Just got notebook. First thing? Reinstall Vista!

Okay so i decided that i will reinstall vista to get rid of all this preloaded crap that comes with the notebook to increase performance a bit. But seeing as i have never used vista before, i was wondering if there was anything i need to know in regardes to pre/post reinstallation? I have the vista cd right by me, thats the only cd that came with the notebook. I know i should be able to get a lot of my drivers from the internet after reinstallation. Anything else? Thx

I assume the reinstall process is the same as XP? put in cd, load from cd, delete partition, remake partition, reinstall?

 

yup its faster and has a colorful gui

 

one question. do i have to do all the stuff mentioned in this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=120228

or can i just do the pop in cd, delete partion, remake partion install process with my cd? i dont get what the big deal with activation is.

 

yes pop in dvd and hit boot from dvd/cd
you wont have to enter anything in since its a gateway oem dvd
it takes like 30mins to install

 

okay thank you

 

Also manually install as many of the latest drivers as you can directly from the manufacturers websites:

Chipset: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=816

Wireless: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2753&lang=eng

Video: http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showforum=93

Touchpad: http://www.synaptics.com/support/drive.cfm

Media Card Reader: http://www.realtek.com.tw/Downloads...=25&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

Bluetooth: http://www.broadcom.com/products/bluetooth_update.php

RealTek Network Adaptor: Windows Update

And the rest from gateway.com support (Hot Start Utility, Modem, IDT/SigmaTel Audio and Webcam).

 

thx but all the drivers except the video, intel wireless card and the fingerprint reader all were installed when i looked under device manager. i installed the video and intel wireless and will get around to the fingerprint whenver i get around to it. the only problem im having is i keep getting limited connectivity when i try to connect to MY wireless network (linksys router/modem) but when i connect to a neighbor's netgear it works fine....

 

ignore what i said in my last post, your links are proving very handy right now, thx!

 

lakjin, how do you like the laptop? And when i get mine i might reinstall vista too.. Did you run into any problems other than just deleting the partition then making a new one?

 

some drivers are turning out to be a pain to find and install because gateway's driver download website seems very in complete for the M-152XL. But the links provided above by iamtheanimal is proving very very useful. Everything is working properly, but there are a few things that still show up as "Generic" like Generic PnP Moniter. Im gunna use the recovery partition, go back to factory settings, use driver magician to save the drivers into a file, reinstall vista and install the drivers via that way, so i know im getting everything.

Update: Scratch that, i got GRC installed and am gunna install the drivers that way.