dv5250 slow out of box! Can it be rebuilt?

Just bought a dv5250 after going through about a dozen Toshiba Satellites (all with one problem or another...mainly MatSHITa optical drives). So I was hoping for better with HP and this is what i've observed thus far:

Build quality is MUCH better than the Toshiba. The screen doesn't shake like the Satellites did and the keyboard doesn't flex. Overall has a much more solid feel to it and the bottom gets only slightly "warm", not HOT like the Satellites.

However, I have noticed that right out of the box it is slow and choppy for some reason. It just seems sluggish...mind you I haven't installed all Windows updates (doing it now and praying it will help). It also prompted me to make the recovery discs (how cheap of HP not to include them!) and so I did, and chose 3 DVD-R's....well it failed and aborted it all for some reason. So then I tried again (through the menu) and it worked (took forever though) and I tried formatting and reinstalling XP to get rid of all the bloatware (and there is ALOT!). It WILL NOT let me install XP home! It says it has an O/S that is newer, and if I try it as a boot disc it will say I have no hard drive and aborts it! So I did a reformat and used the Recovery CD's. Took over 2 hours and on the last disc it started saying it's not the correct disc! (Verbatim media). After a few tries it finally read it.

So is there anyway I can format and install XP AT ALL? I will d/l my own drivers from the HP website because I would like a fresh format without all the bloatware software that I don't need. I don't want the recovery partition (I know I can delete it), but still would like a fresh XP install.

So now i'm praying that it runs smooth and quick (like the Satellites did). I guess there are pros and cons to both....but what good is build construction when it's screwed with the software!?

Any help is appreciated.

 

Please read the sticky( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=73377) on the reinstallation issue. You will have to either slipstream Sata drivers or disable Sata in the BIOS and then install Windows.

 

Thanks Miner! I wonder why I didn't have any problems with my Satellites since they were SATA drives too. I could install XP Home without issue and formatting.

After reading all the threads, I have realized I just don't have the time to do a complete fresh rebuild and then try to get all the drivers going. So this is what I did:

I simply did a fresh format to factory by utilizing the 3 recovery cd's I made. This basically brought the pc back to the way it was when I bought it (no change really), and then I went to add/remove and DELETED ALOT of stuff...basically everything except for drivers. NOW, the laptop runs awesome! it's no longer slow, and no hiccups whatsoever so i'm pretty happy. NO idea why it acted like that out of box but my guess is it was some of the bloatware that I uninstalled like the Norton. Anyone know any freeware online programs to delete registry entries, pointers, dll's, etc that aren't used anymore?

So now, i'm delighted...this laptop kills all those garbage Toshiba...I can't believe the AWESOME feel of the keyboard! Very solid. Same with the screen....not only is it BEAUTIFUL (Toshiba was nice too but I think the HP has the edge), but it doesn't shake when I type like on the Toshiba. Now, one thing I realized when I looked across the room is that there is kind of a bump on the bottom outside of the screen. I also noticed this on my Toshiba's and i'm pretty sure it's a result of heat from the screen. It's barely noticeable on the outside unless you're looking for it, and it doesn't affect the screen quality at all.

One annoyance is the volume buttoms....I loved the analog dial on my Toshiba...the buttons on this dv5000 are fine, except the last notch...my Creative Nano Plus mp3 player has this same problem....it's like the last notch turns sound right off, and then the next one up is too loud. It can be adjusted by lower "wave" but still, it should be more fluid instead of such a big step. I can't see the green volume bar on screen but know there is a fix for that.

Overall, I love this laptop...I haven't had a chance to use the burner much yet but I hope you all have had positive experienes with it because my Satellites had garbage MatSHITa drives that didn't work.

Loving the switch to HP so far!