers. In that case, when you try to install R226903 (IDT) it warns you about the need of (manually) uninstall Sigmatel drivers before install IDT ones.

  7. has anyone tried getting W10 running? am struggling with a 'cant install as your processor does not support NX' error, even tho' my Core 2 Duo does. Have tried the 'normal' install, so will try installing from ISO, and will see what happens.

  8. Upgraded my XPSm1330 to Win10 64bit(thanks to this guide)…but I tried to upgrade the wifi card, and there seems to be driver issues with INtel wifi cards. I tried 7260AC and now the 3160 AC and the same issue occurs. They connect fine to my AC router, and I can get on the internet for a minute or so…but then the browser locks up and the card drops connection and gets disabled by windows. Anyone have any ideas on this?

    1. Theres elevated power saving settings in Windows 8.1 and 10 which seems to annoy Intel cards. Try to disable the power management setting for the card in the device manager.

      1. Thanks for the reply philipyip, tried that last night and same behavior…any other ideas?

      2. What driver version is it? I have an Intel 6200 card (driver 15.4.1.1) working pretty nicely in a Latitude E5510. I have an Intel 7265 in an Inspiron 7347 (driver 18.11.0.8) also working with no problem.

        Is this on a Clean Reinstall or an upgrade install?

  9. I tried the latest driver version, 18.12.1.2, as well as 17.15.0.5. I did a clean install of win7home followed by a upgrade install(with the remove all option) for Win10home.

  10. Hello Philip Yip

    You are a genius!!!. I followed your guide and updated my XPS M1330 Windows Vista to Windows 10 Pro. I did that this week, two days ago, before the expiration of Insider version. Thanks a lot. This guide was very useful.

    I am from Ecuador , SouthAmerica. I have shared your post with some friends, because there are important information about Windows 10 versions.

    Gerardo Arias

    1. I'm glad you found my guides helpful. It seems we have have found a way to use 10130 to get Windows 10 Pro for a bit after its expiration date. I doubt this will last long however…

      I met a flatmate of a friend a couple of weeks ago and she was from Ecuador also. 🙂

    1. If anybody is suffering from continual Win10 'IRQ not less or equal… NETWLV64' BSOD on the XPS M1330, it seems related to the Intel 4965 wifi cards.
      This is not really news, but there are a number of suggestions on forums to upgrade the card to a newer *supported* revision, which did tempt me a little, as Intel has not released an updated driver for the 4965AGN.
      Rather than getting a 7 series card, I have followed another web posting and loaded the following driver:
      http://support.toshiba.ca/support/isg/drivers/common/vista
      Intel%20Wireless%20Driver-11.5.0.32.zip
      I have used the 64 bit .SYS driver version.

      The wifi card is now running without any issues.

      Cheers,
      MrC
      XPS M1330 (now up to 8th birthday…)
      Samsung 250GB SSD
      4GB RAM
      WIN10 64bit

  11. I have Windows 10 installed and everything works wonderfully except for one huge thing. The Nvidia 9400GS doesn't seem to think I have a laptop display. The external display works fine, but it only finds one display even when I do the hard monitor detect. I installed the QuickSet and so when I hit FN+F8 it at least responds, but it responds with their is only one display. Maybe the problem is unique to just me? Anyone else seen this?

  12. I updated to BIOS A15 then booted from a Windows 10 x64 build 1809 DVD-R to attempt a clean install. Setup halts demanding a "Media Driver" but won't tell me *for what device*.

    Will a previous Win10 version boot and install from DVD?

    1. Don't use a DVD, use a Bootable USB… It sounds like your installation media is corrupt (e.g. your DVD has not be burnt correctly).

      1. The disc is fine, I've already used it on another install. It's the SMBus driver that was needed.

        But of course Microsoft can't buck 'tradition' by having Windows actually tell the user *exactly what the device is* that it needs a driver for. It's been hiding that info behind "unknown device" since 1995. They wouldn't want to make things simpler or easier *now*, would they.

  13. I have an 2007 XPS M1330 with NVidea graphics. Came with Vista x64, but upgraded to Win7 32bit. That install was a struggle since almost everything required some driver level tweaking or the other. That install finally gave up the ghost after about 10 yrs. Was staying off win 10 since did not want to face similar driver related issues. With a reinstall required, decided to hazard it.

    Created a Win 10 x64 USB tool on another Win 10 machine. This was the smoothest install by FAR! EVERYTHING went thru like hot knife thru butter. Not one glitch of any sort.

    Graphics driver updated itself immediately after install. Every single thing working from the get-go. Absolutely no hardware freak-outs in the device manager. Its just been a hour since. Lets hope it stays that way!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.