New HDD, how do I restore my computer?

My old HDD crashed and I just put in a new one. I have installed Win 7 from the recovery CD but my laptop is not the same. It looks like a generic stupid looking Win 7. Most of the Alienware things dont work. The command center only has the FX tab.

Camera, face recognition, the power plans, every thing is gone.

What are my options here?

 

Well, usually there is a recovery partition but if your HDD crashed your partition is gone aswell.

I don't think you will be able to get it the way you recieved it by a simple restore, your best best would be to start installing the missing features/programs yourself and changing windows to how you want it.

The recovery CD only installs Windows and drivers, but not missing features and programs.

I could be wrong, but i think this is how it works.

Make sure to check the stickies, alot of information on what to install and what it's for.

Good luck!

 

i think what they say about "RECOVERY CD" it's not like other laptop we know,since this is an "ALIEN" WARE,they decide they call it "RESPAWN CD".the cd that they called recovery cd,it just a windows with alienware logo on it,no driver at all,just a plain windows with alienware head logo,if you open systems properties,if you don't have their recovery partition,you must download everything drivers and programs from "myhive" which require your username and password,they will give you after you register your alienware.

another option,you could try ordering your "RESPAWN CD" i don't know if DELL still using the words "RESPAWN CD",but i did try buying one,which they told me that the "RESPAWN CD" only be made during the first time you place an order.

good job alienware

 

so, basically, what you need to do is to install all the drivers from here except the video driver.. i suggest installing the 10.5 beta driver, you can grab it from here or just google for it. What'll be missing by the end of that process is the logon screen which you can change using this program
if you need the alienware wallpapers let me know, or just use the ones' sleey0 has in his signature.

 

Thanks for the responses.

I did install Win 7 from the reinstallation disc. I also downloaded the wallpapers, chaged the login screen and now it looks almost like the alienware I knew.

Sucks that the respawn comes on the HDD instead of a DVD. what the hell do they expect people to do in case of a HDD crash. Lame if you ask me.

I have the dual 280m GTX so that link for the ATI drivers were no good. I installed the 186.82.

The only thing thats pissing me off now is an unknown device and a CoProcessor in the device manager. Anyone have any idea what these are?

 

select the update driver and point it to the chipset driver folder for nvidia that was unzipped on c:/nvidia and it will install the necessary driver.

Did you download the chipset drivers?
link to them
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_vista_win7_64bit_15.49.html



btw its important not to install the nvidia storage driver.... You will have some bad experiences..