Reformatting a New Laptop

panthro

panthro

panthro

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Just got my Vostro 1700 through today :)

Do you recommend that I reformat and reinstall Vista to get rid of all the preinstalled crap on there? I will download the latest 8600 drivers onto my external HDD first to install afterwards. Is there anything else I would need before doing this? Thanks
 
Check out the Dell Vostro thread. I posted a list of drivers you need to install after a fresh installation to get all the hardware functioning fully without the driver bloat.:)
 
Definitely go for it. I just got my XPS M1330 and formatting it was the first thing I did. Boot time goes way down, you get back lots of disk space and the whole system is just way more responsive.
 
Some help please - my 1700 has been stuck on the final stage "completing installation". Its not done anything for the last 45 mins. The mouse still moves and I can still click on the cross, but it wont let me exit. What shall I do? :(
 
Anyone done any performance benchmarks on a before and after of fresh XP / Vista install on the Vostro?? I think the only posts were boot up times and number of running processes?
 
panthro said:
Some help please - my 1700 has been stuck on the final stage "completing installation". Its not done anything for the last 45 mins. The mouse still moves and I can still click on the cross, but it wont let me exit. What shall I do? :(
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I presume you've sorted this out by now, but it could be something to do with AHCI drivers for Santa Rosa laptops like your Vostro. Have a look at this thread if you're still having problems.
 
Aidoscuz said:
I presume you've sorted this out by now, but it could be something to do with AHCI drivers for Santa Rosa laptops like your Vostro. Have a look at this thread if you're still having problems.
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Hi, yep sorted it out, I just changed the HDD settings in the BIOS from AHCI to ATA. Ive left them on ATA, do you recommend I change them back to AHCI?
 
panthro said:
Just got my Vostro 1700 through today :)

Do you recommend that I reformat and reinstall Vista to get rid of all the preinstalled crap on there? I will download the latest 8600 drivers onto my external HDD first to install afterwards. Is there anything else I would need before doing this? Thanks
Click to expand...

Got the same laptop yesterday and I'm going to reinstall the OS too.

Did you delete the RECOVERY partition (D: )
Is there a Dell hidden partition on this laptop too?

Good luck with the reinstall:)
 
panthro said:
Hi, yep sorted it out, I just changed the HDD settings in the BIOS from AHCI to ATA. Ive left them on ATA, do you recommend I change them back to AHCI?
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Well AHCI gives you better performance as it uses the onboard flash memory, and can apparently give you better battery life as well. Here's an article about it. You can only swap back to AHCI from ATA if you do a reinstall of windows though, you have to install the driver as part of the windows setup. I'm not sure if it's worth reinstalling Vista again but if you don't have too much on there already you may as well go for it.

Johnnyboy said:
Got the same laptop yesterday and I'm going to reinstall the OS too.

Did you delete the RECOVERY partition (D: )
Is there a Dell hidden partition on this laptop too?

Good luck with the reinstall:)
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I'd definitely delete the recovery partition, no point in recovering back to the horrible bloated Dell install! The MediaDirect partition is hidden. If you want to keep Media Direct you have to put in the media direct CD first, follow the instructions and then reinstall Vista. After the installation stick the MediaDirect CD back in and finish off the install. If you don't want it then just use the Vista disk and delete all the partitions from its setup.

MediaDirect is the only piece of Dell software I actually like, it's nice to have an instant-booting mini os to play DVDs on. I think it uses less battery than windows as well.
 
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Aidoscuz said:
Well AHCI gives you better performance as it uses the onboard flash memory, and can apparently give you better battery life as well. Here's an article about it. You can only swap back to AHCI from ATA if you do a reinstall of windows though, you have to install the driver as part of the windows setup. I'm not sure if it's worth reinstalling Vista again but if you don't have too much on there already you may as well go for it.
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I reinstalled the AHCI drivers after I reinstalled vista. Surely this should be fine for swapping back to AHCI? I dont really mind too much tho, as my laptop spends most of its time plugged into the mains.
 
panthro said:
I reinstalled the AHCI drivers after I reinstalled vista. Surely this should be fine for swapping back to AHCI? I dont really mind too much tho, as my laptop spends most of its time plugged into the mains.
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Apparently you need to reinstall, according to this thread and this review. I think you'd get a BSOD on boot up if you swapped the mode without reinstalling.
 
The first half of this guide I wrote a few days ago for a clean Vista install on a Sony SZ laptop could be useful.

If any of you have used nLite in the past for XP you can now use vLite for Vista.

Does the Dell Vista restore disc contain a lot bloatware like the Sony disc does? If you follow my guide you get a clean Vista ISO, remove the MS drivers, integrate you own drivers and remove anything else you want.
 
Mujja said:
Does the Dell Vista restore disc contain a lot bloatware like the Sony disc does? If you follow my guide you get a clean Vista ISO, remove the MS drivers, integrate you own drivers and remove anything else you want.
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The Dell restore disk gives a completely clean install of Vista surprisingly. I thought they'd load it up with crapware but it seems to be a regular install disk.
 
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