Dell E1705 / E1505 Windows Vista Clean Install - Step by Step

yes, the procedure is the same as for the 1720

 

ok thats good. first time having vista.

 

now i remember. when your installation stays on the status 'completing installation' for a long time. read this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157373&highlight=vista+hangs

i had that issue and was able to solve it...

 

lol I was just about to ask that question. thanks thomas

It told me to disable flash cache module before I can change to ATA. should I put everything back the way it was after I complete the installation?

To those who own a 1720, you have to do the bios thing beforehand in thomas's thread. then you can proceed with the guide. I had to start all over again.

Edit: whatever you do, DONT put the bios back to default. leave it at ATA and flash cache module disabled. I couldnt start windows because of that. is there a disadvantage if I turn off flash cache module and the SATA operations to ATA?

 

can someone give me a rundown of what drivers I need to install?

 

1) Dell™ Notebook System Software
2) Intel® Mobile Chipset Driver
3) Mobile Video Controller (video driver you downloaded from www.laptopvideo2go.com)
4) O2Micro® Cardbus/Smart Card Controller
5) Intel Flash Cache Logic Chip (Intel Turbo Memory)
6) Broadcom® NetXtreme™ 5755 Gigabit Integrated Network Controller
7) Wireless driver (if applicable)
8) IDT® STAC 9205 Audio Driver
9) MDC driver (modem)
10) Dell Touch Pad Driver


That's what a dell rep. told me. About changing the bios settings back to how they where; i havent changed them and i'm experiencing no problems at all


edit: this is the latest video driver: http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=14560&st=0, download the driver, then the modded inf, and at last copy the modded inf into the folder where you have extracted the driver files. the way you have to install the driver i refer you to this page: http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11997

downloading the newest drivers really increases general performance! my vista score for graphics in games went from 5,1 to 5,2 just by downloading new drivers...
good luck!

 

thanks. The person who wrote the guide needs to elaborate on #6 because after checking it out, I get all these drivers that I need and dont need (ei. Tv tuner), and I dont know which one is important or not. Every computer varies.

 

how do I enable flash cache module and put the SATA Operations back to ACHI? If I do that, then windows does not load and it causes problems.

 

i really have no idea. is it necesairy to enable flash cache module and work in the ahci mode?

 

To the author:

Your system is not a reformat and I have had two people now contact me because of errors in the format; specifically MediaDirect reinstall. They seem to believe it is reinstalled like any other program which it is not.

Can you edit your initial post to do a proper clean install which will not leave you with windows.old and also address MediaDirect??

For others with Dells, feel free to follow my directions below as the cover all Dells.

Author if you PM me and fix the first post, I will be happy to remove this

 

Hi, I just reinstalled Vista and everything is working fine, as far as I know, but I've still got three yellow exclamation marks in the Device manager. They're all for one device that's located on PCI Bus 3. Does anyone know which device this would be, so I can install the correct driver? I'm thinking maybe it's the touchpad, since this is the only driver that sticks out in the Recovery CD (with the drivers and utilities). But still, the touchpad is working fine, so I'm not really sure it's that.

Well, anyway, any help would be most appreciated.

 

Hey Ryker,

I did have the same issues as you stated, so I just connected to the web and let the device manager search for the drivers online. Found all drivers online, and as far as i remember 1 of them was for the card reader on the laptop.

 

Hi,
I followed the instructions in the original post and it seems to have gone ok...
On the "Installing Windows" dialog box the following items were completed:
-Copying Windows files
-Expanding files
-Installing Features
-Installing Updates

The process is currently on "Completing Installation" but, it seems to be stuck on this step. It's been "Completing Installation" for over half an hour now...

Any help on what could be going on? I didn't have any other problems.

Maybe I should power off and on???? Or should I just leave it alone?

 

On two separate Dell computer I've had it hang at that step for over an hour.

Both times I just powered down the machine, restarted, and everything was fine.

 

Yeah, that's what I ended up doing.

But, because the new install wasn't complete, it undid the install and reverted to the original install (with bloatware).

Through some surfing around the internet it seems that it's a problem with drivers or something. When I get some more time, I'll try it again.

If anyone else has any more tips on this, I'd be happy to hear them. Thanks.