G73JH Restore Disk Question

So I'm taking a gander through the driver CD that was provided and see everything on there.

The only thing I can't seem to locate is the PowerDVD software for the bluray player.

So a couple of questions:

1) If I have a copy of Win7 64bit, do I need to burn the restore DVDs?
2) Where can I get PowerDVD?
3) Is there a driver I need to install for the bluray player (I noticed the disk includes drivers for some drives, but doesn't list mata)
4) What's the keyboard filter driver for, and do I need it?
5) Do I need to install the Intel Turbo Boost driver, or is that just the tool that shows in the top right of the desktop
6) Do I need to install the "Intel Management Engine"?
7) Do I need the Power4Gear utility? Or can all be accomplished through the regular power control panel?
8) Does the ATK package provide everything I need for the hotkeys (like the volume buttons) and keyboard lighting?

And finally

9) Why does it take 6 DVDs to accomplish what seems to be can be done with 1 Win7 Install DVD and the driver CD?

Thanks

 

1. The Win7 disk you have can only give you a clean install. If you want to make backups (ie including your drivers and other software that is currently installed on your system), you should burn your own restore disks.

2 & 3. Power DVD should have came with your laptop and is all you need to play bluray movies. If not, you can download a copy here:
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/Drivers/ATKDrv/WinDVD8_BD_80B20100_2ch.zip

4. Keyboard filter is a driver that adds additional features to standard keyboard functions such as enabling multiple key combinations.

5. No need to install unless you want the monitor to show on your windows sidebar.

6. If this is a home laptop (ie not on a network environment), then there's no need to install Intel Management Engine.

7. Yes, install power4gear is needed for turbo mode on your laptop

8. Yes

9. I'll let someone else who has made the recovery disks to answer this

 

I actually put in a fresh hard drive and tried to restore using the recovery disks (all 6 of them) and when it was finished and I rebooted (after 1:46) the system found no bootable devices. I put my working system drive back in and booted fine. Connected supposed restored drive via USB and it was not recognized.

Did I miss something is restoring from these disks? I just put disk one in and booted from the DVD following the prompts through the remaining 5 disks.

Didn't really need to restore but I firmly believe a backup without testing a restore is no backup at all.

Anyone know how to get the restore disks to work?

Cheers,

 

Do you have the location mentioned? I don't see a link.

I've seen things mentioned for WinDVD, but mainly I'm looking for PowerDVD and Power2Go.

 

Google is your best friend

 

Sorry, forgot to add the link before I posted.

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/Drivers/ATKDrv/WinDVD8_BD_80B20100_2ch.zip

Keep in mind that this is an older version compared to the DVD you should have received with your laptop. Nevertheless, it should work just fine. Make sure you update the program once installed.

 

If you would like a complete breakdown on what's on the disc, click the top link in my sig.

 

Remarkably these restore disk only restore to the same size drive as the system shipped with, in my case 500GB.

In order to get the system back to it's original state I had to restore to a 500GB disk and then clone that to a smaller disk. Seems ASUS could have done better with the restore process.

Cheers,

 

I'm kind of frustrated about the PowerDVD 9 not being available for download. WinDVD 8 is a joke. I tried Avatar, then X-Men Origins Wolverine. Doubt it will play anything I like; I want recent.

Is there any update that will get it to play these movies?

I actually don't use blu-ray much/at all. I borrowed a couple of blu-rays from my brother now that I'm home for the summer. I feel the expensive 30$ or so that blu-rays sell for are definitely NOT worth it. I would barely even consider 5$. But that's just me.

That said, I just find it unfortunate that I have a blu-ray reader that will have no use at all...

Is there any reason I'll ever need a blu-ray reader in the near future software-wise? Or is it really only practical for movies?

Has anyone tried calling up Asus or the person they bought it through to credit you money to buy a license PowerDVD?

 

I thought that's why they sell upgrade licensing for PowerDVD

 

Seems to me we should be able to crack open the disk images on the recovery DVDs and retrieve a good copy of the PowerDVD 9 install. In looking at the boot disk of the set there is a program called imagex.exe which allows the mounting on Microsoft WIM files.

This program will only work from the command prompt with administrator privileges. (right click on the command prompt icon and select run as administrator)

I ran imagex /? to get the commands to list (the files/folders within) and then mount the WIM file.

In the SOURCES directory of Disk 1 there is a file called BOOT.WIM

Upon mounting this file there are several directories related to Windows but also Ghost. Within the Ghost directory there are several cmd files and scripts that indicate the recovery disks are modified spanned ghost images.

Perhaps someone with a bit more programing knowledge and perhaps a full copy of the ghost version that has the image viewer where you can retrieve individual files and folders from within a ghost image will be able to get this moving fwd.

There must be a way to get the PowerDVD install from the recovery DVDs.

Cheers,