New Notebook Checklist

Hey everyone! I ordered an Inspiron 9300, and I'm expecting delivery sometime tomorrow. Nevertheless, I'm extremely excited about receiving it, but I need to figure out a sort of checklist to do first.
I already purchased 1 GB of RAM from Newegg (Transcend) and I was wondering... should I install that even before I turn the laptop on for the first time? Also, when I do install it, what corrective measures should I go through to make sure that it's running ok?
What other things should I do as soon as I get my laptop? I was thinking about reformating, but I'm scared of losing the XP and everything else. I'm computer savy, but when it comes to reformatting, I fear the worst.
I've been thinking about making a CD with certain files that Iwant to install on my laptop (i.e. Half-Life, certain Programs, files, etc.) I was thinking I should add that on there afterwards as well.
Any suggestions anybody?

 

I don't think it matters when you install the memory. Make sure you burn off the recovery discs. It is under Start>Programs>Dell. Download all the drivers from Dell before you reformat.

 

Alright, I download the drivers and put them.... where?

 

put them on a drive or media that is not your HD. when u reformat, you lose everything on your HD. put them on a usb drive or burn them to a CD/DVD-R or something.

zazonz told u to dl them so that you would have them after your reformat since u may not be able to access dell's site if your nic/wifi cnx doesn't work post-reformat sans drivers.

 

You can keep them on the drive, but I'd burn off a copy for safe keeping.

 

I'm really freaked out about reformatting and, maybe, losing a driver and forever screwing up my PC. Is their a step-by-step guide anywhere that I can print off and just follow?

 

in the dell folder

 

I would recommend running MemTest86+ for at least 2 hours after you install the new memory. You can download the software from http://www.memtest.org/ and install it on a floppy disk or CD. Make sure the PC is configured to boot from a CD or floppy drive before the hard drive. There should *NOT* be any errors reported by MemTest86+. If MemTest86+ runs clean, remove the CD/floppy disk then boot into Window.

 

Which program should I download on that page? There are alot of them, including ISOs, Binarys, etc.... ?

 

Better yet, go here and burn the .ISO file: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html It includes Memtest and a lot of other very usefull tools. You burn the .ISO and then boot from CD. After that you can just follow the on screen menu to go to the memory test, or even some other tests if your feeling frisky!

 

I'm missing something here.... where's the download for the ISO file on that Ultimate Boot CD page?

 

From http://www.memtest.org/#downiso page you can download " Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)" to create a bootable CD (you need to burn the unzip'd ISO image into a CD) or " Download - Pre-Compiled package for Floppy (DOS - Win)" to create a bootable floppy disk.

 

alright, more stupid questions. How exactly do I boot from a CD?

 

You need to check the boot sequence in BIOS. When a PC is boot, press F[n] (e.g. F2 for my Fujitsu notebook) to go into the BIOS setup. There should be a menu that defines boot sequence. Verify that the CD is the first in the boot priority.

 

Alright, I'm really nervous about this whole format. For some reason, I can see myself screwing something up and having to ship it back to Dell... and right now, I can't afford to do that (I leave for school on Tuesday!)

Another thing I'm frightened about is that I might delete some program that I really need, like the DVD writing program or something to that effect.