HP DV5T Reformat.. What are the essential drivers?

Hey I was looking to reformat my notebook and I was curious what the essential drviers are? I have Windows Vista disks so I won't be using HPs bloatware junk. I saw the thread with updated drivers but what can I ignore?

I know I will need the graphics, ethernet card, sound drivers... but what else? I want the bare minimum. I hate HP software =/

Stuff like quicklaunch I can ignore right? I just need to make sure I install the quick touch button drivers right?

 

I know i posted something about this a couple months ago but i can't find it, so here goes.

Don't install the Quick Launch button drivers nor QuickPlay, instead check out the program in my signature. I think you got everything else covered.

 

Does your program make the volume buttons actually function correctly? Make them light up properly?

My buttons work without the drivers but the mute button light doesnt work without the drivers.

Whats the difference btween quicklaunch of quickplay?

 

The mute button light has only to do with the sound driver in my experience. Uninstalling the quicklaunch buttons driver could have changed some settings in the sound driver, see if this still happens after a clean install (without ever installing the quicklaunch buttons driver).

No, my program does nothing for the lights, because on my laptops and on the laptops of everyone else that uses my program, the lights were fine by themselves.

Quickplay is HP's media center program, the one that is launched by the little Q button on the lighted touch strip. Some models have more buttons dedicated to this software, some only have the Q. Quick launch buttons refers to the touch strip itself and all the buttons on it.

 

so basically i could just install sound drivers + graphics + ethernet and be set?

there are SOO many drivers in the HP Drivers directory

I mean I am not even sure what the intel drivers do? Motherboard? Processor drivers?

 

Do not install QuickTouch. QuickPlay should be installed IMO, it makes some of the FN+F1.. etc buttons work. HP Wireless Assistant is not nessesary unless you wish to turn off bluetooth or wireless while leaving the other one on (the wireless button turns both on or off). You also wont need Lightscribe System Software unless you actually plan to use it. HP QuickPlay (aka MediaSmart) is basically junk, don't install it.

 

Intel drivers are chipset drivers. They control things like USB, optimal performance for hard drive controller and so on. For those it is advisable to grab them directly off Intel's site.

Ok time to do a list again.

You will need:
Chipset drivers
Sound, networking and video (obviously)
Especially make sure WIRELESS drivers are updated, they can cause a lot of trouble
Bluetooth drivers (optional, only if your bluetooth isn't working properly, also remove the bttray.exe shortcut in the startup if you don't want to be notified when you hit the caps, numlock or scroll)
Infrared (CIR) receiver driver for use of the crappy remote control
HP ProtectSmart (if available for your model, reduces the chance of your hard drive crashing on a bump)

As for the post above, all FN key combos work without any specialized drivers. The brightness ones are controlled by the video driver.

 

The essentials are Chipset software, Matrix Storage driver, Graphics, Wireless, LAN, Audio, Card Reader, Infrared, Modem, Bluetooth (a bit borderline.. the default driver will work fine, but I'd install it), Touchpad, ProtectSmart driver. Along with any other things like TV Tuner, fingerprint reader if you have them.

 

Oh yeah, forgot about the touchpad and card reader. Thanks.

 

what is protect smart?

 

It basically uses a built in accelerometer to park the hard drive head when your notebook is dropped/moved suddenly.

 

Here's what I installed on my HP dv5t...

Audio
Bluetooth (if you have it)
Chipset PM45 (from Intel site)
CIR Receiver
Ethernet
Fingerprint Reader (if you have it)
Matrix (from Intel site)
Jmicron Media Card Reader (Jmicon's site)
Modem
ProtectSmartHD
QuickLaunch
Synaptics Touchpad
Realtek USB 2.0 Card Reader
Videocard (from nvidia's website for 9600m GT)
Wireless 5100AGN (from Intel site)
HP Wireless Assistant (allows me to turn bluetooth on/off via software)

By the way, don't install any drivers found or show up on "Windows Update". Just uncheck them.

 

There is only one card reader in the system, so only one of the card reader drivers will be needed. The other one will simply report that there is no compatible hardware found and exit.

Again, i advise against installing the quick launch buttons driver. Its on-screen display tends to lag things a lot.

 

Do you mean "QuickTouch"? QuickLaunch works beautifully and doesn't have "on-screen" effects. I avoid QuickTouch, I prefer not to have any on-screen effects.

 

So there are TWO programs doing the same thing, just that one has the fancy OSD and the other does not? Wow, this brings bloat to a whole new level. I only used the stock config for a few days so i don't really remember, but i do know that ALL my media buttons work fine without any HP software.

 

No QuickTouch is a volume control OSD only (it does a really bad job of this). Quick Launch Buttons is responsible for the fn keys. It does things like fn+f4 (switch display mode), however based off what Th3_uN1Qu3 says, it may not be nessesary (perhaps due to Windows 7?).

 

Yeah it could be Windows 7, everything except the QuickPlay keys and the mute button light (which required the right sound drivers) worked just fine out of the box.

Oh so QuickTouch is the OSD. Btw, if i remember right it also displayed brightness levels. Now that we're here, i found it funny that the bluetooth tray program is also used as a (fast, but bad-looking) OSD for the num, caps and scroll lock keys.