Dell 9300 reformat questions...

I got my laptop and can see why it needs to be reformatted, ive already had a bunch of errors and i can tell the resources are being hogged big time. I ordered a drivers CD from dell, it should be here within a few days. I read the sticky but im kinda worried about installing the drivers.

Once i reformat and its time to install the drivers, how will i know which ones to install and which ones not to? i dont know about bios stuff and things like that, i dont know what a lot of these mean. Will the CD auto-detect what i need or anything? thanks

 

If you go into the device manager in your computer (Right-click My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager), you can get a list of what is in your computer.

The Dell Restore CD has a lot of drivers on it - it auto-detects what you have, so it should be pretty easy.

Chaz

 

Cool so once i reformat and im at the regular windows desktop with a clean system, just pop in the CD and it will autodetect and install the drivers i need? Also an off topic question, how do i know what screen i have? I found NO dead pixels, but it does have a lot of light coming from the bottom, thanks.

 

Go to www.support.dell.com and talk with a tech online. You enter your service tag, and they can answer anything on your computer spec wise.

 

The Restore CD does not include the drivers. You can either burn them ahead of time or download all of the drivers and dell applications from dell's website
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

If you haven't reformatted yet, you can burn a copy c:/drivers (might be c:/Dell) folder from your HDD.

If you need any additional software, you can request it from Dell.

SG

 

one question.. dell does not send the OS cd.. but do they send the OS instalation in the HD? i mean, i want to format.. mine will come with windows Media center.. but i dont have any media center CD, how can i do it?

 

Check out the sticky titled "Step to Step Guide" and it will give you instructions about reformatting and how to do it eventhough you don't have the CD.

SG

 

Is there a step by step on how to burn the drivers folder thats on the laptop right now? i havnt done it yet so i would be interested in doing it this way

 

All you really need is the network card drivers, everything else can be downloaded.

 

Like zazonz said, the only one that you really need right now is the network card driver. I also think it is important to have a high speed connection. If you are on dial up, it will be better to copy the dell folder or call dell and request the cd.

To burn a copy of the folder:
*locate the c:/drivers or whatever folder contains your drivers
*right click on the folder
*select send to, then your local cd/dvd drive
*go to my computer, right click on the cd/dvd drive and select "write files to CD" (make sure to have a blank cd or dvd inserted first)


Once you get the clean system installed, then you can just go to my computer and open your cd drive, and click on each .exe to begin installing the driver.

SG