I assume the machine came from Dell with Vista.
The CPU, however, is quite new, so I think the machine should have come either with the option to choose Windows 7 from Dell right away, or possibly with a free upgrade coupon from Vista to 7.
Depending on that, either Dell should support Windows 7, even 64 bit, so you can just call it in and have it solved under the warranty.
Or Dell sold you the machine with Vista without Windows 7 option because they knew they still had issues with Windows 7. In that case, you might have voided the warranty by installing it, and all they say if you contact them is something like "sorry, no support for that Windows 7 on this machine, just go back to Vista and come back if THAT doesn't work".
So my advise is to call Dell Customer support, complain about the issue (say it's either a hardware issue, or a driver issue or a OS issue which they should support because it's OEM) and see what they answer.
Kees
Five days ago I clean installed 64-bit Win7 Home Premium on a new HD when the previous HD crashed & burned on my Dell i7-920 (12GB RAM) that was running Vista Home. Although Win7 is fast, it's also freezing A LOT, seemingly at random times. Sometimes early after bootup, sometimes hours in; there's no consistency other than to say that the system is untrustworthy (and that I must save OFTEN). What I've found on the web seems to point to driver issues (so what else is new?), but even that isn't definitive. Some have posted that they've gone through and reinstalled all of their known drivers, and their machines STILL freeze.
This install of Win7 has gone through all of the various critical Windows Updates, mostly done during the first two or three days. The freezing started on the second day; don't know if the updating and the freezing is related, but regardless it's damn IRRITATING. I keep thinking that I should just bag Win7, wipe the HD and return to Vista (gasp).
Any advice?

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