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Hi,
Thanks, but I've been working with that second link for the past week (bye the way if I'm correct it hasn't been updated for 6 months and there are now newer drivers available), when I followed that link a few days ago the exact order still gives me the notice "Intel My WiFi Technology : adapter not found", when installing R293144 (or the updated R314406 or the 686FH driver).
The purpose of posting my whole custom set up is because I'm not sure if the drivers on that link cover everything on my list that needs drivers, I don't understand if some of the things on the list need a driver or not....
And I'm really trying to avoid any bloatware.......
Thanks......
Actually the very first thing I did when I got my L502x was backup as I received from the factory to 3 DVD's using DataSafe.
I had planned to load it back to my SSD once I replaced the HDD, but I was told it should not/can not be done?
Is there a safe/proper/correct way I can do it?
I'd go with Cri-cri's list rather than the link to the forum post. Been doing this with hardware from various vendor for 15 years, and invariably the chipset driver is the first one installed. You might consider this list for the L702X as a guide to the order:
As far as putting the original drive image on an SSD, I'm not familiar with Datasafe, but I believe Windows Backup won't let you restore to a disk with a smaller capacity than the source drive, which may be why you heard it can't be done. Just a guess, but I suspect your SSD is smaller than the 750Gb that shipped originally.
More importantly, if you could install the original image, you'd get (possibly) older drivers, and all the software installed by Dell that you might not care to have. Your machine is brand new, so the drivers at the Dell web site might not be newer since Dell seems to be pretty good about putting the latest drivers in each build, but it's at least possible. E.g., I don't install things like the trialware, esp antivirus, and the clunky Dell media apps. You also get to customize everything as you go along. If you keep a detailed blow by blow log, you can use it as a recipe to recreate that exact installation if need be. I have a log that I've kept for years, occasionally tweaking it, occasionally making wholesale changes when a new version of Windows comes along.
Also, seems like there are two kinds of mindsets in the world, one "I just expects things to work and don't care about the inner workings of how they work," and "the more I understand about the inner workings, the better insight I have, which makes me a better user and helps me make more informed choices." (I know, that last is awkward.) Anyway, if you tend toward the latter, there's nothing that will give you better insight as to how the Windows OS and its application work together than doing a few complete clean installs.
One possibility is to do a trial install or two on a different drive, perhaps the original drive that shipped with the laptop. After you're comfortable with the process, install the SSD and do it for real.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
