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    Failed hard drive...got new one from Dell now what

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by fvshaggy, Oct 15, 2008.

  1. fvshaggy

    fvshaggy Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey all,

    I got a new hard drive for my 3 month old system that is used sparingly. The hard drive failed and I had to talk to dell tech support for about 2-3 hours to finally verify that it was the hard drive. Even though I had the error codes and everything. Great shipping though Next Day service via DHL and no problems. Anyways that is a different story. I got the new hard drive I think its a Toshiba will verify later....was the WD3200bevt. I put the new hard drive in started the system and ran the windows Vista img file from that was on the hard drive already. Is there anything else that I should do.

    I have the drivers and utilites disk but don't think I need them. Since all that was installed already. Should I throw those disks in there for the heck of it? Just to verify that they are the correct drivers. I know I can download them off Dells website also. I already took off the sidebar utility and Mcafee.

    Thanks for the help.
     
    fvshaggy, Oct 15, 2008
    #1
  2. KracsNZ

    KracsNZ Notebook Evangelist

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    Personally I don't install on any of the pre-installed images. I had to install manually anyway (since I'm using 64bit), but the images are usually too full of useless extra that I don't even bother.

    I have a nice cut-down version of Vista Ultimate 64 ghosted now (with all the appropriate drivers), so that suites my needs.

    Anyway, back to your questions, you really want to go and update every single driver now. You'll usually get newer drivers from the hardware manufacturers directly rather that Dells site. Also, if you have an nVidia GPU in your Dell (more than likely), you can get newer drivers from http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/. Just follow the FAQs there on how to install them.

    i.e. in my case for my M1730...
    1. inf updater, wifi and raid controller drivers from Intels site.
    2. Latest 64bit LAN drivers from Broadcom
    3. Had to get the soundcard from Dell as Sigmatel don't provide the drivers to end users.
    4. Video card drivers from laptopvideo2go (altered nVidia reference drivers).
    5. Few other smaller things like webcam and touchpad that I canny remember off the top of my head.

    And you also probably want to go through all the install software that installed from that image and remove all the crap you don't need.
     
    KracsNZ, Oct 15, 2008
    #2
  3. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    You need to use the driver cd...for proof check your device manager.
     
    nizzy1115, Oct 15, 2008
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  4. fvshaggy

    fvshaggy Notebook Enthusiast

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    should I be checking for anything in particular in the device manager?
     
    fvshaggy, Oct 16, 2008
    #4