Reformatting Asus (G1 specifically)

So yeah I got my new G1 for Christmas and it was great and all but there were too many programs that I didn't need, not to mention 70+ processes running from startup. I figured I would just reformat and setup everything the way I wanted it. I think I was wrong. This isn't like a regular reformat, it's like "recovery" and everything was all messed up, not to mention I'm still stuck with this FAT32 after my first attempt at "recovering". Has anyone else had to do this before and how did it go? The first time I had it recovered Windows looked like classic mode even though it wasn't in classic mode, etc. and it was still FAT32. What can I do????? Please help, I'm so bummed I feel like crying.

-rye

 

if you have all the drivers and a windows OS CD do a fresh install, i always do it on all the computers i get regardless of whats on it. i just like having everything the way i want it

 

Okaaaaay. I've come to the conclusion that I guess I don't have an OS CD but just a recovert CD... So I recovered it and it was all messed up, so then I recovered it again. I've read that when I take the recovery CD out and it asks me to put the drivers CD in, don't do it, let it time out and then I just have the plain install of Windows. Well it didn't time out so I just turned it off. We'll see what that harbors I suppose. Regardless, I'm still stuck with 160gbs of FAT32 but I've also read that a third party program (Partition Magic for exacmple) can help me convert but still keep my clusters to 4mb as opposed to 512mb... and I only heard about clusters when I encountered this problem so it's already a learning experience...........

-rye

 

Nvm my question...

 

I would worry about getting everything up and running first, then get partitionmagic to convert to NTFS.

Asus defaults to FAT32 for some ungodly reason.

If you wait for just a little while, plenty of people will be able to give you helpful suggestions. It's just a busy day and most of the other Ensemble owners are off doing other things.

If you do a complete, sucessful system restore, it should end up like it came from the factory. A worst-case scenario is to start from that install (with the 70-some processes) and start uninstalling/turning off stuff until that is cut way down.

So fear not, you will get useful advice soon. I don't have an Ensemble, so I don't have any specific answers for you... Sorry.

 

Just wanted to note you don't need partition software to convert it to ntfs. You can just use the convert command in command prompt.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/convertfat.mspx

 

^
Thanks for the tip, I've actually read that but then it makes my cluster sizes 512mbs and the third party programs can get them to 4mbs which would give me something better, I forget, as once again this is the first time I'm hearing about this.

The Windows installation took great as I never installed the drivers CD so I just got a fresh format of Windows. However, I'm not debating on whether I should partition/convert first or DL my drivers first. Any help?

-rye

 

If you have PartitionMagic handy, I would do the conversion first, to minimize the amount of stuff on the drive and the time you've spent if something goes wrong.

 

Anyone know exactly what all the processes that run on startup do? I tried googling some but not everything was found (ie. PowerForPhone.exe). I don't know exactly what I can kill and what I must leave running. I did the reformat with the Asus disks and it just reformatted back to original state with all the "bloatware".

 

Okay, I'm back to NTFS so I should be good to go.

As for the person before me, when you do the recovery and when it asks you to put in the driver CD (with all the bloatware) I skipped that and waited until it times out (although I just hit the power button) and had just a fresh install of Windows only. Might want to try it, then I could pick and choose what went on here so I feel a little better. Took forever though...

-rye

 

I cant really imagine that reformatting is going to take less time than actually uninstalling the ones you dont want

 

I had the same problem with the processes, I didn't know what most of them did. After looking around for hours I got the basic idea of their operation but overall it is something that could have been explained in the G1 manual.
I was wondering of any of the members here on this forum would like to get together and create a guide of the basic Asus programs/processes so other will have an easier time determining what they need to keep and what is worth uninstalling?

 

I agree wholeheartedly. I actually contemplated "recovering" again with all the drivers and then uninstalling the ones I didn't need. Oh well, it was a great learning process I suppose................


I still need to Google all the crap that's still running in the background and see if I need it now.......


-rye

 

Sorry, I am very new at notebook.

But, how do you exactly uninstall those files you do not want? If I go to my control panel, then add/remove programs...I cannot find those files. Is there another way to uninstall things?

 

Which files are you talking about? If you are talking about the Asus utilities/drivers you should be able to remove them from the add/remove programs. If not, look around google for software removal programs. One that I have heard of is Your Uninstaller! 2006...

 

Thanks.
I do know about add/remove programs, and I was just wondering if there is other programs out there that will be better for removing all types of files.

 

I wonder if Vista has a MSConfig type of thing where you can selectively choose your startup processes?

 

Yes msconfig looks and works exactly as it does in XP. You can also use the build-in Windows Defender in order to remove start up programs.