Reformatting Advice

Hi, i have a Dell Inspiron 1720 Laptop and was thinking of reformatting my hard drive to get rid of all the crap they put on it. I was just wondering if anyone could tell me what i need in the lines of drivers and what not and how I actually go about doing it. I am running Vista at the moment and have the disks for it

 

you can easily go to dell's web site and use your model number or system tag to get the drivers you need they are all on dell's web site

 

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...D=INS_PNT_PM_1720&os=WLH&osl=en&catid=&impid=


download the ones you need and burn them to disc or put them on a external drive reinstall vista and format while you do.. then use the drivers for a resinstall

 

Dell makes this very easy for its users. Your restore DVD is just the Vista OS without any other programs. Then you can use the driver and programs CD for the drivers and software or you can grab it off the Dell site.

 

^^ good point if they have it

 

Make sure you use ABR tool to back up your Activation Key so you don't have to worry about activating Windows afterwards.

Get it here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=120228

Good luck.

 

I have an Inspiron e1505 that I have reformatted and reinstalled with Vista several times. I used to make sure that I had all of my drivers downloaded ahead of time. The last time I reformatted, I just let Vista find all of the drivers and it has worked great.

If you want to keep Media Direct, then don't mess with the partition where it is installed. Also, you will have to repair your Media Direct installation once you've reinstalled Vista. Search the forums for details on this.

The process to do a clean install of Vista is pretty simple:

1. Backup all personal documents and make sure you have media to reinstall applications
2. Place Vista CD in drive
3. Reboot computer and press f12 to boot from CD (you may need to press a different f key depending on BIOS)
4. Choose clean installation and follow prompts
5. Let Vista find and download drivers and updates
6. Install applications
7. Copy personal documents from backup to proper locations in new installation

Like I said, the last time I did this, I didn't have to go looking for a single driver. I didn't even have to use my ethernet cable because the default wireless driver was enough to get me onto my wireless network and download everything I needed.

It's a little daunting the first time you do it, but as long as you have backed up all of your personal data, there's not too much that can go wrong. Good luck.

 

if you use the dell vista disc it will auto activate the lic number and slic is already in the vista installation. if you dont use the dell copy you will need the key from the original install or just use the one from the bottom of the notebook

 

But if i use the cds dell provided for me will i still get all that useless crap they put on laptops? cause thats what i wanna get rid of

 

Nope none of that is on the restore DVD, it is only the Windows OS. The drivers CD will just have the drivers and some software like Dell Quickset and webcam software.