[JTN]

I know I've seen this mentioned several times in several threads here in the Vista forums but I just can't seem to get these two unknown Devices to register on my Mini 9. I installed a VLited Vista Home Basic and with a few cycles of the Updater everything has a driver except these two mystery items.

I installed the "Smart Battery" or whatever it was called as well as the Dell JMicron drivers, Intel Chipset drivers and a smattering of other things off of dell's support site (like the trackpad driver). So far everything is working pretty good but those two "Base System Devices" still remain in the Device Manager.

Also possibly related to this, my "Windows Experience Index" rating is still a 1.0... the thing has a little notice saying "new hardware detected" and it wants me to update the score but every time I do it either goes through it's iterations and nothing changes or it hangs up on the last leg and just sits there and has to be canceled.

Outside of these niggling problems Vista runs very well on my mini that has a 2gb crucial memory chip and a 32gb runcore ssd. I disabled indexing, removed the page file and did all the other tweaks I saw people talking about here and the speed and responsiveness is very good.

Edit: over the weekend I blanked my mini and reinstalled Vista and all the dell drivers. Magically the two "Base System Devices" are gone now so I must have missed a step earlier somehow or perhaps a driver "didn't take" properly.

[jej.514]

I unfortunately do not have any input on the Base System Devices. I have not had that issue, but if you want me to check my Device Manager for something (when I get home later), let me know.

I do have a question on the RunCore. Did you have Vista installed on Dell's SSD? I'm wondering if Vista users are finding any performance differences between the two.

Thanks, and good luck!

Jeff

[JTN]

No, I ordered this system as stripped down as possible. It was part of one of Dell's holiday sales and I got it for $300 shipped. It came with 512mb ram, a 4gb ssd and Ubuntu. My plan all along was to upgrade everything aftermarket and install Vista.

I can say however that the upgrade from 512mb ram to 2gb ram in ubuntu was instantly noticeable. Everything ran much faster. The switch in ssd's and the change from ubuntu to Vista is not really as functionally noticeable speed wise as the two are very different from each other.

I will say this though, I have a Dell M1530 laptop with 4gb ram running Vista 64bit Ultimate and this little mini running 32bit Home Basic boots almost as fast... the only noticeable difference between the two is the kind of lengthy black screen between the Vista loading bar, the vista logo and the login screen. Once past the login screen however the mini loads Vista and it's tray apps almost instantly, and connects to my wifi almost instantly as well.

[jej.514]

Yeah, I am impressed with the Mini & Vista as well. Do you happen to have info on what you did in vLite? I really like seeing different options and comparing performance.

Thanks.

Jeff

[JTN]

I actually followed your settings in your "Vista Rocks!" thread but with obvious variances in that I was using an OEM Home Basic install rather than a higher version.

The only rough patches I had installing using your workflow was that some of the slipstreamed drivers didn't seem to work on the install and I had to use my SDHC card between the mini and my 1530 to bring over some dell drivers (ones I distinctly remember were the Wifi driver and the "Smart Battery" thing, everything else updated though Vista's updater).

[jej.514]

Ah. Interesting on the drivers. My wifi worked right away. Glad most of it worked for you, though.

Thanks for the info.

Jeff

[philipdistefano]

OP, have you run Windows update?

-Philip

[JTN]

Ran it 'til the cows came home. Update fixed every problem outside of the "Smart Battery" which it made me go download (it showed me where) and of course the original Wifi driver that I had to manually install to get internet connection.

It says the only remaining update is that Silverlight thing, which I ignore, and the two "Base System Device" issues remain.

[philipdistefano]

Check the attached screenshot. That's of my Device Manager. Perhaps you can find a device I have that you're missing?

(Keep in mind that I have a webcam and bluetooth in my Mini. If you don't have one or both of those, then disregard that part).

-Philip

[JTN]

Offhand I can't see anything out of the ordinary. My mini does not have bluetooth or a camera so those are not missing.

I have since managed to fix my Windows Experience Rating glitch though. My mini rates a 2.7, same as everyone else who is running Vista. I'm most likely just going to leave these mystery things to languish for now as the mini is running fine with no noticeable problems. I'm actually typing on it right now... and this teeny tiny keyboard is a PITA. Heh.