Dell Vista Laptop Reformat and Bloatware Removal Guide

Yeah, my brothers laptop has XP on it and can connect automatically without being asked for pass phrase or code, while my laptop with Vista cannot connect automatically and I need to keyin the passkey..Could anyone explain to me the step by step procedure to secure my connection. The internet service provider just setup our internet and he didn't told us how we could configure it ourselves specially the security of the connection. How come a laptop with Windows XP connects automatically in my siemens gateway?

 

jumbika, this thread really isn't the place for your type of query. There is a Networking forum on NBR, so you could get an answer by posting a new thread there.

 

I searched the thread but didn't find the answer to this question...

If you get the $25 add on for integrated soundblaster audigy software how do you reinstall this particular item? Is the software/drivers on the recovery disc or is it located somewhere else?

Thanks

edit: i searched for just audigy and found a post in here about getting the audigy key off of the disc it comes with, I guess this means I will be getting an extra disc to install the audigy software, if I'm wrong please let me know.

 

how much more bloat is there on vista than with XP? I was so dissapointed when I bought my dimension a year or 2 ago that vista came on it. I forget when I bought it but I remember that vista was brand new and dell literally just started to have it as a standard option. I had been using XP since it was in final beta testing stages and I loved it from day 1. I was one of the people who never had a problem from XP early on and certainly not as it progressed through the sp's. Vista, however, has been like taking a giant step backwards. I almost feel like Msoft went backwards to a fast and stable win ME. They gave us a nice look with the aero and everything but sacrificed the ease of use. XP had turned almost every single peripheral, every main stream peripheral at least, to a plug and play status and was the most stable OS windows had ever created. I honestly thought XP was the promised land and that msoft could just build on to it in the future but mainly leave it alone. But no, they proved that having an OS that was great for the customer was the furthest thing from their minds and instead were focused on bringing DRM crashing into our lives. God forbid I use media center for what it's meant for and then decide the movie I recorded on IFC channel I would prefer to watch on my 60" HD tv so I attempt to burn it to dvd. Clearly my goal was to become the largest independant film pirate of north america. I was going to get really crazy and decide to watch it on the same oc I recorded it on but instead of media center I was going to watch it on vlc or windows media player. It's a good thing for that drm because I had no right trying to watch it on another media player.

ok, rant over, nothing to see here people move along. I wish I had the courage to learn and put linux on my pc.

 

you don't need courage to put Linux on board, it is extremely easy. Try PCLinuxOS or Ubuntu. PCLinux has more "wizards" to walk you through setting up hardware, it runs much faster on my 6 year old laptop than XP does. Give it a shot, both have Live Cd's that let you boot the cd and try the OS out without installing, granted everything is much slower as it has to load from CD but it will give you a rough idea.

 

I partitioned my hard drive on my old inspiron laptop and put suse linux on it but I couldn't, or I should say didn't bother to learn much about it. It is something I would like to use and I wish it would become a serious threat to windows.

 

in the first post there is mention of getting a driver for running ahci? I cannot find it on dell site nor on the drivers disc. Is it going to be called ahci and shouldn't it be on the drivers disc anyway? at what point is it needed? I have also read that there is a newer version of media direct than what came with my lap. Is there a version 4 or is version 3.5 that came with my system the newest

 

Haha, this is the second time I've used this tutorial. My Windows Update was acting up in my Vista Ultimate install so I blew it away and reinstalled it using this tutorial. Worked like a charm... again! And this time, Windows Update is working.

As a side note, I am not removing the backup files that SP1 creates. I have plenty of drive space.

The Audigy CD has a key on it. It can be used two or three times before it can't be used anymore. I want to say it was three times. But it is a separate disc, not on the Utilities CD.

I think it's a joke, personally. I don't use my laptop for tricky audio stuff and the basic driver works fine with my external speakers. I never reinstalled mine.

Cheers!

 

The audigy software was a PITA. My father has it on his xps 1710 and we had problems with it on the first reinstallation. You have to jump through hoops to get anyone to support it.

I can't be sure that the sound is superior but the functionality is.

As Bamaster said the key can be found on the CD cover.

 

need some help with the first step. my studio 17 came with media direct 4. when i press f12 with the cd in and choose the cd/dvd drive option it just boots up windows. anyone help me?

 

very easy...media direct 4.0 loads into Vista, it doesnt use a seperate partion like 3.3 or 3.5. Insert Vista disk, do a reformatt, load AHCI everything the same, but when done with Vista, then insert MD 4.0 and install just as any other program

 

can i ask why you would even need media direct???

 

allows you to play media, edit photos, look at slideshows, etc without actually booting up your comp into vista...its uses less battery power,etc. Great if your traveling on an airplane and need all the battery life you can get, if this doesnt fit your situation, than its not needed.

 

ok thanks. on last question, is the ahci driver on the vista disc or do i need to download from the dell website?

 

its on both the drivers disk and dell website, but its called the intel maxtrix storage manager. if you download it from the website, you need to extract the contents from the file before you can load it and have the comp recognize it.

 

thanks for the help. was a little aprehensive since i was a little confused by what media direct was needed for. with your help and a little info from a friend i think i will be trying this.

 

**** one last question. there always is
on the dell site there are 2 files for the intel matrix storage manager. should i be downloading the one that says applications or the one that says drivers??

 

for my xps1530 it was the driver set...not sure, i would still probably download both to flash drive, extract, but still try to install it from the CD, and if that doesnt work, then fall back to the flashdrive

 

I'm working my way through the guide to do a clean install.

It's gone okay-ish so far but I'm struggling with the drivers bit. I couldn't find the achi drivers on the disc with Drivers and Utilities along the top (in the end I attempted to grab them from the Dell support site).

I'm also not really sure where the Dell Resource Application is on the Drivers and Utilities disc is either. The disc itself states that it's For Reinstalling Dell Webcam Manager. Is that it's sole purpose (should there be other Drivers and Utilities discs) or does it also contain the other Dell applications (there's no other disc aside from two software ones, the Dell MediaDirect and Vista OS discs).

If something is missing, is it possible to work around it (it seems all I need is drivers, so can they just all be manually downloaded from Dell or is it possible to get the Dell Resource Application from the Dell support site?)?

 

you can do both...call dell and request a drivers disk be sent to you, b/c it didnt come with your comp. You paid for it to be there, so it needs to be. Second, go to dells support page, put in your mod computer, then download the drivers that you need....the AHCI is called the Intel Matrix Manager

 

Thanks.

Is there anywhere which tells you exactly what discs should come with the XPSM1530 (so I can check if any more are missing, and get the correct name of the disc which is)?

Is the only way to make a support request through a phone call (would it be possible to do it by email?)?

I downloaded quite a few drivers from the Dell support site (chip, graphics, audio, wireless, fingerprint, webcam) and Windows Update picked up a few hardware drivers as well. The laptop seems to run okay with them in place. Is it fine to settle with this or could I be missing getting the best performance from the laptop (if a driver has been overlooked or the wrong driver was selected)?

 

- Vista re-install dvd
- Media direct re-install dvd
- Drivers dvd
- webcam dvd

and depending on whether you ordered it or not
- ms office dvd

 

Thanks for the guide, i just went through it with my new studio17 and all went well.

The AHCI drivers were not on the disc, but i just got them from the Dell site (i had to check them all before i found it) and put it on a memory stick, extracted from the .exe and when i searched it for the driver i just selected all the files and it worked fine.

i installed all the other drivers, and windows helped me find one that i didnt have, but there are still two missing in the device manager, one is ethernet controller, and the other says unknown device, both are under Other devices (im guessing as they are not recognised) how do i find what these are withought having to install another app to tell me what i need...

Im now going onto the tweaks, see how that goes.

 

My computer shipped with 32bit. I requested and have received the x64 disk. Does thie "Dell Vista Laptop Reformat and Bloatware Removal Guide" still apply to me?

In addition to the x64 disc that I recently received, can I still use the other disks (Media Direct, Applications, Drivers) that I originally shipped with the 32bit configuration or are those only 32bit compatible?

I've recently did a "clean" install to x64 without using the Media Direct as I was told it wasn't compatible with x64. But It seems that many of you are on x64 and successfully using MD. I'm contemplating reinstalling to work out some issues I'm having.

 

Hi, many of the basic ideas are applicable but you do need 64 bit drivers which are not on your driver disk. You need to search the forum for 64 bit to get to the 64 bit clean install guides for, say, the xps computers.

 

I've never installed AHCI drivers during clean installs of XP and Dell has never listed the drivers on its other laptops. I suppose I should have installed them! The 1535 is the first I have seen containing SATA drivers on the Dell page. The 1537 doesn't have them.

 

Here's something interesting (but not related to Vista):

I re-installed XP MCE for my Inspiron E1505 without installing separate AHCI drivers. AHCI cannot be enabled via the BIOS. However, Sisoft Sandra
reports NCQ enabled for my SATA hard drive.

 

Cool guide thanks

 

Hello , I bought Inspiron 1525 a week ago...which have 160 GB hard drive.... well I partitioned hard drive with Acronis Disk Director Suite in 3 parts. First part c have 40 GB,E have 30 GB and F have 30 GB space after partition... left 10 GB for recovery in D drive Untouched... Now when i press media direct button, My OS (vista) boot to start media direct... As we all know that media direct don't need OS to boot to play any media... So i think i corrupted Media direct partition... But In Acronis Disk Director Suite I can able to find 2 GB Unallocated space which i used for media direct... Now i need to repair media direct... please lemme know step by step procedure to install media direct... (I dont want to reintall the OS or Restoring factory setting .)Just want to repair media direct... i made all partitions Logical drive only, so Drive C is active and rest are logical drive...
Regards

PS: In Sort I want :-
1. 4 Partition from 160 GB hard drive
c: vista (40 GB)
d: recovery partition (10 GB)
e: Stuffs (40 GB) Logical drive
f: Movies (40+ GB) Logical drive
43 mb for diagnostic
2.01 GB for media direct

2. Dell media direct 3.5 work

I want 4 partitions with dell media direct working... If i partition my hard drive using dell media direct then it make only 2 partitions... which i dont want... i need max of 40 GB partitions and working dell media direct 3.5...

If i have to reinstall Dell media direct and Vista then please lemme know step by step how i can make 4 partitions of and dell media direct working?

3. I want to use my restore feature work but i come to know by partitioning my hard drive i cant use my restore anymore.So can i use F8 and choose advance option and use my D: restore or not?

Please guide me mates...

 

Another query after reading this awesome thread, I am also willing to install vista ultimate sp1 now...
can u tell me if i delete D:recovery partition, then can vista ultimate make a new recovery partition as i have already? can vista made recovery partition can be used to make my lappy as it was before (Like dell recovery partition do it by restoring to factory setting).
regards

 

Sorry for bumping the thread... please anyone reply...

 

The D: Recovery Partition is not something to do with Vista. Its the Dell factory recovery partition.

If you have the recovery discs and don't mind going through it for restoring, you can delete it. Else, you might want to keep it, in case you might want to restore to factory settings some time in the future if your laptop gets messed up. If you delete that partition, you won't be able to restore your laptop to factory settings.

If you have Vista Ultimate, you could delete it probably if its bothering you too much (I haven't deleted it till now!!) and use the Vista Ultimate complete PC backup utility to make regular backups of your laptop, which you can use to restore in the future.

 

Thanks fonduekid,
But i already partitioned my hard drive into 4 parts of 40 GB each...excluding 10 GB recovery.
why my dell media direct start vista when i press home button... It wont start dell media direct alone without booting into vista...
any help?

PS: please reply for my first post, which i asked how to get 4 partitions of 40 GB with dell media direct working..?

 

Hello everyone;
I got an Inspiron 1525, it came with Vista on it. Vista was having a problem where it boots untill the windows logo screen and gets stuck there, after trying several methods to solve this problem, i decided it is probably best if I remove vista, boy was i wrong.
I tried with XP, booted with the CD and deleted everything because i didn't need the recovery partition and there was nothing else on the hard drive that was very important.
Now I got a problem, I can't install Vista, for some reason it says that the windows is unable to install on the disk. I also cant install XP, because it doesn't see the Hard Drive, I tried the method on this thread and I get a DELLPART error.
I tried Autostreamer and Nlite, all with the same result.

Anyone's got an idea, i'm desperate because the Laptop is now useless; and I have to solve this problem for my own sake, i'm going MENTAL....

 

Nice job! Good guide!

 

I dont remember if I replied to this guide or not, but awesome guide!!

 

can anyone help me?
i want multiple partition except recovery,OS,Media direct and digno...
as i asked in my previous above post/

 

im about 90% done with this process and ive only had a few minor snags (as far as i can tell)..

after installing all my drivers (?), i still have one Unknown Device:

Intel(R) ICH8M LPC Interface Controller - 2815

can anyone point me in the right direction for this driver / update? Every link I've found from searching these forums and the web has been unavailable.

Also, When I tried to install Dell Dock from the support website, it said something like I had installed a previous version which was then uninstalled and that file was for reinstalling the dock, not fresh installs and it could not find required setup files. weird? i havent investigated this yet, but i thought it was odd.

 

ICH8M refers to the SATA controller. Here's where to get it:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2101

Intel's Storage Matrix download contains the drivers for a variety of controllers. Instead of just running the app,
Run /? command line to get various switches

Use these: -a -p c:\path to extract drivers then manually have the OS locate them, or install them at the start of the OS install (load drivers during partition selection).

 

hmm, thanks, but ive installed the Intel Matrix driver numerous times... Doesn't seem to take care of my unknown device.. do I need to do the command line steps to manually extract all drivers?

 

Hello , I bought Inspiron 1525 a week ago...which have 160 GB hard drive.... well I partitioned hard drive with Acronis Disk Director Suite in 3 parts. First part c have 40 GB,E have 30 GB and F have 30 GB space after partition... left 10 GB for recovery in D drive Untouched... Now when i press media direct button, My OS (vista) boot to start media direct... As we all know that media direct don't need OS to boot to play any media... So i think i corrupted Media direct partition... But In Acronis Disk Director Suite I can able to find 2 GB Unallocated space which i used for media direct... Now i need to repair media direct... please lemme know step by step procedure to install media direct... (I dont want to reintall the OS or Restoring factory setting .)Just want to repair media direct... i made all partitions Logical drive only, so Drive C is active and rest are logical drive...

PS: In Sort I want :-
1. 4 Partition from 160 GB hard drive
c: vista (40 GB)
d: recovery partition (10 GB)
e: Stuffs (40 GB) Logical drive
f: Movies (40+ GB) Logical drive
43 mb for diagnostic
2.01 GB for media direct

2. Dell media direct 3.5 work

I want 4 partitions with dell media direct working... If i partition my hard drive using dell media direct then it make only 2 partitions... which i dont want... i need max of 40 GB partitions and working dell media direct 3.5...

If i have to reinstall Dell media direct and Vista then please lemme know step by step how i can make 4 partitions of and dell media direct working?

3. I want to use my restore feature work but i come to know by partitioning my hard drive i cant use my restore anymore.So can i use F8 and choose advance option and use my D: restore or not?

Please guide me mates...

 

please anyone help

 

if you bought a week ago, you should've gotten MediaDirect 4 , instead of 3.5 ..
the big difference is that MD4 runs within Vista , aka , you dont need a separate partition for it... also, you start the removal process with Vista disc directly.
You should be able to create the partitions you want simply. Just create the one for the OS , leave the Recovery partition alone , and then you can use Disk Management later on to create the other logical drives.
please correct me if I'm missing something.

also, an update on my issues... i re-did the whole reinstall process , as I was having quite a few problems.

this time, i paid more attention to the order of my driver installs and restarted a few times at logical locations.

worked like a charm , no Unknown Device , no random errors , no corrupt files. booya!

now if only i could get this 12GB ISO to work.... =D

 

I don't bother with Media Direct.

 

Nope its dell media direct 3.5 not 4

 

Hi, Running a stock Studio 1735 and all of a sudden MS Word 2007 has quit running. If I can get a doc or docz open I cannot edit it; my cursor just floats over the document. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the Office 2007 Suite and all other applications are running except for Word.

I am considering doing the recommended procedure in the first post - thanks muchly for the post.

When you go to the Dell Drivers site you are presented with two SATA Drivers:

Intel Application: Matrix Storage Manager
Intel Driver: Matrix Storage Manger

I assume you are referring to the Intel Driver which the website lists as optional.

It seems to me there is a conflict between what was written in the first post "AHCI Concerns: On new Dell systems, they are set up to run in AHCI mode which will give you a 15% system performance boost" and the fact that Dell labels this driver optional; ???

I also received the following from Dell Tech Support:

TO access Dell Image Factory Restore.

As the computer starts, press <F8> on the keyboard until the Advanced Boot Options menu appears on the screen.
Press the <Down Arrow> on the keyboard to select Repair Your Computer on the Advanced Boot Options menu, and then press <Enter>.
Specify the language settings that you want, and then click Next.
Log in as a user who has administrative credentials, and then click OK.
Click Dell Factory Image Restore.
In the Dell Factory Image Restore window, click Next.
Click to select the Yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to factory condition check box.
Click Next.
The computer is restored to the default factory configuration.
When the restore operation is completed, click Finish to restart the computer.


What will be the difference between the Image Restore and the procedures followed in the first post? What is left out by following the recommended procedures and not doing a Restore?

Thanks from the Kindergarten!

 

Further to my previous post, this is from the Dell Site regarding the Intel Matrix Driver:

Intel Matrix Storage Manager - Notebooks

Release Date: 6/26/2008
Version: 7.6.0.1011, A00
Download Type: Driver
File Format: Hard-Drive
File Size: 322 KB

Level of Importance: Optional
Dell recommends the customer review specifics about the update to determine if it applies to your system. The update contains changes that impact only certain configurations, or provides new features that may/may not apply to your environment.


I'm confused as to the importance of this driver.

Additionally, I never use the Dell Media Center; do I need to load it?

Cheers,

 

If your running ACHI mode then you should get it. If you running ata mode like me then you dont need it.

 

Illinois, this is the middle of the morning for you!

Sorry to be so ignorant; how do I know if I am in ACHI or ATA mode?

I loaded this driver as part of the Dell drivers update. If I am in ATA and I loaded this driver might that be the cause of my Word problems or am I out in left field?

 

Hi, I am a notebook nub who has a Dell Inspiron 1526... I replaced the 250Gb drive this came with a 320Gb drive... Although this notebook came with DMD 3.5, I was able to convince the tech people at Futureshop to give me a copy of DMD 4.0, since Dell suport informed me my one year warrenty for hardware & software would be through Futureshop... Hitting the MD button resulted in my choosing what OS to boot, which would be cool if I was also running Linux, however since I don't know much about Linux other than it exists, I am just running Vista Home Premium SP1... Anyways I have just one hardware that needs a driver still, but do not know which driver is required for the following:
Multimedia Controller
Location PCI bus 13, device 0, function 0
The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)

The only software I have installed is Vista and DMD 4.0... have not installed Roxio since I am not doing any burning

TY in advance for any help!!!