Trying to do a fresh install of Windows 7 on R3?

First of all, i'm a noob with computers. I've had my R3 since release and i don't use any sort of antivirus or firewalls, and i don't really use discretion when downloading software and applications.

As with my laptop, i usually just do a fresh install of the OS every 6 months or so to keep it clean of viruses and extra programs i do not need.

So i tried to do a fresh install of windows 7 using the Alienware Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit disc that came with my laptop. I just put the disc in and tried to run it, and chose to do an installation on the primary partition, but as it was installing it told me it could not configure windows to my computer's hardware , so it undid all the changes and cancelled installation.

How do i get this to work and do a fresh install of Windows 7? Do i need something other than this disc?

 

When you start the installation I believe you need to add a driver in before the install actually starts.

 

DOOO set up the firewall and download MSE.

Also run windows update.

There is no need te reinstall.

 

Where do i find this driver? And how do you download something when you've already got the W7 installation disc running?

EDIT: There is a need for me to reinstall. It's called being lazy. And i have farrr to much crap on my computer already that i don't need at all, so instead of manually deleting it all i would just like to reinstall.

 

Run the programs uninstaller and done, take's a couple of seconds. Reinstalling windows and fully update it and setting up al the programs will take hours!!

But to answer your Q I think you need to switch from raid mode to ahci mode in the bios, but I'm not sure.

 

Well, i haven't been updating the drivers or anything either since the first week i owned this.

Also, i've been having this problem with this BSOD saying "a clock interrupt was not received by a secondary processor within the allocated time interval" and now my clock keeps changing times and dates at random so i'm hoping this fresh install will fix these problems.

 

Not sure if it will fix that problem. It is the RAID/AHCI driver that needs to be ran so the install will complete properly.

 

Yeah, you need the Intel RAID drivers. Or just set it to AHCI in the BIOS.

 

Woo, thanks guys. I set it to ahci and it installed properly.

Now i just have to get it back to how it used to be....probably lots of drivers to be installed.

EDIT: first off, how do i get it to detect my networking hardware so i can connect to the internet?

 

Install the Intel INF drivers then the wireless or wired drivers

 

Any one have the Blu-ray program for doing a fresh install? PowerDVD I believe.

Cheers,

 

You can download your supplemental software from the Dell website. Drivers and Downloads

 

Been there. Don't see anything re: the PowerDVD software. Do you have a specific link?

Cheers,

 

Not a specific link, but your answer has been posted in your PowerDVD request thread.

 

If you have the stock Dell wireless card the drivers must be manually installed from the device manager. Found this out the hard way...

 

I have the Killer card so I just downloaded the driver.

Cheers,