Win7 Pro is loaded and I am going thru drivers now. I will keep you posted.

Cool.  I was just going to ask if there was any update.

  Well, here is what I have so far. Win7 Pro installed without incident. I installed the chipset driver by going to Intel. They provided me with the correct and up to date driver based on a system check they performed. I then installed the video driver, but had to go to NVidia to get the right one based on there literature. I then installed the audio driver, which required me to go to Sigmatel's site for the latest version. Oh, and I upgraded the Network drivers at Intel as well. Oh, and I restarted after each driver install. All seems good for now. Is there anything else I need that I might have overlooked? Thanks Fireberd.

Does the synoptics touch pad work? or are you using an external mouse?   If you use the web cam you will need the Dell Creative Labs web cam driver. 

If everything else is working (properly) there is no need for any other drivers.  I'm surprised the SigmaTel driver worked, in most cases Dell's require Dell supplied sound driver for proper operation.

Run the DPC latency checker, now, before you install any applications and see what it reports. 

Run the DPC latency checker, now, before you install any applications and see what it reports.  


+20


That's great advice. 
Back when I couldn't get my Tascam interface running on my old XP laptop I did that. I started clean like your doing, new OS install. The first thing I did after OS  was run DPCLAT meter. I took a screen shot of that and the Task Manager Process running screen. 
I did the same between each driver and then software install. 
The most interesting thing I found was the minute I turned the Tascam interface on, DPC would jump 150ms to 200ms?? 
I tried my M Audio interface and this did not happen. 
Wireless and battery monitor sent it through the roof. 
Don't activate the camera if your not using it because that was another one that made a jump on mine. 


What I found out was the majority of running processes made very little if no difference at all to the DPCLAT readings. There's only a few well known to be avoided. 

  The pad works great. I do use a wireless mouse and keyboard from Logitech. I do not have a web camera or Bluetooth, so that is good. O.K., then, I will run DPC and LatMon and see what they say before I load Sonar or Motu. Thanks Guys. I am back with an update (10 minutes later). DPC did not fail, but LatencyMonitor did. What processes can I disable and in advanced mode for power settings, I am confused as to what else I can do, as I have set it up for "performance". Something is still interrupting or running. It is BETTER, as DPC does not fail and LatencyMonitor does not fail until 20 seconds in, whereas before it failed almost immediately. Just wondering what else I can do before loading the applications and interface. Thanks! Yikes I just remembered, I have to disable Windows Defender and MS Security Essentials. I will get back to you after I do this. Sorry for the false alarm...hope these changes help. O.K. I am back. I disabled WinDefender, Automatic Updates and MS security Essentials. I also modified the display settings to not be strong on display or video, but instead be more stable and maximize performance...I guess this will help, as now when I move windows on the display DPC does NOT fail, and before it did. So, DPC is telling me I am good to go and LatMon is still not happy, although it went to about 30 seconds this time without failing. Oh well...let me know.

I've had Latency Mon show systems had problems when the didn't.  I won't say its false alarms with your system, but on the systems I tried it with, everything was working OK (e.g. Sonar and all plug ins and audio interface unit) but it was showing problems.

 O.K. then is there anything else I should disable or processes that I should disable? If not then I will load the applications and move forward, thanks.

  So here goes...now I am going to sound stupid, but, is there a driver I should be updating for this: RICOH OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller. My first guess is no, but I am a newbie, so?

Personally I never worry about anything to do with the internet or security because I only connect my DAW for as long as it takes to update a few things and then It goes off line for months on end. 
What the reading on the DPCLAT meter ?