Dell Vista Laptop Reformat and Bloatware Removal Guide

Did you use the OS Recovery disk given to you by Dell to do the reformat?

 

hey how can i use delldock? tnx for your response

 

You can download and install the Dell Dock here: http://www.delldock.com/

 

Hey guys I got a quick question that maybe some of you can help me out with:

Im about to order a studio xps 16 and one of the options i selected was "Soundblaster X-Fi Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled" , and once receiving my laptop i plan on following this guide cause this bloatware was one of the major things that deterred me from dell initially

so my question is: should i even bother ordering this if this bloatware removal process is just going to abolish it?

*edit: does the same apply to the Microsoft Works dell provides also?

thanks

 

You can reinstall those two things, Soundblaster and Microsoft Works, Dell gives you disks with them on it. You may need to register Works before you uninstall it though, otherwise you may not be able to register it after the clean install.

The Soundblaster software should not require registration and you should be able to just install it again after, but double check, because I'm not positive about that.

And welcome to NBR

 

Awesome thanks a lot, im glad i waited to hear that, and glad that i waited for the 4670 lol

 

No problem. The 4670 is a good card; you'll be happy with it.

If you have any more questions about doing a reinstall, be sure to post back and we can help you.

 

Does the Media Direct software come on a DVD, because I havent received any DVD with the Media Direct.
I just got the Vista , McAffe, and MS Works DVD for ma Dell XPS 16
Is there a way to download the Media Direct Software online?

EDIT
I am sorry I posted this, I spent some time reading back a couple of pages and I see some solutions to this.
I really didnt know what MEDIA DIRECT was in the first place, i thought it was responsible for the media buttons on the top of the keyboard, but it seems it has no relation to it, please correct me if I am wrong.

I really dnt want to see movies or pics on a standalone OS, so I rather not install Media Direct, plus it seems Media Direct wasnt bundled for me in the first place.

I just want to remove bloatware and reformat the Laptop.
So All i do is insert the vista disc and hit F12 and then follow the steps?
And like Crash said earlier I can check if AHCI is present in the BIOS and if it isnt install it once Vista is installed?
During Vista reinstall can i repartition the Hard disk?
Thanks for all your replies Crash I was able to understand a lot, i suck understanding PC stuff,,, T.T

 

I'm not very familiar with the newest version of MediaDirect, but it should come on a disk. I believe the newest version does not need to be installed before the OS, it can be installed as a separate program, so it's probably on the Dell Drivers + Utilities disk.

You are correct - it is not responsible for the media buttons on your keyboard. Thanks for doing a bit of research and reading through the thread, there are so many people that don't bother with it.

I never used MediaDirect, so I ended up not installing it either when I did a clean install. Again, it should be on a disk somewhere, but the process to install it is different for the newer version (MediaDirect 4 instead of the MediaDirect 3 used in this guide).

That's it! If you want, you can put the AHCI driver (called the Intel Matrix Storage Manager) on a USB stick before you do the reinstall and then install it during the partition setup. It's pretty straightforward.

Yes, during the reinstall you can partition your disk.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to post again. And welcome to NBR

 

Do you know where in The Bios is it mentioned that the system is running in AHCI mode?
I looked a bit and couldnt find anything abt it.
If anyone who has a studio XPS 16 found it in their Bios, please let me know where exactly.
Thanks

EDIT

Hi I resolved this and did a Full Clean and Reinstall, the laptop is much faster now, although i need to install the latest ATI catalyst drivers.
Also it seems i am missing a LAN driver as well too.

 

Cool, glad you figured it out! Sorry for the delay.

For the LAN driver, you'll need the Broadcom driver: http://support.dell.com/support/dow...-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=5&fileid=277243

And I'm not too familiar with ATI divers, but Dell has one that was last updated 5/12/2009, so it seems pretty recent: http://support.dell.com/support/dow...-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=6&fileid=312826

 

Hi I've followed this guide before and have successfully clean installed a few times, but this time I didn't want to bother with mediadirect. I tried just inserting the Vista OS cd, deleting the mediadirect partition, extending the C partition, and then deleting/formatting the C.

Everything seemed fine and I even loaded the AHCI drivers, but I'm on my 3rd time reformatting today and I don't see the "Intel Matrix Store Manager" under programs or in my start menu on boot after clean install, which I clearly remember seeing before when I did this. This makes me think somehow the AHCI drivers aren't being loaded properly. I'm also getting these weird "Windows logon user interface host has stopped working" errors on boot, and my computer just hung on updating some windows update and looped through boot/blue screened once then I was finally able to get in.

Argh, it's kind of frustrating; should I have not skipped inserting the mediadirect cd first and deleting partitions that way and THEN inserting the vista cd? And should I definitely be seeing an "Intel Matrix Store Manager" under programs after I install if the AHCI drivers loaded correctly?

edit: forgot to mention PC keeps freezing too - everything just freezes, can't move mouse or anything screen stays frozen - and it happens when I allow svchost.exe to run (I use comodo). I think it might have something to do with the windows logon user interface host error, which in turn might all come down to the AHCI drivers not being installed?

 

I just bought dell xps studio 1340 and tried to follow this guide but have a problem. I cant install the ahci driver. I tried to download it from dell and several other places but wasnt able to. Can someone give me a link to the file I need? Whenever i try to download something from dell it saves as a download manager file with nothing in it. Someone please help. Crash can you help? Thank you

Figured it out after reading back through the forums. Someone should really update the original guide with the same questions that are going over and over again. It is 200 page forum, more than anyone would want to read through. Just a suggestion.

 

Hmm, this is weird. I've done several reformats using just the OS reinstall disk and no MediaDirect with no problems. Did you load the AHCI driver during the Vista install when the partitions are created?

If you did, try installing Vista without loading the drivers during the install. Also, I don't have the Intel Matrix Storage Manager (AHCI driver) in my start menu programs and I have it loaded.

I hate to say this since you've already done it 3 times, but try reformatting again. From the crashes and freezes, it sounds like something isn't/wasn't installed correctly.

Also, where are you getting your drivers from? They may be causing some of the problems you're having.

Glad you found it Updating/re-doing this guide is a good idea. The OP doesn't visit the forums anymore, so this guide doesn't get updated. I'll put it on my to-do list and hopefully can get to it soon.

 

I am assuming you have a Vostro 1520, which is what I will be reformatting soon. Glad to know this guide will work on it. Did it for my XPS 1530 and it worked great!

 

Hi, sorry i'm not very good with computers, but I really want to do a format of my studio1555 when I get it. You said that we need to insteall the AHCI driver; but i can't seem to find it anywhere on the dell website. Do we have to download it at another location? Do we have to have the AHCI driver?

And also, after the clean install; what drivers/applications must I reinstall from dell's website?
Thanks.

 

The AHCI driver is formally called the Intel Matrix Storage driver. Since it does not appear on the Studio 1555 driver page, it is most likely bundled with the chipset driver. You would probably be safe off with installing Vista, installing the drivers, then checking in the BIOS (press F9 or something like that to enter BIOS during system startup) to make sure you're running in AHCI mode (look around in the settings).

If you want to just be sure it's installed, you can always download it directly from Intel and install it during the partition creation of the Vista install.

As far as which drivers to install.. you can either stick in the Drivers disk and it should automatically detect which drivers you need, or you can go to the driver page (linked above) and manually download the drivers for each component that you have. If you just purchased your computer, the disk that came with it will most likely have all the updated drivers, so just use that.

 

Thanks! So do I still need to use mediadirect CD as well before the installation? (as shown in the opening post)

 

If you want to install MediaDirect, then yes you need to use it first.

If you do not want to install MediaDirect, then no you can just stick in the Vista reinstallation disk and go from there.

 

Sorry, what does media direct do again?

 

Here is a good explanation of it: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157838&page=223&p=4868215

 

The SXPS 16 doesn't come with the mediadirect cd so... can someone give me a guide on how to do it w/o mediadirect. I need a foolproof one. I'm not good with this...
Thanks

 

Sorry for the delay. Basically, it boils down to this:

1. Insert Vista reinstallation DVD
2. Go through installation prompts (setting up partitions, etc)
3. Once you complete the inital log on and you're at your desktop for the first time, insert the Drivers and Utilities DVD
4. Install the drivers that apply to your system (the ones that are checked)
   • You can also check support.dell.com for more updated drivers than the ones on the disk
   • There may be 1 or 2 drivers that are not on the disk that are online
5. Restart when prompted to
6. Open the Device Manager (type "Device Manager" in the Start menu search) and make sure that there are no yellow exclamation points anywhere

That should do it! Don't be afraid if you make a mistake - you can always start the process over again. Post back if you have more questions of if something is unclear.

 

I have a question pertaining to a dual boot system.
If I have Vista installed on one partition, and install Win 7 on the other, do all the programs (like MS Office) already on Vista have to be reinstalled on the Win 7 partition or can it "share" them as they are on the same drive already?

Tnx

 

Any program that writes to the registry (which is basically all programs) cannot be shared between operating systems - they need to be installed on each OS you intend to use them on.

 

I decided to go with a clean install of Vista, and just upgrade in the fall to 7.
Everything went smooth as silk thanks to this guide and the informative posts within.

 

Wow, thanks for this thread. I don't have time to read all 228 pages but I am going to try to read what I can.

I recently bought a Dell Inspiron 1545 and should receive it this week. I have several things I am trying to figure out that I need to do with it, and have spent the past week researching things on the 'net, just found this amazing thread!!!

First and foremost I wanted to figure out how to remove all the Dell bloatware which I assume will be coming with it, either through reformatting the whole thing (preferred method if possible) or manually doing removals.

I want to ask some really dumb questions to start related to the above info:

- What CDs/DVDs will the machine come with? That is, will it come with a "plain" non-bloatware inflicted Vista Home Basic install disk that I can use to reformat it etc (is that what you are calling the "Vista reinstallation DVD" above)?

- Or do the discs it comes with come infected with bloatware too (and I even consider Macafee Anti-virus to be bloatware that i don't want but they are forcing on me)?

- I think the hard drive will have a "recover" partition of some kind on it that can be used to recover the initial Dell config - including all the bloatware, right? If that is true, can that be deleted (without losing support/warranty), or even recreated by me, as plain Vista Home without the bloatware??

- Assuming the "Vista reinstallation DVD" mentioned above is what can be used to reformat/reinstall/etc with plain Vista & no other garbage, when you say to "insert" the DVD do you mean to boot off it? Or just startup normally & insert it & then autorun will take over & away we go??

THANKS so much for any hints.

The other things I am going to ask about I will try raising in another thread (I have an additional hard drive that I bought which I am going to install as a seperate XP Pro opsys.....

 

The Inspiron 1545 ships with bloatware free installation media. Mine shipped with a Vista installation disc (which only contained Vista, nothing else), a PowerDVD installation disc (for playing blu-rays through as WMC/WMP can't natively do that), a driver disc & a webcam central software disc.

Considering that all this was available, I reformatted the HDD, partitioned it the way I liked and re-installed everything.

 

That is my plan too. Thanks for the confirmation of that Fragilexx!

When you repartitioned your drive, did you also delete the hidden Dell restore partition? Or is that still useful (I'm thinking I don't ever want to use that restore partition which would only restore the bloatware afflicted original install anyways)? Or maybe there is a way to backup your NEW image on there?

Also, I'm curious, I have my set way that I like to use for XP partitions but don't have any experience with VISTA yet, although the concept is the same (I like keeping the opsys, programs, and data seperate, plus even giving things like TEMP files and a scratch volume for Adobe photoshop their own small partitions away from everything else). How much space does VISTA opsys use for itself? With XP 5gb is plenty to give it (but I usually give it more just in case). What is your partition scheme with VISTA?

 

Not sure, a google search will no doubt find the answer. I only partition three way, one for programs & OS, one for data, one for page file. The last one doesn't need it's own partition really, but it's an old habit and does have small benefits when it comes to fragmentation of the other drives.

 

Like you I prefer to keep the OS, programs & data separate. Sometimes I even have multiple data partitions too, for keeping all the fragmentation I get with working with audio/video files away from everything else (plus I don't need to back those up, unlike my other data).

When I have a PC with 2 drives I put the pagefile on it's own partition on the 2nd drive, but if I just have one drive I don't bother. I don't think you get much benefit out of putting it on a separate partition on the same drive (it may even be a slowdown), and that fragmentation shouldn't be an issue. But with over 2 gbs of RAM we shouldn't be swapping anyways!

 

Hi,
I’ve reinstalled Vista Ultimate using this fantastic guide (thnx). I’m just working out which drivers I need, and the order to do them in. I’ve now found this from Dell;

1. Desktop System Software (DSS) or Notebook System Software (NSS) - A vital utility that provides critical updates and patches for the operating system. If you are reinstalling the operating system or updating all the computer’s drivers, it is imperative that this software be installed first. Currently, the DSS and NSS are not required for systems with Windows Vista installed. This is located under the System and Configuration Utilities Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.

Does this mean BEFORE Vista, or before the other drivers? Should I start again? I’ve done the achi driver (during the install), and then put on sp1. I was going to start the drivers with the DSS, but not sure now…..help please!
Also, I think I’ll download drivers from internet rather than use the disk from Dell – have had my Vostro for some time now, so they’ll prob be out of date. I was planning to download them using a different pc but Dell website won’t recognise my service tag ( yes I’ve got a 5 digit alpha-numeric code, so I don’t think I’m trying the wrong number).
I assume its worth pursuing this, as it should tell me exactly what I need …..right?

EDIT; found the service tag -- was looking at another 5-7 digit alpha-numeric code, which was ALSO under a bar code on bottom of Vostro!!
So, should I install pretty much everything they reccomend? Please I would still appriciate an answer regarding the DSS.........

EDIT NO. 2; On the Dell downloads page, DSS is describing itself as 'level of importance -- optional' (version 5.0.5, A00)
and under 'Fixes and Enhancements' 'Initial release for Windows Vista.'
Bearing in mind I have sp1, is this needed?

 

OK would appreciate more advice…..please!
The following order for installing drivers is from Dell;

'The following list is an overview of the correct order to install drivers on Dell desktops and portables. After reinstalling Microsoft® Windows®, follow the order listed when reinstalling drivers. It is recommended that you print this list for reference when installing drivers.
Note: Some devices may not function properly if the drivers are installed out of order.
1. Desktop System Software (DSS) or Notebook System Software (NSS) - A vital utility that provides critical updates and patches for the operating system. If you are reinstalling Windows or updating all drivers, it is important that this software be installed first. This is located under the System Utilities Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.

2. Chipset - Helps Windows control system board components and controllers. This is located under the Chipset Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.

3. Video Adapter - Enhances video performance. This is located under the Video Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.

4. Network Interface Card (NIC) - Enhances the network controller for Internet or network access. This is located under the Network Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.

5. Laptops Only: Dell Quickset or Dell Control Point Manager (DCP) - Controls power management, ambient light sensor, wireless profiles, and security features on laptops. This is located under the Applications on the Drivers and Downloads page.
6. Audio Adapter - Enables and enhances the audio controller. This is located under the Audio Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.

7. Modem - Allows dial-up capability. This is located under the Communication Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.

8. Wireless Network Card - Enables and enhances the wireless network controller. This is located under the Network Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.

9. Touchpad, Pointer, Trackstick, Mice, and Keyboards - Enhances the pointing device features. This is located under the Input Device Drivers Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.

10. Other Devices
· Intel vProTM or AMTTM - Enhances system manageability. This is located under the Chipset Category on on the Drivers and Downloads page. · Bluetooth ® Module located under the Network Category on the Drivers and Downloads page. · Dell Wireless Mobile Broadband Cards located under the Communication Category on the Drivers and Downloads page. · PCMCIA/Smartcard controller located under the Security Category on the Drivers and Downloads page. · Touch Screen Digitizer Enables touch screen mouse control available on select Dell laptops. This is located under the Input Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.'


So I start with System Utilities. The suggestions for my service tag are;
Dell Vostro Wallpaper Level of Importance: Optional
And;
Dell Notebook System Software Level of Importance: Optional (confusing because the description at no.1 above calls it a vital utility)

So, do I install the NSS? Then move down the list, and come back to the wallpaper ( if I want it) at the end? Or do I do everything within the System Utilities Category section first?

Moving on to Chipset, I have;

Ricoh R5C833 Level of Importance: Recommended
And;
Intel Mobile Chipset Level of Importance: Optional

Do I install the recommended one only? Or both? Or the recommended one now and come back for the other at the end of the list?

Similarly, in the Network section, I have 4 drivers suggested – 3 ‘ recommended’ ( all ‘Broadcom’ ), and 1 ‘ optional’ (‘Intel’ one. Do I do them all – one after the other?

EDIT No 3;
I see now that one is a 'driver', one a 'diagnostics utility', and one a 'html' user-guide. If I am supposed to do all 3, does it matter in which order? None of them are called a NIC as such......

Many thanks for your thoughts…..

EDIT; I think I’ve found the answer to the networking bit, but would appriciate comfirmation ( as you can tell, I’m somewhat of a Newb to all this!)

The 3 ‘recommended’ ( all ‘Broadcom’ ) drivers come under No.4 in the Dell list (?) Do I need all 3?
The and 1 ‘optional’ (‘Intel’ one would be what they are referring to in No. 8 above(?)
Is this right?

EDIT NO 2; I may have found the answer to the chipset bit

In the Chipset category, I have (as stated above)
Ricoh R5C833 Level of Importance: Recommended
And;
Intel Mobile Chipset Level of Importance: Optional

Do I take it that the
Ricoh R5C833
Is what they are referring to in No. 2 above,
And the
Intel Mobile Chipset
Is what they are referring to in No. 10 above? (although its not called’ Intel vProTM’ )


apologies for all the edits -- my brain is slowly catching up and working some things out for itself....... or at least I think it is!

 

Hi,

I just got my new laptop and am going through some similar questions. In addition to reloading VISTA to get rid of the bloatware I am installing a different drive with XP.

And to (possibly) answer your question - that DellSystemSoftware driver download thing (there are versions for both XP and VISTA for my PC) is something I asked about in this thread relating to whether or not I needed to bother with in my XP build:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=407650

From reading the detailed description of it, it seemed to me to be something related perhaps to downloading Windows opsys updates (which I would already be doing) and I wasn't sure if I needed it or not.

One of the folks that responded to my question on it said this:

"I'd say it's mostly useless, and just leave it off. I'd consider it bloatware, but I' sure there's those who would disagree."​

So I was not going to include it in my XP build. And I was going to skip it in my Vista reinstall too.

I can't say for sure with any certainty exactly what it is or tell you what to do, but for now I'm concluding it is unnecessary and I'm skipping it.

 

THanks a ton for that info. I am going through all this as well, for a new XP build, then for Vista.

The info I had for driver installs is slightly different (I got it off another internet site), and it listed BIOS (if not current), then Chipset, then Video, then Ethernet, then Wireless, then Modem (if present), then audio/sound, then card reader, then touchpad, then whatever's left.

Actually I just realized that now that I got my machine and I have my service tag I can go to the Dell website and double-check all this for my PC. Cool. Just wanted to say thanks for your post which then triggered this thought in my mind as a "to do" for me!


And as far as what you are doing going through the drivers, you are doing a good job. I had to do the same thing. It is kind of a confusing mess to untangle and make sense of what is what, and I found the more I thought & read about things, the more I was able to untangle. Figure out the ones that you can, then ask up here like you're doing and hopefully someone will clarify it for you. Good luck!

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the correct "order" to install the drivers, I did a clean install of Vista over the weekend and just installed them some what randomly. Everything works fine. Just check device manager for any exclamation points, and check Dells site for the latest driver versions.

 

I think the driver order is important to a certain degree and can help avoid problems, but like you (ViperGTS) said it is still possible to diagnose things later.


Here's a "dammit!" observation. One of the reasons I said above that I wanted to go back to Dell's support website now that I have my service tag #s is that I thought that with that they would filter out all the extraneous stuff not applicable to my PC and only show me the drivers that matches MY PC, but I see now that isn't the case.

EG: when I went to the site already to get my drivers in advance by just specifying my model #1545, it shows SIX different DVD driver options, all referring to different models. I assumed that once I had my service tag and went back that what it would show me was just the ONE (or however many) drivers corresponded to my hardware. Not so. I still get the same generic list of all 1545 laptops now, even with my service tag entered.

Thankfully now that I do have the PC (came today), I can run things like Belarc PC Advisor, PCWizard, NeroInfotool, etc and see that the DVD drive is a "TSST TS-L633C", so I now know that the driver to download is the one called "TSST TS-L633C 12.7 SATA Trayload 8X DVDRW" and filename of "R227088.exe".

Further on that thanks to Infotool, I see that the drive has firmware version "D300". The one from Dell is supposedly "DW10, A03". I'll have to research that one further to decide whether to apply Dell's update or not. Actually b4 I do that, I have to research the drive in general anyways, on a good CD/DVD site like CDRFREAKS, to see if it is even worth keeping, or if I should upgrade it.


And here's another "goddamit" - although I guess it doesn't matter. Dell's website lists 2 different hard drive firmware updates for the 1545. Again I thought I would find out which one my PC had now that I have it here with the service tag, but again, not so. They still show 2 drives/drivers to choose from. But according to Belarc (and just looking at device manager) the drive in the PC is not the same model as either of the ones they mention. No biggie, I guess that just means they don't have a needed update for it.

It's just a bit time consuming/confusing figuring all this stuff out! Fun though...

 

okay, thanks for all your replies -- I will come back with a bit more info regarding your comments later.......
for now;
I have been into Device Manager, and checked the properties of my network adapter (Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller). Driver date is 21/06/2006, version is 4.49.0.0
I clicked 'update driver', pointed it to the folder containing my newly downloaded driver (release date 12/07/2007, version v4.60b, A03), and tried to go through the installation. Windows came to the conclusion that I already have the latest, most up-to-date version, and woud'nt proceed. Is this just because I haven't yet connected to the internet? I just hesitate to carry on installing things if unneccesary....

 

hi!

I refomatted my laptop successfully but there's one problem. I can't connect to the internet. they can't connect to a network. (I use a netgear router).
I clicked on my device manager and onto Network driver, there's this yellow triangle next to this "Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter"

what step should I take next? (Im using my bro's comp to type this).

thanks!

 

You would have been supplied a resource disk which will have the appropriate wireless driver on there. Install that.

 

is the resource disk the same as my drivers and utilities disk?
Cause other than that i don't see any disk called "resource"?

 

Yes, it's the same disk.

 

thanks so much Les and Fragilexx!!
I downloaded the necessary drives and now it's working!! ^^

This procedure is amazing. Even a nut like me can do it!
thanks again!!

 

Glad to help and nice to see this thread is still holding its own...

 

oh it's more than holding it's own -- thank you for such a fantastic guide, and for continuing to support those of us bold enough to give it a go (it's made such an operation possible even for novice re-installers).

I’ve just finished following this guide – thanks SO much!!!!!
Just a couple of queries…
I have a slight issue when starting up windows. I get the Dell splash screen, then the vista screen, then the desktop appears. All ok. However the desktop briefly disappears and comes back again – it kind of blinks, as it were. No big problem, just a minor niggle – but is it a symptom of another issue – with my drivers for eg? I’ve checked in device manager and everything seems to be running ok. Need I worry?

I wasn’t sure whether to partition my hdd… I have vista ultimate, and intend to fully back up my system at regular intervals, so I’m not sure how beneficial it would be to store data in a separate partition….my hdd is 200gb and I intend to store some of my data on an external hdd anyway….
I guess if I was to go for partitions I would prob think about a 50/50 split – one for data and the other for everything else. Is it worthwhile? Presumably I could resize later if need be?

I’ve been to Disk Management to see the layout – I chose 1 partion during the clean install process. I thought I could create partitions after setup if required. However, there is nothing calling itself ‘unallocated space’ – like it says there should be in one set of instructions I found. Presumably I just select the main ‘C’ drive and shrink it, then create another partition from the leftover space, which I presume will then be calling itself ‘unallocated space’? As per these instructions;
http://www.vistarewired.com/2007/02/16/how-to-resize-a-partition-in-windows-vista
Does the vista Disk Management approach work – or is Diskpart.exe a better bet? I’ve been reading this http://www.vistarewired.com/2007/04/07/how-to-work-with-partitions-in-windows-vista-xp-when-disk-management-doesnt-work

which seems to suggest all is not as it should be with vista Disk Management.

Would I have been better off creating 2 partitions during the install? Is it worth re-installing again?
Many queries I know, and it may be that you advise a single partition would be fine anyway….. just not sure what to do…..

 

^ Sophie:

Nice to know everything went on well Yes, this is an awesome guide made my Les, and don't forget to take a look at another awesome guide that goes well with this one - the vista tips n tweaks sticky made by none other than..... no marks for guessing who!!

For the partitioning part of your post/query, GParted is awesome, very easy to use and works like a charm.

Just follow this

Get GParted Here

Cheers and good luck. and always remember, NBR is there till the end, for anything, anytime..

 

I just did a clean install of my S1555, and it went well. I have a few extra questions I hoped you all could help me with.

1. Since no additional yellow ? remain in the device manager, am I set as far as drivers?

2. I have read the thread, but still don't understand the AHCI stuff. What do I need to do to get it setup?

3. When I reinstalled Vista, it mentioned something about windows.old - is this something I need to keep.

4. Am I missing anything else after a clean install?

Thanks everyone.

Randy

 

1. Short answer: Yes. Long answer: you have drivers installed for all of your hardware, but it may not be the latest driver. I recommend installing all the drivers that came with your computer and then checking if there are any yellow question marks in the device manager. If not, then you're good to go.

2. This is a bit tricky. AHCI mode might already be enabled, since I believe it's included in your chipset driver. When you start up your computer, it'll say "Press F-something for setup", or something to that effect. Press whatever key it is to get into the BIOS setup (note if you don't do this right away when you see the Dell screen, you'll have to restart and try again). From there, browse around the settings until you see something along the lines of "HDD Mode" or "Sata Mode". Check to see if AHCI mode is selected.

3. If you reinstalled Vista on the same partition as the previous installation, it takes all your files from the old installation and sticks them in the Windows.old folder (C:\Windows.old). If you have no files you forgot to backup from your previous installation, then delete the folder - it just takes up lots of space.

4. What sort of things are you worried about missing? You'll need to install your programs again and change some settings to your liking, but that should be it. You can also check out the Vista tweaks thread for ideas and the Free Software thread for software alternatives to paid versions. Oh, and make sure you install a good anti-virus/spyware and firewall program. There's a thread on that too.

Hope that helped!

 

crash -

that was incredibly helpful, i appreciate it

 

hi,

I managed to do the quick reinstall of vista.. seems everything is fine except for one... I can't find the intel set-up for my 5300 service which allows others to connect to my pc as if it was a regular wireless router.. I installed the driver from the driver and utilities cd... the wireless network is fine but the function/set-up in the control panel which was present before for the set-up of connectivity to my laptop is nowhere to be found...

Hope someone could help me out.

Thanks!