Just got my NP8170 and I have a few questions

Hey everyone. Just like the title says, I got my NP8170 from Xoticpc yesterday and it seems to be a really great machine. I am a clueless when it comes to computers and this is my first custom machine. I have a few questions I was hoping someone could help me with:

1) When I got the computer, I used the Sager disassembly guide to remove the HDD that came with it, and installed an SSD in the primary slot. I then moved the HDD to the secondary slot. I installed windows 7 using the disc that came with the laptop. When I restarted the computer it goes to a black screen that says something like, "Choose an operating system to start" and it's showing windows 7 twice. If I select the first windows 7, the computer boots perfectly. If I choose the second windows 7, it says something about repairing the computer. I figured that the second windows 7 option was from the original HDD that came in the primary slot, so I wiped that HDD. The problem is, the computer still goes to that screen with two windows 7 options when I power it on. Can someone tell me what I need to do to remedy this? I just want the laptop to power on like normal, and not have to select the OS every time I power on.

2) It seems that everything is getting stored on my SSD. Can someone tell me how to make it to where only my OS, Apps, etc is on the SSD and everything else is saved on the HDD?

3) I can't seem to locate the THX Trustudio Pro option on the laptop. I've read that it's necessary to go to some website and download drivers or something, but I can't find anything on the computer itself that shows that I even have it (other than the sticker on the laptop case). I'd like to take advantage of this feature, but I don't know how. Does anyone have the link to the website I need to go to?

4) Lastly, how do I find out what version my Crucial 128GB M4 is? I know that people have had problems with them and they had to update to "0002" or something like that. I just want to make sure mine is going to be fine.

Sorry for all of the dumb questions, but like I said, I'm not too computer literate. I'd be so grateful for any help I could get with these questions. Thanks!

 

1) Start button --> Click RUN --> Type "msconfig" --> Go to the Boot tab --> Set the SSD drive's Win7 as default and delete the other drive's entry.

2)You are gonna have to pick where everything goes, every install/download, else it will go on C:\ as default.

3)Try custom gaming laptops - Welcome to Sager Notebooks --> support --> drivers download, or your recovery cd, I don't know about that utility specifically, THX used to just be a speaker quality rating, not a special software/driver.

4) Control Panel --> Device Manager --> Disk Drives --> Select your SDD --> Right click and choose properties --> click over to Details tab --> select hardware IDs on the drop-down (At least my SSD shows the pertinent info here).
EDIT: Intel's RST should tell you too, click on it in the tool bar (Rapid Storage Technology) and click on the SSD, it will probably list the firmware.

If that doesn't work, check out Crucial's support pages, they probably have a utility that identifies your drive and firmware.

 

To add to 2), you can also set up symbolic links for entire directories. On my smaller SSD's, I typically do a sym link on the C:/Users folder as it gets rather large with all my personal files/music/podcasts/etc. This guide outlines how to do it:

Move the Users Directory in Windows 7

Note: This may have unintended side effects. It broke the last version of Nvidia's driver updates until they fixed it, because it was crashing on the sym link.

 

Thanks guys. I got it all sorted out. I'm loving this laptop!

 

Sorry to hi-jack the thread, but I've got the exact same question as #1 (except without 2 Windows 7 OS).

I placed my SSD where the HDD was and moved the HDD into the 2nd slot. Problem is, even after configuring (F2 setup) the boot priority to make my SSD higher than the original HDD, it still tries to boot from the HDD (in which, it says Boot MGR is missing please Ctrl + Alt + Del). After restarting it once, it then boots the OS from the SSD.

Is there a fix for this? I would not like to have to restart the computer each time to get it to load.

 

Windows uses a ntbootloader to manage multiple installs, you can change it via the instructions in my post above:

1) Start button --> Click RUN --> Type "msconfig" --> Go to the Boot tab --> Set the SSD drive's Win7 as default and delete the other drive's entry.

You don't have to delete the other drives entry if you still want to boot off the HDD sometimes (though.. why?). Just make sure to set the SDD as the default.

 

The HDD is a formatted hard drive, it does not contain any OS. Regardless, the laptop tries to boot from it anyway.

The boot tab only contains 1 entry and that's the one from the SSD, as mentioned, the HDD is empty and does not contain an OS whatsoever.

 

ah, sorry, that is odd. Pull the HDD and boot with just the ssd once. Maybe make sure f2 settings were saved.

edit: Actually, in the alternative, switch the drives since the bios seem to be looking at the sata port of the HDD first before the SSD.

 

Interesting... your solution worked! I do not know why, but it tries to boot directly from the SSD when it is in the hard drive bay above where the DVD drive is rather than in the single hard drive bay by itself.

 

Glad you got it sorted. That is still mighty odd, the boot order settings in the bios should control.