Well after an absolutely fantastic experience on a beefy desktop PC I installed Windows 7 on an Dell XPS M1530 Laptop.

It functioned reasonably well for the first couple of days but developed a problem that installed applications would not run, or more correctly they would run but only in background.

I then found I could not terminate these running application from the taskmgr and ultimately had to remove the laptop battery to perform a reboot as it would not shutdown.

I encountered this issue in both iTunes 8.02 and Windows Media Player and it was pretty consistent.

Alongside the fact Windows 7 could not display a populated taskbar if an external monitor was connected made for a really annoying user experience on the XPS M1530.

The enforced removal of the battery could ultimately have caused damage to the Laptop so I elected to remove Windows 7 beta on this machine.

I can’t accurately blame a specific piece of software or Windows 7 for the problem. However  I do know it  stopped Windows 7 in its tracks.

Hopefully the Windows 7 RC1 goes public next month (April) and I will dive back in.

Above is what the task bar should look like under normal conditions.

Above is what happens from a cold boot.

OS: Windows 7 Build 7000 32 Bit Beta with updates.

Machine: Dell XPS M1530 Laptop.

Notes: on this particular machine I use the on screen keyboard to login, however I don’t think that’s related. There are also 5 gadgets running (Clock, Calendar, Gmail Checker, Resource Monitor and Slide show).

For the first few days I never had a problem  but it now does it consistently from a cold boot.

Tip: To resolve this I just log off and then back on again and the task bar appears as it should (populated).

Update: 26/02 I have found that this only happens when the laptop is connected to an external monitor. If I un-plug the VGA the laptop screen will display the taskbar correctly.

If I boot up the laptop without being connected to the external display the taskbar works as intended.