Today I decided to take the plunge and upgrade my computer to Windows 10. Previously I was using Windows 7 which had been working so well for me that I was hesitant about parting ways with it, but when I heard Microsoft was offering free upgrades to Windows 10, I decided to go for it.
Upon perusing the details of this free upgrade, I learned I would have to download a 3 gigabyte file. That made me a little anxious already. Due to budget constraints I subscribe to lower speed DSL service, which works fine as I don’t download huge files all that often. I began to envision leaving my computer on for several days so it could download this gigantic file to do the upgrade.
So today was the day I decided to begin the upgrade process. I checked the “Get Windows 10” icon in my system tray to get started but immediately became concerned when it reported my computer wasn’t able to run Windows 10 due to no available drivers for my NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE display adapter. I decided to download the upgrade anyway as I have a newer spare computer that would benefit from having it installed.
I downloaded Windows 10 using Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool. Instead of taking three days to download, it only took 7 hours, which isn’t bad at all. Either my connection is faster than I thought or Microsoft has some seriously fast servers capable of sending the upgrade to thousands of users simultaneously.
With the upgrade finally downloaded, I began the setup process which took just over an hour and progressed fairly smoothly to completion. When my desktop re-appeared, I noticed the screen resolution was preset to 1024×768, so I had to change that to my preferred resolution of 1280×1024. When I checked the Device Manager to see what display adapter was installed, I noticed the one for Microsoft’s Basic Display Adapter which was working fine but seemed to be a little sluggish, especially while playing my videos. I went to NVIDIA’s web site to download their GeForce Experience utility to see if I could find an updated driver, but its search found nothing. It looks like I’m stuck with the basic display driver for now.
I briefly ran into trouble when I switched on my HP Deskjet F4100 printer for the first time since the upgrade. For a while it reported that there was a driver problem with the printer but eventually this problem went away and my printer was ready to use.
Then there’s the problem with my M-Audio O2 USB MIDI Controller I use for composing music. When I switched it on, Windows immediately blue-screened and rebooted, and when I went to the Device Manager afterwards to see if the driver was installed, its status indicated that no drivers were installed. I tried to have it search online for software but nothing was found. I also tried installing the M-Audio Oxygen Driver but that too failed to render my USB keyboard usable. It’s now nothing but a large piece of plastic sitting on my desk and that hurts, considering my passion for creating my own music.
Overall, the upgrade was a bittersweet experience. While it’s exciting to be using the latest operating system from Microsoft, it’s sad that I can’t get some of my devices to work, especially the MIDI keyboard that I use constantly. I’m hoping there will be fixes available soon, or I might just go back to Windows 7 when I had absolutely none of these problems.
UPDATE: My issue with the NVIDIA display drivers has been resolved. I did some research online and found that the Windows 8 drivers were reported to work with Windows 10. I went here for the drivers and upon installing them, I noticed that the GeForce 6150 adapter was finally listed in the Device Manager instead of the Basic Display Adapter. Even better, the NVIDIA GeForce Experience software is reporting I have the latest drivers. Not surprisingly, my videos now play much smoother, too. Now all I need are the updated drivers for my M-Audio O2 USB MIDI Controller and I’ll be happy enough to stick with Windows 10.
UPDATE: I finally got my M-Audio O2 USB MIDI Controller to work with Windows 10. I switched off the MIDI controller and removed it from the Device Manager so I could try setting it up again from scratch. I re-installed the Windows 7 drivers I found on this page and when I turned the MIDI controller back on, it was properly installed and now works like a charm. With the last of my hardware problems finally squared away, I consider myself officially in business with Windows 10.
MJBDiver.com 