Fresh install (5672)

Hi!

first of all, excuse my english

In a few hours my new 5672 (the x1600 one) is with me, after reading more than a hundred opinions, and 3 weeks of waiting, is here.

I have just one question, as soon as i get it, im changing the xp home for the pro, making a frehs install, changing to ntfs, and erasing all partitions and leaving only two.

I know i have to make a restore backup first of all, but then i change all the partitions and the FAT32 to ntfs, if i ever need the restore backup, will it work with diferent partition and file system?

Thanks for your time

 

Once you create a restore DVD you will no longer need the hidden partition(s) found on your 5672wmli's hard drive. If you put the restore DVD in your drive and boot to it Acer will create a SINGLE 120 gig NTFS partition and reload windows XP home (just like you found it).

So to answer your question, yes it will work with different partitions and file systems!

I'm currently running windows xp professional on my 5672wmli. After creating a backup DVD I erased all of the current partitions and did a low-level format and installed xp with no problems.

Just make sure you hold onto that restore DVD or grab an OEM xp cd if you need be as well.

Hope this makes sense and that you can understand it.

--ssx--

 

Hi SSX, I am interested in doing the same thing you did but all the reports of people having trouble with the Bluetooth, Orbicam, WiFi, and special keyboard keys after reformatting and trying to individually install the drivers has made me a bit nervous.

If I make the back-up DVD, I do NOT need the partition at all? I could completely reformat and repartition the hard drive, and the DVD would reinstall Windows Home? (this is my back-up, worst-case scenario. I would rather install XP Pro.)

You said you did a low-level format and repartitioning - did you restore from the DVD then and upgrade to Pro? Or did you install Win XP Pro and the individual drivers?

Can you confirm your Orbicam, Wifi, etc are all working?

Thanks for any help! My laptop is coming today and I want to make sure I don't screw it up out of the box.

 

You did not do a "low level format".

If you actually install Windows XP Service Pack 2 (preferably slipstreamed into your installation CD), you shouldn't have problems.

The Bluetooth driver can be obtained via Windows Update for the Microsoft stack, or you can use the "update driver" and try to select the Broadcom BCM2035. I don't like the Widcomm stack.

Wireless drivers are obtained from Intel, camera drivers can be obtained either from Logitech or from Acer.

 

Not to be a jerk or anything, but I always run DBAN on all of my new harddrives I recieve from OEM manufacturers. I do know what low level formatting is

Also I create a custom windows XP disk (Home / Pro / Corp) that includes SP2 + the latest critical and secondary updates from microsoft right out of the box. This saves me time from installing and prepping a pc for the latest patches on a fresh install of xp.

I could use nlite - www.nliteos.com to accomplish this with many extra tweaks, but instead I use ryanvm's update .cab's and his intergrator to accomplish this. So yea, thanks for the advice but I do know what I'm talking about.

Let me just be clear on this one to resolve any questions you might have.

1. After you create your Acer Restore DVD you NO LONGER NEED THE RESTORE OR HIDDEN PARTITIONS. For more info look @ my acer 5672wmli review over on dslreports.com - http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16348055 . 1/2 way down the article I mention the formatting + reinstallation of XP and using an OEM XP disk and deleting the hidden partitions. All those hidden partitions do is give you a second means of backing up your operating system if you manage to loose the DVD etc. For me that is simply wasted space I could be using towards something else, I have no problem creating my own backups of XP using Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost etc.

2. Bluetooth and the built in camera works just fine for me and I have had no problems with them. The things you need to make sure of is that you installed all of the correct drivers and applications for the 5672wmli and that you didnt' leave anything in the device manager.

Here is a picture of my device manager, as you can see everything is installed correctly (no yellow question marks) and bluetooth works correctly.

Bluetooth


Device Manager


The one thing I advise to new owners of any hardware is to backup the operating system (a.k.a. restore dvd etc.) and then FORMAT AND REINSTALL the base OS with a clean XP disk. The reason I say this is it removes any "bloat" / trialware / crap that often comes with OEM hardware (Dell is notorious for this). Another benifit to doing a full format is that you remove any older drivers that may have come with your laptop and allowing you to use newer / optimized drivers instead!

Example:

I don't prefer the standard drivers for ATI, instead I did a full format of XP and downloaded + installed the omegadrivers from www.omegadrivers.net instead. These drivers have more tweaks / features and allow me to customize my pc must moreso than a standard driver package.


3. I will say this out of personal preference but I would HIGHLY suggest that when you install drivers that you DO NOT CLICK THE SETUP.EXE TO LET THE DRIVER AUTO INSTALL!. By clicking the auto install files it often packages software with it that you may not want! Instead link the missing driver to the correct .dll in task manager to remove as much bloat as possible while still having fully functioning hardware / software.

This mainly comes into play when installed the wireless card (intel a/b/g) in my 567wmli. I don't need Intels "wireless configuration tool" to auto start let alone install to help me connect to wirless networks. I would prefer to have less items in startup (use msgconfig under the run command to disable auto start items) and have my pc run as lean and mean as possible.

The only driver configuration packages that I have run the setup.exe on were the chipset drivers and the bluetooth driver because I was forced to (unable to decompress it and not have it autorun)

If you have any other questions about installing drivers on the 5672wmli check out my review here - http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16348055 . I basically answer any questions and about the 5672wmli you could ever have.

Not a problem at all! If you need to get ahold of a windows XP home OEM disk to reisntall XP let me know! I'll be happy to hook ya up!


*edit* - fixed a few typo's and a reponse to k3l0

 

What program do you use to low level format your hard drive?

 

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

 

That is not "low level formatting". You are overwriting the hard drive with random data. The process that most people refer to as "low level formatting" today is overwriting the entire drive with zeroes ("zero-filling" or "disk initilization"). Still, this is not low level formatting.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/formatLow-c.html
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/support/faqs/faqs_20000120_0000000036.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_formatting#Low-level_formatting_of_hard_disk_drives

Once again, dban does not do any sort of "low level formatting". It will overwrite your drive's contents with pseudorandom data. Overwriting your hard drive with pseudorandom data with dban serves no practical purpose and is a waste of time and electricity unless you actually have sensitive data you wish to no longer be on the drive.

 

Are you sure? The restore DVD only touches the C: (it might check for a D: too - I've heard people complaining that the recovery DVD doesn't work, but it seems like they only have a single partition.) and converts whatever file system to FAT32. You have a 75GB NTFS C: and an 18-ish GB of NTFS D: I'm pretty sure that after format you'll get 75GB FAT32 in C:. I don't know if the D: will remain NTFS or FAT32, but my hunch is that it'll be FAT32 too. Any info/clarification on that?

 

Thanks a lot ss4life!!!!!!!!

I ve read your review a month ago, and made me decide about buying this notebook...

but right now..... im soooo angry, i went this afternoon to pick up my 5672, and.... it didnt turn on!!!!!

i think the disk never pick up, i was so angry, and now i have to wait another week to get a new one

the f*** fresh install must wait

and thanks again

 

Oh man, so sorry to hear that. It's a wonderful machine, AFAIK. Did you get the one with x1400 or x1600?

 

the one with the x1600

and next to me, there was another guy, that ordered the same day the same model, and his 5672 was ok... at that moment, i was sooo sad

 

Yeah man, I feel for you. I can imagine. Well, everything happens for a reasoning

 

I got mine today - so far I'm very happy! I installed 2GB of RAM, and right now I'm watching a movie on it. It is a little noticeably warm, but not enough to burn (and the room is cold so it actually feels nice. ^_^)

 

look at the acer site and install launch manager and the bluetooth app and youll be fine. As far as wifi goes mine works perfectly with xp pro sp2.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=67371

I did this and it helped a good bit. But I wouldnt recomend crackingopen alappy unless your an experienced tech.

 

I agree dban is not a low level formatter. I doubt there is any software out there that can low level format today's harddrives. The closest you probably can get is Spinrite. In it's early days it did do low level formatting but now it's main purpose is data recovery and drive maintenance.

http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm