Clean WinXP install on V6Va?

I got my V6Va from Buy.com, today!! It's everything you've read/heard about it and more. I can't get over high light this thing is. I'll post pics over the weekend. There are several reviews already posted, so I don't anticipate submitting another.

I'd like to re-format the HD and install ONLY WinXP and the drivers, but the included CDs restore the entire original image. It appears that you can't simply reinstall WinXP. Has anyone found a way to do this?

If you're wavering on whether to invest in a V6Va, stop torturing yourself and get it!! It's truly an immaculate machine!!

 

Not sure what you mean though....

All the stuff thats preinstalled does have somewhat of a use, sans Norton. The rest could be manually uninstalled. Besides that, there isn't anything else.

 

get a winXP Pro CD and use the key on the sticker under the V6Va

 

Yeah there wasn't a lot of other programs installed aside from asus DVD and norton

 

You guys are right. After examining the programs on my drive, it appears that it's just Windows, drivers and a few utilities.

On a side note, this is the first time I've had a 4200RPM drive in years. There's a noticeable lag compared to 7200RPM. I'm not sure if it'll be a problem until I load more apps, but I wouldn't want to game with 4200RPM.

 

Just set the 1st bootup sequence to optical drive in BIOS, then put the original Windows xp CD to the drive, then press any key. It would automatically start to install the Windows.

 

There was no Windows CD included. That's the problem. All I have are two restore CDs and a drivers CD. I tried looking through the restore CDs to see if there was a way to just install Windows, but no luck. This is the first Asus I've bought that has the OS included. Do other Asus notebooks have separate Windows CDs?

 

Just put the restore CD 1 into the OD, and reboot the laptop....?

 

Yup, that's the first thing I tried, but the restore sequence just kicks in automatically. It really isn't that big of a deal. I've got another WinXP Pro CD. I might use it to reformat/reinstall.

Cori: Does the outside lid of your V6 have a little flex in the middle? I noticed this flex as I was sliding mine into the sleeve I got for it.

 

Yeap, that area's a tad touchy, as well as where the space between the botton of LCD and the battery rests, there is quite a gap there. I tend to hold it at the sides now

I actually like the restore CDs better, its alot less work since it will automatically install the drivers if needed, etc.

 

It will only effect load times of game maps. Other than that it wont effect gaming.

 

Okay, I just wanted to be sure mine wasn't defective in any way.

Usually I hate restore CDs because they load all kinds of extra, pain-in-the-*ss junk that gets in the way (i.e., Dell ). Asus obviously understood that. Their restore process loads only the OS and drivers.

P.S. To you over-anxious PMers... I'm charging my digi-cam's battery and will get pics up in a little while.

 

I know ASUS' recovery cd's are quite clean, but if you don't like it anyway, or you have some others less clean CD's, this can be of help.

http://www.heise.de/ct/ftp/result.xhtml?url=/ct/ftp/listings.shtml&words=0602

there you have to download 0603-202.zip. it's a little program that takes your recovery cd and transforms it to a clean, regular windows xp cd. You can even slipstream a service pack.
There's a catch it's in german.
You just have to indicate your windows installdirectory (probably c:\windows\i386) and the directory for the iso image, and then just burn