Asus G73JH SSD + clean Win7 install questions

Hi, I'm about to order a G73JH-A3 very soon, and wanted replace one drive with a 160GB intel SSD with a clean OS install. I'm sure many here have done this and wanted to hear your experiences.

I'm hearing the G73JH doesn't come with a recovery disk anymore. Some questions:

1) I have a Win 7 64bit Pro DVD already -- can I just use that to do a clean install? Or do I have to make backup DVDs etc? Is there a product key sticker somewhere or will I have problems with that with a clean install?
2) Drivers + software -- what do I need after a clean install? Does the Asus still come with a driver/utility CD?
3) Installation of the SSD-- is it hard? Any trickiness?
4) BIOS options for TRIM on a clean win7 install? Is AHCI on by default?

 

Some resellers will burn a recovery disk for you. If not you need to do it yourself. If you follow Kalim guide, your good. The driver/utility are drivers with bloadware. Installation is a cake. Trim is automatic on win7.

 

1) There should be a product key sticker on the notebook. You may need to activate by phone if you use your own disk, but it's an easy process.
2) Not sure - mine came with the disk, which makes all of these things easy. I'm pretty sure all the stock drivers are available for download - see Kalim's clean-install post for more info.
3) Easy!
4) Just turn on AHCI when you boot! For TRIM, make sure your SSD has the latest firmware (you can check with the Intel SSD Toolbox). The latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver used on Windows 7 will provide TRIM functionality automatically (the default Microsoft driver or the Intel Matrix Storage driver will not!). Note you don't need the "F6 Install" version of the driver when installing Windows 7.

 

Thanks for the responses so far.

Another question -- it seems the G73JH comes with home premium but my install disk is Win 7 Pro -- will using the Windows AnyTime Upgrade functionality on the Home Premium give me a workable Win 7 Pro product key?

 

When you purchase the upgrade you get a key.

 

I just did this 1 month ago, and it went very smooth.

I didnt either have to explain to any Microsoft employee why i had to renistall the OEM W7 (as it seems some folks have to do); everything went via an automatic phone system which gives you the activation code.

 

I did... the automated system referred me to a human who then did the approval no questions asked, so not too bad overall.

 

At what point in the process is it necessary to call Microsoft? If I get a Anytime Win7 Pro from newegg or amazon, will that work with a fresh Win7 Pro install and come with a Win7 Pro key?

Or do I first upgrade the Home Premium installed on the machine to get the key?

 

I would suppose an upgrade from Home Premium to Pro would be the fastest way. You can download the W7 iso file from different sites (torrents) , goes faster than ordering a boxed w7 which then have to be shipped via post. In the downloadable version it's possible to unlock an option so you can choose what W7 version to install. If you then choose Home Premium (you already got that) - then install that and upgrade it.
Not sure if you need to call Microsoft to activate an upgrade though.
Btw, maybe the reason I didnt have to explain my installation to any Microsoft employee was that I installed W7 on my SSD on a sunday..

 

I did exactly what you're wanting to do. As long as you have a legitimate product key for your copy of Win7 Pro, you're good-to-go The G73JH-A3 runs much better now, and it's great to have just 1 drive letter for each of the hard drives.

You need to create DVD restore discs if you think you'll ever want to put it back to the way it shipped, I personally didn't see the need.

You'll lose the copy of Cyberlink PowerDVD and will need to get something if you want to play Blu-ray discs. I called support, they don't offer a downloadable replacement and it isn't on the driver disc. It's an older version anyway, so I purchased the higher-end 2010 Ultra version. It retails around $90, but I found a no frills, disc-and-serial-number-only version at Amazon for $40: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CP04J2/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=AX6ADBIL5BICG

When installing the drivers from the CD, skip the Creative sound drivers, just use the RealTek ones. I discovered the Creative ones interfere with stereo Bluetooth. Without the Creative drivers, Bluetooth works great -- you can turn on your headsets while audio and/or video are playing and the G73 seamlessly switches over to stereo bluetooth. With the Creative drivers installed, your headphones will be detected, but audio doesn't immediately switch over until you go into the advanced sound settings and manually switch the default audio device to be the headphones. If you then uninstall the Creative drivers, they don't fully disappear -- the manually switching the Bluetooth stereo audio glitch lingers.

Fortunately, I created a restore-point before loading the Creative drivers and was able to revert back.

 

Hadn't heard that about the Creative package before, I'll add that to the list of reasons Creative shouldn't be used. Thanks.

 

Glad it made sense to someone, sounded confusing when I read it back. I also found that references to Creative features remained in some right-click context sensitive menus for certain files, even though selecting those options resulted in an error message as the programs were uninstalled. All-in-all, the Creative stuff seems to be a messy layer of crap that has a sloppy uninstall.

Any idea why there are 2 sets of audio drivers? Why isn't the RealTek the only driver provided, why would a user also need the Creative one?

 

There is only one audio driver and that's Realtek. The Creative package is an add-on sound effects package done through emulation, since the G73 doesn't contain any Creative hardware.

One of the things the Creative package does is add a Bass Boost option. But, this too is rather useless because in order to boost the low frequencies, the highs are sacrificed and sacrificed in real-time with the LFE. This could be partly due to the G73 not having discrete 2.1 sound, but 2.0 sound (and yes, the sub works without Creative installed). I don't know if it's because of a reactance circuit or a limitation of the audio chip, but this real-time compression effect sounds horrible.

Then there are the Reverb, Flange, Echo, Distortion (etc) sound effect presets which add nothing more than fake to sound. These presets are not shown in the Realtek HD Audio Manager until Creative is removed, but, they are identical. Also, there are the illusional effects that supposedly provides a 7.1 surround experience in a 2.0 environment. The EQ is weak, and there are better alternatives.

Not that long ago it was discovered that you had to enable a feature you may not want just to keep the darn thing from crashing your computer. Now it's learned that this, to use your words, "messy layer of crap" also interferes with the normal operation of Bluetooth devices and, although not surprising, the uninstall is a horrible joke leaving remnants behind. The Creative package is a lame duck.

Oh, IMO of course.

 

Oh course the NON-GAMER forgot to mention the Creative package adds EAX4 support for games that will use it via ALchemy.

 

Thanks for the heads up, managed to nab a copy before he ran out. +1

 

I Googled EAX4, found many references to it, but no explanation... what is it?

 

EAX is a proprietary add-on library to DirectSound 3D to add specific audio effects and positional audio owned by Creative Labs. Some games support it natively and offer enhanced audio as such.