Reformatting...

What do xps m1530 owners think about reformatting? (this is sorta a repost, but I felt it was better fit in this section). Is it really worth it? and besides the 1000 post topic in the dell section that is utterly confusing past page 5, is the main list of steps good from the topic?

Thanks in advance everyone

 

I was in your same position, never having really reinstalled an OS before. All I did was go through the steps (using the post that includes the pictures) and it literally took me about 20 mins to install. From there, the only thing that I had to do was get a driver for my graphics card.

Two things you should do before reformatting though:

1) Register your AntiVirus software. I forgot to do this and had to call McAfee up to get back my free 3 year subscription
2) Download the Intel Matrix Storage Manager onto a USB drive(AHCI driver that is mentioned in the reformatting guide)

I would highly recommend doing it though. As others have said, your computer really feels like it is YOURS without all the bloatware they throw on it originally. Also, I have only installed a few programs, but my startup time is about 30 sec now.

 

reformatting and install from DVD or use the restore partition?

using the DVD, it takes almost exactly 30 minutes...(that's quick)...then u need to download and install the drivers(that took me like 4 hours)

 

It took you 4 hours to download drivers? My disc had everything I needed with the exception of an updated GPU driver. How did it take you that long? Heck, it took me way longer to install WoW than it did to do a clean install, install programs, drivers, etc.

 

im using 64-bit, so i needed new drivers(and research on this forum on how other people did stuff on 64bit)

and i was tinkering with the system a lot... time just flew away

 

what about lojack. There is no cd, any advice ?

 

Once you've activated Lojack on the M1530, it will come back on it's own. Doesn't matter if you format the drive, or even swap the drive out, Lojack will rise again.

It's installed in some part of the BIOS on the M1530. You won't need to do anything at all.

 

thanks fountainhead, and with that I am now convinced in reformatting.

So I should backup basic stuff on a cd most likely correct. ( i dont have my external harddrive with me)

 

Backup everything that you want to keep. You will lose any data you do not backup (you probably know this already though?)

Which disc are you going to use to re-format?

 

it depends...

i activated my lojack in the Vista 32bit that was installed with the computer

then i reformatted and installed vista 64bit...

if i go online, i cannot test call, but im not sure whether the laptop phones home (go check )...... i just deleted the first lojack and installed it again...

 

It takes a day or so, but it will call home on it's own. FWIW, I "installed" Lojack on my original 32-bit Vista install. A week later I swapped in a different drive and installed Vista from scratch on the new drive. Lojack phoned home in about 24 hours. Then, I swapped the original drive back in, wiped it, and installed 64-bit from scratch. Lojack phone in within 36 hours. Never did a thing either time. BTW, I just check Lojack's site. My notebook phoned in today, and my notebook has been through two different drives and three installs since I last laid eyes on the Lojack CD.

Anyway, I don't think Lojack actually installs anything on a notebook with a Lojack-enabled BIOS (like the M1530). It's already resident in the BIOS. The "install" is merely the process of registering it and activating it. The CD doesn't do anything but connect to the website, at least that's all it did on my system. Didn't install a thing on the hard drive.