Windows 7 Pro64 + Betson... any luck?

[Antropus]

So, I just updated the computer running on my cabinet to an i7 920 (OCed to 3.8Ghz)+4GB 12800 RAM+1TB 10000RPM HD+Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 4890OC. The whole system runs cool at 45-48C normally an everything works fine when I boot under Win XP Pro32.

BUT, I just installed win7 pro64 and the problems started straight away. First, Microsoft decided to change the freaking resolution of the new startup screen (no longer the 640x480 16 colors we are used to...), meaning that my Betson Multisync is not able to synchronize at this new resolution. The result is: even to install win7, I needed to plug a LCD monitor otherwise the Betson will show only an "out of range" message and nothing else. Ok, after installation completed using the LCD monitor, brand new Catalyst drivers installed and everything, my Betson is able to show everything beautifully once I'm in Windows. The problem is, before my machine gets to windows, Betson will go "out of range" during the whole startup process, which is not a great thing to look at...

Another problem is that soft-15Khz isn't working properly either. I mean, It seems like it's adding the resolutions but once you try to find them in mame, they're just not on the list (or even if you try via command line, the modes will not work).

I know it can be a combination of things an I'm actually looking for a couple of workarounds. I think the possible solution would be to trick win7 to use the good and old resolution and color depth as in winXP or Vista: 640x480 16 colors during the startup process. My question is: how? So, if any of you guys have a similar configuration running in your cabinets (win7+ATI HD 4890+Betson arcade Multisync monitor) or planning to, be aware you will possibly have problems. If anyone found a solution to avoid this annoying problem with the startup screen, please let me and the community know.

About soft-15Khz not working correctly under win7, seems like SailorSat is already looking at it (I hope!).

On the good side, all my emulators and Maximus Arcade seems to be working great under win7!

Thanks in advance for any help,
-Kris

[Antropus]

Thanks for all the help! You guys rock :-)

[Jack Burton]

This is more of a software issue.  We're not really the guys to ask in this forum.

The "out of range" error is something I wouldn't worry about.  And Windows 7 support for soft 15khz is only a matter of time.

Are you seeing any benefits to using Windows 7 in your cab?  If Windows XP does everything you want then stick with it.

[Antropus]

Jack,
thanks for your reply man. The benefit I see about using win7/vista64 over XP is that my XP is 32bits and my Win7 is 64bits. Because I'm using an i7 920 overclocked to 3.8Ghz, I'm expecting to get some good performance boost when using some of the newest emulators, like PCSX2 and Dolphin. Even mame 64bits shows some speed gain in relation to my XP32 already.
About soft15khz, I think I'll try powerstrip, since it supports win7 already and seems like they are good about replying to peoples questions. There's a price to pay, of course, but might be worthy.

Thanks again,
-Kris