Experiences with 'Clean' Win7 install in GX640

Please forgive the 'noobish' nature of this thread. The last laptop I bought was a Dell around 6 years ago and it came with an XP OS disk. This is my first experience with Win7. I did not do any work at all with Vista.

I've done XP installs on a few systems and am assuming that Win7 will be similar...provided I have a proper install disk.

I'm having a bit of a time wrapping my head around making my own Win7 install disk and am unsure right now if it's going to work properly for this laptop.

I'm wondering what methods GX640 users have used to get a 'clean' Win7 install using the license key that came with the laptop.

I'm thinking of going this route and wanted to make sure it was OK before formatting the drive... http://forum.notebookreview.com/mic...links-just-like-vista-before.html#post5437866

Thanks.

 

I never bothered with the clean install; there was very little bloat so it was easiest to uninstall a couple of things and use msconfig to stop a couple of processes.

 

Just download a copy of w7 Home premium 64 and use the your key.

I always do a clean install as soon as I get my new lappie

 

I think there's something you need to do before you can activate that key.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...l/thread/c805da6b-cbd2-4a40-9ea7-cc17391cf4bf

 

The partitions for the laptop bother me.. I've never understood the need for a separate operating system and data partition. It just messes up everything.. from installing programs to my documents.

 

Having a separate partition for data means you can reformat the OS partition while leaving the data alone.

 

While that's convenient for the maybe 1 time a year I'll reformat Windows, every day I'm organizing music and installing games and programs. While I was hoping Windows Libraries would do the job well.. it doesn't. Also the default install location for programs is Program Files.. which is of course in the OS partition.

 

I like having two partitions to seperate applications + data . . . I guess it depends on how much data you have, but it's really easy to keep all your valuable data (documents, music, backup files, etc...) on a seperate partion. Any halfway decent media application will let you specify the location of your music folder/libraries for example if it isn't in the usual "my docs" location. you can even re-assign my docs to somewhere else if you want.

 

I guess my general computer work flow has always been adapted to the way Windows wants it.. it just seems like more work to get everything setup on a separate partition. Well I'm off to format!

 

How To Create Bootable Windows 7 USB To Install Windows 7 From USB Flash Drive (Using Windows 7 DVD/USB Tool)

Get a 4 gb usb drive, and install it to that.

Then, go into Sources -> ei.cfg, and change Retail to OEM. That's all there is to it.

Just boot from the USB drive, and you're all set.

 

I swapped my HDD for a SSD, and I went that route for a clean install of Win7. I also made a backup of the activation and restored that backup on the clean install. Didn't have any problems.

I found the activation backup info in the hp forums, at that time I was looking to do a clean install on the envy. Here's the link:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...-hp-laptop-out-box-guide-2-0-windows-7-a.html

 

I'm with lackofcheese here and just cleaned off the little bit of bloat. I can understand doing a clean install on the more main stream systems that are full of 3rd party software and crap. What is the advantage of a clean install, presuming no hardware changes, on this system?

 

cool time to dl those links and reinstall windows.

 

Probably none, other than the reassurance that it is bloatware free.

 

Clean installs also guarantee smooth driver installations.. I dunno. to some of us it is just reassuring.. With Windows 7 it's very pain-free to do it. Back in the days of XP it would be a whole day's time.. now it's just a few hours to get it up and running with all of my music and programs.

 

Yea i did a clean install but mainly because I need Win7 Pro. I just like clean installs on new machines because after that you know any problems that occur you created and should be able to figure out

 

Will the clean Win7 Ultimate installation take care of all the drivers? Or do I still have to go download ATI drivers + CCC + webcam drivers, etc.?

 

you don't need any special webcam drivers, all you need is:
-install windows
-install everything on drivers cd
-uninstall and install new CCC and ati drivers (optional)
-get msi scm
-enjoy

 

I'll be doing a clean install because I want Pro

 

just did clean install 2 hours ago. got the iso from the link provided and installed with usbstick. took about 30mins. i just typed my key foun don the back of the laptop in and it works.

 

Sounds good. Can't wait. Btw, When I install the new CCC and ATI drivers (from ATI), do I still have to disable "Powerplay", or will hibernate/sleep/closing lid work properly from the newest drivers (10.4 or watever it is)?

Thanks bud

 

You still need to disable PowerPlay with 10.4, as I said in the driver problems thread.

 

Aww, so the problem still persists then. Lameskeez.

 

so u have done reinstall? everything is ok?

 

First thing i did was install new windows.. just install some of the drivers, and new 10.4 ati.. good to go