Dell Vista Laptop Reformat and Bloatware Removal Guide

Hi,

I received my Dell Studio 15 4 days ago. I want to reformat the laptop and remove the bloatwares. In the box shipped to me, I don't find a Dell Media Direct DVD. Instead, I have a Dell Media Direct 4 CD and it is not bootable. How do I proceed now to reformat my laptop?

Thanks,
Babu

 

Use the Vista DVD to boot and format the hard drive. What's so special about Media Direct? I keep seeing it being referenced and there are buttons on my laptop for MD. Does it do anything special?

 

Hi metroplex,

Thanks for your reply. I've used the Vista DVD to re-format my system and also I've installed Media Direct 4 after installing the OS. Now I've a problem with the touch sensitive button for volume control. Earlier, it used to show on the display the volume level. But now after re-formatting and even after installing Media Direct, the volume level display is not appearing on the screen. Am I missing some drivers for that to happen? Kindly help..

Thanks,
Babu

 

yup - reinstall Dell QuickSet and that will restore the on-screen indicators about volume control, brightness, and more.

Enjoy!

 

Ok I have 2 new Studio 1537s on the way to be delivered sometime in January. I have actually read through all 211 pages in this thread as I want to reformat my new laptops and I have a couple of questions. The first involves the AHCI driver issue. I understand how everyone in the past has installed this driver either from a USB drive or from the Dell Drivers CD prior to the installation of Vista. However when I look at the available drivers for the Studio 1537, under SATA drives there is only one driver/file listed and it's function is as follows: "The DE16 firmware corrects an audible clicking noise." There is no mention of the Intel Matrix Storage Driver under SATA drivers. I believe I read back on page 203 that when reinstalling Vista from a SP1 disk, this driver is no longer necessary. Can someone please verify this? Oh and should I assume my new 1537 will already have this firmware update applied to the hard drive?

My last question has to do with reinstalling Dell system software. I was looking at what I would need to download and reinstall under the System Utilities heading and there are three listed, with one being "urgent" dated 12/18/2008. I can't tell what this Dell utility does but it says "If you are reinstalling the operating system it is important that this software be installed first." Now I'm not exactly a noob but I can't figure out what this means. Is this a firmware or BIOS update? Since my laptops are being built after 12/18/2008, has this update already been applied to my machines? Since I want to reformat and reinstall Vista, do I apply this uodate before I reformat? That seems counterproductive unless it's a firmware issue. Or is it like the AHCI driver where I extract the files to a USB drive and install the update after the reformat but before I install Vista?

I'd greatly appreciate any information anyone has about this.

Thanks,
Bill : )

 

I'm trying to install Vista Premium 32 on my Studio 1535, which has Vista Premium 64 right now. I'm using one of the original 32-bit Anytime Upgrade discs, following the general outline of http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=120228 . After I click Install Now, however, I'm running into an error of "A required CD/DVD driver was missing." I am then prompted to browse for drivers, and I can't continue the installation. The slot load drive I have is an Optiarc DVD+-RW AD-7640S ATA Device, but I read on http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=277588 that no Optiarc drives need drivers, as they are ATAPI. If you've gotten past this CD/DVD error, please post what you did to do so!

Thanks, and happy holidays.

 

Merry Chrsitams everyone and sorry for posting today but I would like to complete the bloatware removal on my brand new XPS M1730. I am comfortable with the above process but I have concerns with how to deal with the raid 0 array I have with my 2 hard drives and do I need to know anything about the drivers for the dual nvadia 8800m video cards I have? I have never ever dealt with a raid array or dual video cards. Also, I am reading to not download drivers form dell if you can get the drivers form the manufacturers, especially nvidia. Any help would be a great gift on a day like today.

Lastly, there are like 50 some driver downloads for my system on dell. Do I need to download all of these?

 

hi guys i am trying this guide right now. Hope I get better results. I think i screw up on the step 7 like I didn't put any driver cd opps right now the windows is installing and i am the part where it saysing Copying files (completed) expanding files ( completed) installing updates..

 

hi guys , i had to post it again. Actually the step seven regarding AHCI driver I couldn't find it ? and I was not able to do it ? did i miss the big step ? I am really worried that if my laptop will be not fast enough ? some one tell me please.

 

i need help guys. im formatting right now. I cant find the AHCI driver in my driver disk or on the dell website.. can someone help me out.

Reason why im formatting is because i didnt initially install the AHCI drivers and iv been getting constant BSOD everyday

 

ok i installed the AHCI driver during the installation as stated on the First page of this thread.
I did not get the BSOD, but the screen was hanging and after "completing installation".. the screen just went BLACK. After 1hour, the screen was still black.

What should i do now??

 

What i did just then is 'held the power button for 5 seconds to shut down'.
Then i turned it on again. Started up 'SLOW' but normally to windows asking me to create a username etc..
Should i be worrying at this stage? Did the AHCI driver install sucessfully?

 

WIndows is up and running now. It is very very slow tho. A lot of lag and delay. Seems to be a lot slower than before i reformatted

 

It's normal that Vista is slow after a reformat because it takes a while to complete indexing and learn your habits to it can build it's Superfetch data. If your laptop doesn't noticeably speed up within a week, then something may have installed incorrectly.

Also, see the NBR Vista Tips and Tweaks Guide.

 

iv installed all the drivers on the disc and rebooted.. when it reaches that windows screen.. it says Configuring Updates.. then the screen will turn black.. after 30mins still black
So i turned laptop off and on.. and same thing again

 

I know you're not going to like the sound of this, but try doing a clean install again. However, this time, download all the drivers from you computer from Dell's support site ( http://support.dell.com/) and save them to a USB drive or something. Those drivers will be more recent than the ones on the disk which seem to be causing you problems. Once you install Vista (it should boot fine and go to your desktop for the first time without issues), install the newer drivers from your USB drive instead of the disk.

 

thanks for replying crash.
I actually did do a clean install again about 3 times, but not yet with the updated drivers.
I need a bit of assistance on doing a clean install.
Just to let you know im running on Vista Premium.
I tried following the steps by Les on the start of this thread, and the AHCI part. I installed the AHCI driver like he said, and now it doesnt load up onto windows.. just a black screen.
Am i suppose to install the AHCI driver? I downloaded it from the dell website and saved it on my USB key.

 

I didn't install the AHCI driver like the instructions on the first post say. I installed Vista normally and then installed the driver after installing Windows. I've never had any problems doing that. Hopefully that works for you.

 

Hey crash, so you reckon i should reformat again and do a clean install without installing that AHCI driver? My laptop is always freezing and im getting a lot of error messages poppin up. Ever since i formatted the 3rd time the other day, i can never shut down my laptop normally coz it will freeze.
Do you reckon it would be a hardware issue? Or should i "TRY" and do a clean install without installing the AHCI driver, and everything will be fine?

 

I clean installed vista on my notebook. Is it still possible to install windows 7 on another partition?

 

I have a question about the AHCI driver druring install, has this been required always, the last time I did a clean install I dont think I did this but I have the AHCI or ATA option in BIOS. I was thinking about doing another clean install and wasnt sure if I infact needed to do this this time?

 

HOLY CRAP!! thank you, thank you, thank you, ive been effin around for 3 days tryin to get this thing to work!
thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

 

Yes, I think you should do a clean install without installing the driver during the Vista install. Install it afterwards; the option will still show up in your BIOS (and be activated by default).

Install the driver after installing Vista. That's what I did and had no problems with it.

 

I can't seem to find this AHCI driver thingy for my XPS 1530 on the dell website.

 

I think it's included in the Intel Chipset driver: http://support.dell.com/support/dow...1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=27&fileid=224383

 

Im stuck in the install and it refuses to accept the driver.

i have tried the 32 and 64 bit versions of the driver. (i am installing 64 bit vista).

it will not accept the driver.

i dont know what to do

 

I put in the cd with the files on it and browse to the folder where the files are and i get this:




I click "hide drivers that are not compatible with hardware on this computer" and i get this:



And my error is:

 

No its not...its the intel matrix storage manager.

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=41&fileid=261693

 

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

hey ! crask and everybody?
i have a question? i downloaded AHCI driver? then i burned to the dvd?
Can i switch the AHCI driver dvd and Vista ISO dvd during reinstall to install AHCI driver?

" i mean i'll take out the VISTA DVD and put in the AHCI driver DVD at the time install the AHCI driver then i put the VISTA DVD back in? is it work at this topic?"

thank you ?

 

You don't need to install the AHCI driver at the beginning of the Vista install. Just install the driver after Vista is all installed.

And welcome to NBR

 

1. Place MediaDirect 3.3 in drive;
2. Restart/Hit F12 at initial screen/One time boot/Boot Dvd;
3. Follow instructions to change your partitions. This will delete everything. (Note, I got my system to accept two partitions which are the 3Gb MediaDirect partition and the main partition but sometimes you will have no choice but to go with 3;[/I
   
   I have a Studio 1737 I did exactly what it says, I put the Direct Media 4.0 disk in and restarted and at the dell screen I hit F12, it took me to the 1rst screen to choose cd/dvd, etc. I highlited that and pressed Enter. It took me back to Window Vista start up page. What happened?
   I tried it several times and got the same results.
   
   Can you help me pls? Thks
   Bev

 

I really need some help on this, can anyone help me.
Im not a cptru Guru.............

 

Media 4 can be installed after Vista, it is not bootable like 3.5. Just install Vista as normal and then install mediadirect 4.

 

wow..this was great. thanks a lot!

 

Hi Guys,

Thanks Les for the steps... Its a gr8 help...I used the steps to re-install vista on my Dell 1530 and did not face any issue...

But I have a question, When my original Dell came in there used to be an application selector ribbon on the desktop screen of vista which has webcam, media player and some other applications. After the reformat that Application selector ribbon has gone missing and I am not ablt to enable it.. Is that Dell configuration ? or can I enable it from somewhere inside the Vista OS?

Emperor

 

Are you talking about the Dell Dock?: http://www.delldock.com/

 

Hi Crash,

Thanks for pointing me in right direction....Yes thats what I was looking for !! I knew it was an external application but did not know the name...

gr8 forum! I m loving it!!!

Emperor

 

Glad to hear it! Welcome to NBR

 

I just got my XPS, my first laptop. I've been lurking in the forums for a couple weeks. Waited a week after getting computer then did a clean install last night, guide really helped thanks.
The time to do it was worth was worth it, the dell crap was not as irritating as the McAfee suite I can get it for free from comcast but use avast easier to tame. my feelings are if anyone is going to bloatware my system its going to be me.

only question I have is the lojack software, it came as part of the deal activated before clean install should I bother trying to reinstall they say it works on refomated drives

again thanks for the guide do not think I would have tried a clean install without it could have seen me trying to remove each irritating thing one at a time

Mark

 

Im about to start the reformat / install procedue upgrading from 32 to x64 and concerned about the drivers.

I have just downloaded nearly all those on the Dell website for my model Studio 1735 & for x64 [there are 42 in all] i dont have internal bluetooth [i have bt dongle instead] so didn't download that but have stuck all the files onto usb which i can install when needed i suppose.

the DVD driver was listed as gaion 12.7 mm sata so downloaded as the only one, but i have the optiarc dvd so was feaful that this would stop working properly mid-install/? probably not but i take it some of the drivers aren't supported and i couldn't find a link to a full version for 1735.

i have mediadirect 4 so i get the impression that this is installed after the vista installation as an extra, differing from what Les initially instructed?

any help would be great, then I will crack on tonight.

 

For XP 64 for my M5130 I had to download http://downloadcenter.intel.com/dow...487.zip&DwnldId=17270&ProductID=2101&lang=eng for the AHCI driver to be recognised, the Dell one didnt work...

 

found all the drivers needed here

http://www.xps-wiki.com/wiki/M1530_Vista_Drivers

tried loading the AHCI drivers like the guide said but could not get it to do it so installed it any way, had no problem, I think with the new bios a12 and vista 64 service pack 1, you can skip trying to load the driver first. my install went easy and after loading all the new drivers I had no pipe signs in device manager, it also shows ACHI working fine I might be wrong but read several other post in other forums that said to let vista install drivers for ACHI now

If I am wrong please let me know I'm new to laptops and do not really know how to check ACHI other in device manager

 

did some digging on setting up ACHI in vista 64, found this a at Microsoft help page related to vista 64 sata boot problem but it might work for inabling driver for problen installs

to enable the AHCI driver in the registry before you change the SATA mode of the boot drive. do this, follow these steps:

1. Exit all Windows-based programs.
2. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
3. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
4. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
5. In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
7. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.

here is link for those who would like to read complete article its not really related to same problem most are talking about, but should let you force the ACHI driver to be loaded if its there. would be nice to know if it works

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

 

Im sorry if this has been asked before but, how can you do this without MD 3.3? My SXPS13 didn't come with it....Also, how would I perform a clean install?

 

Do you have the OS reinstall disk that should have come with your computer?

 

Did this fine on my 1340 using the disks provided, only issue was I didnt use the AHCI driver because I couldnt find one on the dell site . Any ideas people?

 

did you check device manager/ under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers if its installed it should be listed there with no pipe sign .if you used the 64 bit vista sevice pack 1 it might havein stalled them if bios was activated to use AHCI. mine loaded fine with out that step the help was writen in 07 and that step actualy caused a problem could not get driver to load and the setup program would not let me go back so had to start over. I think microsoft has improved the vista install a bit since then. I think the notebooks all use the same driver for this function but you must get the 32bit or 64bit version here is the link for 1530

http://www.xps-wiki.com/wiki/M1730_Vista_Drivers

Intel® Turbo Memory w/ Intel Matrix Storage Manager has every thing you shoud need

 

You don't need to install the AHCI driver during the Vista installation. It's fine to do it afterward.

The AHCI driver is included in the Intel Matrix Storage Manager.

 

ve been dealing with windows vista on this labtop for awhile and i am tired of vista. I had previously tried putting in a XP disk and tried to reformat and got a BSOD when entering setup. So i decided to by a new harddrive for the computer because the old harddrive was small anyways. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136280
I put the new harddrive in and bios recognized that the harddrive was there. I then put in the xp cd and tried to set up windows again. The same problem happened so I thought it might be the xp CD. I went to windows msdn and i downloaded windows xp professional NO SERVICE PACK(for free) and burnt the image file onto a cd. I then tried installing windows again, and another blue screen of death. My bios is A07 and there is a new bios A08 and i dont know if it will help. Ive been looking around for posts on similar problems and for dell labtops ive seen they have said to get sata drivers. There are none for the dell xps m1210 to my knowledge. If someone could show me where i can find them that would be great. Ive also read people going onto the dell bios and doing something with autodetect. My dell bios has no section about harddrive, its the worst excuse for a bios. I currently can use the old harddrive with vista, if i need to update any drivers but i cant find any drivers that would help in my situation. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1006370/windows_xp_on_dell_xps_series_with.html?cat=59 Do i need to use a newer service pack of XP to work with newer hard drives? The blue screen comes during windows setup.

Thanks