MBP Boot Camp W7 can't see SxS (OSX can)

[David Esp]

On a MacBook Pro, official SxS card in ExpressCard slot is seen OK by Mac OS. However on same machine running Boot Camp Windows 7, it is not seen.

SxS drivers have been installed in both cases (OS X & W7). For W7 I tried a couple of versions, including the one from SXS Drivers, stated as "Updated for Windows 7". The webpage also says "This OS must be factory-installed", so I wonder what special things they do at the factory!

Anybody know if there is a workaround or if this is a known issue with Boot Camp and/or Windows 7 ?

Update: I see at an apple forum some comments that "there is still no ExpressCard support in release 3.1 (of Boot Camp)" and "At the moment I'm aware of exactly zero Firewire ExpressCards that work in Windows 7 on Boot Camp". Not familiar with this territory - maybe implies that the Sony drivers are not sufficient?

[Michael Wisniewski]

Yup, the Express Card slot in the Unibody MBPs is not supported by Bootcamp/Vista/Windows 7. I've tried every card I could get my hands on and spent several hours trying to fix it. Seeing as they've dropped the EC on the MBPs I don't think we have much hope of getting it resolved.

Here's the basic error you'll get in Windows.

This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12).
If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of the other devices on this system.

I've spent hours trying to re-allocate/disable resources all to no avail.

[David Esp]

Many thanks for your reply Michael, I'll stop searching for solutions now, or indeed soul-searching over any installation issues etc.

Very odd that they've dropped the EC slot, considering the popularity of this device with media editors and students. It's also useful for taking an eSATA adaptor, e,g, to a mini RAID, giving some small but welcome speed improvement over FW800.

[Craig Seeman]

Originally Posted by David Esp

Very odd that they've dropped the EC slot, considering the popularity of this device with media editors and students. It's also useful for taking an eSATA adaptor, e,g, to a mini RAID, giving some small but welcome speed improvement over FW800.

Originally Posted by David Esp

The webpage also says "This OS must be factory-installed", so I wonder what special things they do at the factory!

EC slot is still available on 17" MBP.
Either Factory Installed implies using OEM vs Retail version of the OS or that companies install specific controllers. That comment is odd since one might think if one had to do a clean re-install of the OS (not unusual on Windows) suddenly the EC slot would cease to function.

I really wish support sites would not use non technical explanations. If "factory-installed" means something technically they should explain it. "I mean like, I should have nothing to worry about because I live in a converted factory and that's where I'm installing the OS."

If they mean OEM vs Retail they should say it. If they mean each manufacture makes custom drivers, they should say it. If they mean such drivers are firmware chip based as opposed to OS installed, they should say it.