n00b al3rt! help me w/my new dv9700t.. clean install?

ok.. so i just received my dv9700t today.. and i need someone's hand to hold as i explore the options that a new notebook owner such as myself may choose to take.. but first a little background..

i have not had an optimally functioning computer.... ever. i had a shtty pc for an embarrassingly long time. i wouldn't say i'm computer-stupid, i just never had the means to do anything to 'expand my tech horizons' if you will.. all bc i had a grandma of a computer.. which crashed 6 months ago x) [yayz..]

anyways, so i opted for this dv9700t which in reality is probably specced way over my head ($500 off FTW), but i figure i'd learn to take advantage of its features in time..

so having received it today (so pretty), i tentatively started the steps of a clean install.. but.. stopped =\. i've burnt my recovery disks & the windows vista ISO install media.. but then it dawned on me. i probably don't have the means (in my brain) to carry the clean install out successfully.. (drivers, ohnoez)

so my questions are:

-comparing a clean install to manual uninstall of the bundled bloatware, is the latter really that inefficient in comparison? what would bridge the gap between the two if i opted to manually uninstall stuff? ie: using programs to clean out the registry? (what do you recommend, heard ccleaner is good, but never used it/don't know how to use it)

or is the benefit of a clean install just incomparable to manual uninstalling & i should just suck it up and give it a try.. -_-

and i guess uh...

recommend to me what combo of security programs i need? i've read on the forums that the free virus scanners etc. are just as good if not better than your nortons and take much less space. but i'm not sure what combination of stuff is necessary to fully protect (??)

i have a million more questions but i'm going to fall asleep (you can gauge the noobness with how much energy it evidently took me to figure out how to burn that stupid vista ISO install dvd.. which i probably won't even use now -_-)

please be generous with explanations, as you are advising a noob. thank you thank you <3

-jenny (i'm new, welcome me)

 

The answers to many of your questions are also in the clean install guide, but...

Manually uninstalling will get you sort of there, but there will always be stuff left behind. Things like Norton are notorious for not uninstalling correctly, and something like that can cause your system to have all sorts of mysterious problems. You may have heard that a lot of people are having trouble with Vista. Many of those problems come from garbage software like Norton, not really Vista's fault.

For protection, the main things you need are:

• Firefox. If you do even ONE thing for your security, stop using Internet Explorer and instead use Firefox. That will go a LONG LONG way in getting better security.
• Use a free antivirus like AVG Free. It works great, is pretty light, and is free.
• Have good habits not to download and install every piece of software that claims to be able to fix your PC (because most of them a spyware), or for some other reason are free. One good indicator of bad programs are things that look very shiny or very cute.

Seeing as I wrote the guide, I think clean install is a way to go. You want to make sure that you have a backup plan, which is what the recovery discs are for. If those fail, then it's nice to be able to get through the install yourself, or at that point call someone who can come and help you. Also, if you have access to another computer while you are doing the install, that will be a big help if you run into something where you need to do more research. As long as you save the SWsetup folder, you will have all the drivers you need.

However, the Vista install process is very straightforward, and even a minimal install with no drivers is usable enough that you can get to the Internet and figure out the rest of it. You might not have wireless network, so a network cable that you can plug in might be a good thing to have around. The only potential problems I have really seen so far is that sometimes the quicktouch buttons (the blue, light-up buttons) don't fully work after the install. You may need to track down drivers for that.

Once you go through it you will find that it wasn't that hard, and you'll gain a better understanding of the system.

 

Uninstalling programs can speed things up but it will never be as good or beat a clean install.

Have AVG/Spybot S&D and firefox. You system should be bulletproof when you have this combo

btw, jenny are you from the block?

 

Can you guys advise which programs / folders / drivers are needed to reinstall after the clean install of Vista? Or which ones you guys dumped...

I too am very new to the idea of manually working on my laptop as this will be the 1st I ever own. I'm reading all I can, so when I do receive my laptop (7-10) more days, I will be able to do this with no issues.

Thank you !

 

avalanche: we are noobie twins that’s some info i’d like to know too..

flipfire: from the block fosho, thanks for the advice =D

orev (THE orev): i’ve actually read your installation guide a million times & of course it’s been beyond helpful, but i’m still worried that i’ll screw the clean install up =x bc w/following it, there are certain things that are assumed that the user knows.. much of which i just so happen to not know =x lol

is there any way to verify the recovery disks? i’m so paranoid since this is like my lifeline if i screw anything up. i used the hp recovery manager, and the burn process involved a verification process.. there didn’t seem to be any problems, so should i just trust that the recovery manager did its job? also, if i do need to use the recovery disks at any point, i’m not really even sure how to. is it pretty self-explanatory? just pop ‘em in & follow prompts? =/

also, i’m not too familiar with how drivers work. i burned the swsetup folder. would i just copy that back onto the drive after the clean install & it’ll all be good? or do they have to be installed individually?

ok and i didn’t think of this until now.. if my hp came with sp1.. i’ll be clean installing vista (burned from mydigitallife) w/o the service pack.. is this a problem or would i just be able to update to sp1 from windows update afterwards?

it’s becoming more apparent that i should have just posted this topic as a reply to your installation guide thread.. but i initially had more questions un-related to the clean install.. i think i’ll just graffitti those elsewhere =D lol

thank you so much for your help.. it's unbelievably frustrating to try to complete things that you have limited internal resources for ): NBR to the rescueeeee <3

 

There are 3 major classes of software in SWsetup that you would need to consider:

1. Drivers: These you need to install. They will allow things like wireless networking, sound, and your video card to work correctly. Some of these might work already even if you don't install the driver, but it is better to install the driver, which will allow the more "advanced" features of these devices to work. Advanced features allow better performance and better power saving. "Advanced" here has no relation to whether or not you consider yourself an advanced user.
2. Support Software: This includes things like the HP quickplay application, wireless assistant, etc... They are not strictly needed, but allow Vista and your computer to work together a bit better. Some of these you might want to install, others maybe not. It's hard to say as a rule, because you may want some things that others don't.
3. Additional Software: This includes the "trial" software that was installed on your system, as well as the other non-trial software. This includes things like Norton (crap), Office trial (crap), Roxio burning software (maybe crap), Fingerprint reader software (probably not crap), etc... Again, these are things you will need to decide for yourself if you want them.

Microsoft has put a lot of work into making sure the install process is pretty straightforward. It doesn't really ask you a lot of questions, and the questions it does ask are well worded and obvious (like, "What language do you use?").

The only potentially hairy part of it is the disk partitioning. I tried to explain that in the guide, but that could use a bit more explanation:

Hard disks are physical devices in the computer. Usually you have only one, but sometimes more than that (the dv9700 can have up to two of them internally). Each physical disk must be partitioned to create the "disk drive" that your computer sees as a drive letter, like C:. Usually there is only one partition on a physical disk, but there can be more. For example, HP uses one partition (C for Vista and all the other system files, and another (D to hold special files that can be used for system recovery.​

When you're doing a clean install, you will see 2 partitions when Vista asks you about the disk setup. One is "Disk 0 Partition 0", and another for "Disk 0 Partition 1" ("0" is the first one, "1" is the second one, etc...). If you had a second physical disk in your computer, you might also see "Disk 1 Partition 0".

At this point, you will be allowed to delete and create partitions. Normally what I do is to delete both of the partitions on Disk 0, then make 1 large one and install Vista into it. However, there's nothing wrong with keeping Partition 1 for recovery files if you feel better doing that. I do recommend deleting Partition 0 and making a new one, because that will delete everything that was already there (the key point of doing a clean install).

Remember, deleting and creating partitions can and will destroy EVERYTHING that's on that drive. Make sure you have everything saved to an external backup before you do this!


Unfortunately there's no way to verify the recovery discs, other than trying them out. Of course, if they don't work then you don't have a working system Recovery discs are like a last-ditch lifeline, but if your Vista DVD is working correctly, you will most likely never need the recovery disc.

To install drivers, you will need to go into each folder and find a file, usually "setup.exe" and run that file. It will then launch into the installer for the driver. The problem here is that HP didn't make it very easy to tell what is supposed to do what, so you will have to look around a little to figure it out. A good clue can be found in each folder there is a ".CVA" file. If you open that file in notepad you'll be able to get an idea of what's in that folder.

You can get SP1 from Windows Update, that will work just fine.

 

Jlo,

you might try to clean up your laptop before going the clean install route.

My new dv6700t is on it's way and I am going to just remove what I don't want first first and see what happens. I can almost guarentee something will give you heartburn with a clean install untill you figure it out. You can always do a clean install if your not satisfied with just "cleaning" up all the crapware. If your unit came with SP1, that would save you from going through that PITA uping to sp1.

Ken

 

Take it from someone who is not tech savvy. Orev's guide is THE WAY to go. Once your laptop loads all clean of that garbage, you WILL notice a difference.

I didn't think I could do it either but just print out the instructions and follow them. Once you go through it step by step, you will see how easy it as...and you will be so proud of yourself when you do it. Trust me on that one!

Also, if you run into any questions, Orev and others who have done the clean install (like myself) are happy to help you out. Print out the instructions, give them a try and I promise you you'll make it through.

I had the exact same concerns you did and now I've done the clean install a few times (had to send in my laptop for repairs and restored my system back to factory settings).



I only needed 1 program from the crap that came on my HP. I kept my Cyberlink so I could make copies of my home video DVDs. (Some people have Roxio too.)

Just copy everything in your SWSetup folder and you can look through it to decide what you want to keep.

Oh! And Welcome! I've only been here since November and have learned loads from everyone here!

 

+1 with rtrdogs post

theres so much programs you dont need to install

 

ok guys. i sucked it up & executed the clean install. partitioning my dual hard drive & activating vista w/ABR..... all worked perfectly!!!! <3 (OREV, i'm sending you a fruit basket.. and a trophy..)

but what concerned me most all along was.. dundundun.. drivers. (which i have ZERO knowledge & experience with, so.. ohnoez)

i'm noobing it out.. i have little to no idea what i'm doing. =/

question, though- my cleanly installed system didn't recognize any data on my swsetup dvd+r that i burned. it shows up as a blank dvd.. but the data was in tact before the clean install.. and it's still there when i pop it into a different laptop.. why is this ?_?

oh well.. i guess i'll copy the driver setup files from swsetup & hp onto a usb. that'll work right? wish me luck. i think i'll post to orev's thread if i have any other questions re:the clean install. thanks everyone. you all are e-saints in my heart <3


p.s.; my laptop is fuhreakin' fast =o

 

Not sure why the DVD would work in other systems but not this one. Strange. Yes, copying the files to a USB drive would work just as well.

 

I just finished the clean install on my dv9700t.

Couple quick, I hope, questions.

My dv9700t came with Vista Ultimate SP1. Should I change back to the original product key in Control Panel/System Maint/system before downloading SP1?

Working on installing the drivers, should I install CyberDVD and Youcam?

I have a built in webcam and obviously a DVD-RW. You'll excuse the post if it sounds a little wacked, I'm not up early, I'm still up. lol

Thanks.

I'm a n00b 2 if u couldn't tell.

 

There is no need to change the product key. The key that you did the clean install with (that was restored with ABR) is the same key that your laptop was installed with when you got it. It is different than the one on the bottom sticker, and it should stay that way.

As for the software, you'll have to do the research on what each of those does, and if you want to use it. Clean install gives you the option, but you still need to make the choice (unlike an OEM install where you have no choice).

 

Thanks orev!! Clean install worked great.

 

Vista is sometimes flakey when detecting data discs, as it often sees them as blanks to be formatted. A restart usually fixes this for me........

 

Doc, I'm a little late on replying to this thread but I did install part of Cyberlink back on my system. I didn't install YouCam. I only installed Power2Go so I could make DVD copies. Instead of putting all the folders within the Cyberlink folder on your drive, just put the Power2Go folder that's in Stage 1 and Stage 2 if you only want to install Power2Go. Check out Cyberlink's products on their home page and see what interests you (if anything) because most of that is what's included in your Cyberlink folder.

 

You don't need the Cyberlink DVD player, that's just a bloated, crappy program. Get VLC instead, it's free and works with every video file imaginable: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

 

I couldn't get VLC to copy my DVDs so that's why I ended up putting Power2Go back on. They were home videos and I just couldn't get VLC to copy those at all.

 

VLC is a media player, not a media copier. If you want to copy DVDs, I'd suggest DVD Shrink. If they're commercial DVDs and have DRM, you might also need SlySoft's AnyDVD, depending on if some of the newer copy protection mechanisms are used alongside CSS. On the other hand, if you want to convert the DVD to an XviD avi file for viewing on the computer, Handbrake is the way to go.

 

Right. I was talking about xpburner, sorry. I knew you had recommended that to me and VLC as well in another thread and xpburner is a great copier for data files but if the person asking about Cyberlink wants to burn video DVDs, I use Power2Go even though I did try DVD Shrink.

I don't use any Cyberlink to play videos. Power2Go is a copier only.

I found DVD Shrink putting all the data on my drive and then wanting to use a burning program to put it on DVD was just too much of a hassle (for me) when I could do an exact copy through Power2Go by plugging in the DVD, hitting copy and then putting in a blank DVD.

As for the rest of the Cyberlink programs, I didn't install those at all. Just the Power2Go, disabled any Cyberlink startup nonsense and my system runs very well. To the person that asked about Cyberlink, I definitely recommend only putting any Cyberlink programs that you think you will actually use if that's the route you decide to use.

I tried several different file copying and DVD copying programs before going back to Power2Go.