My problem has been solved! And if there's any danger that you might end up installing Windows 7 on a Compaq laptop (maybe even other makes, for all I know) then I suggest you file this message in a very safe place. I make no apologies for forwarding the entire reply I received from the Intel Business Communities Forum. The answer staggered me, as I had already attempted to install this, but not in the way described here. No sir - I RTFM'd first! My mistake there! George. -----Original Message----- From: David Hollway [mailto:webadmin@intel.com] Sent: 02 October 2009 14:52 To: George Bell Subject: [Business PC Section] New message: "Windows 7 + PCI Simple Communications Controller +Compaq 6910P" George Bell, A new message was posted in the thread "Windows 7 + PCI Simple Communications Controller +Compaq 6910P": http://communities.intel.com/message/69305#69305 Author : David Hollway Profile : http://communities.intel.com/people/david.hollway Message: -------------------------------------------------------------- +> I apparently require drivers for the PCI Simple Communications Controller.+ Hi George, As this laptop uses the Intel GM965/PM965 chipset, the unknown "PCI Simple Communications Controller" device is likely to be the Management Engine Interface. This is a component of the chipset that controls environmental monitoring (fan speeds, voltages, etc). On machines with Intel vPro technology, it also runs the Active Management Technology firmware to provide out-of-band management capabilities. You can verify whether this is in fact the case by checking the PCI Vendor/Device codes - double-click the entry in the Device Manager, click the "Details" tab, and from the "Property" drop-down select "Hardware Ids". The entries in the "Value" field will give you the vendor and device codes. If you see something like "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2A04..." then the vendor code is 8086 (i.e, Intel) and the device code is 2A04 (i.e, the Management Engine interface). That said, a driver should be readily available for this device. I presume that the HP driver you refer to is the one found at this link? http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.j sp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=3357377&prodNameId=335 7378&swEnvOID=2096&swLang=13&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ob-58326-1 It links to this particular file: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp38001-38500/sp38313.exe This is the Vista x86/x64 driver for the MEI device. *Update -* since I started to compose this response, I have managed to obtain a Compaq/HP 6910p notebook and I've just installed Windows 7 Ultimate on it. Yes, it seems that the "PCI Simple Communications Controller" is the MEI, as I thought. I have used the 32-bit x86 build of Windows 7 - if you are using x64 then the outcome might be different. I ran the SP38313.exe file and it does, indeed, give an error "this operating system is not supported". But! ..this is caused by a check in the Setup utility, which doesn't recognise Windows 7. *However,*++ the EXE file, when run, unpacks its contents to C:\SWSETUP\SP38313. Under that folder are the actual driver files that you need - in the \HECI subfolder, in the case of 32-bit Windows (the .sys file is the driver; the .cat and .inf are the descriptor INF and security signature). The following sequence allows installation of the driver: * go to Device Manager, double-click on the "PCI Simple Communications Controller" entry * in the device properties dialog, click on "Update Driver" * select "Browse my computer for driver software" * when prompted, enter the path to which the SP38313.EXE driver files have been unpacked - typically, C:\SWSETUP\SP38313\HECI. * click Next. In my case (I've tested it and written down what I did, step-by-step), this resulted in the message "Windows has successfully updated your driver software", and a new "Intel(R) Management Engine Interface" entry in the System Devices category of the Device Manager. As I said above, I haven't tested with the x64 version of Windows 7, but a similar principle should apply - just use C:\SWSETUP\SP38313\x64 as a path rather than \HECI. Let me know whether this helps. Good luck! -------------------------------------------------------------- To reply to this message visit the message page: http://communities.intel.com/message/69305#69305