Dell Vista Laptop Reformat and Bloatware Removal Guide

Alot of time, when it hangs, it is usually a result of the installer not properly installing the AHCI driver at the right point. Have you done this?

 

Well I followed your steps carefully again and a few more steps from another post and the end result got a successful reformat

 

I'm glad it worked out 4 ya...

 

So... as an IT pro who plays with OS's, ghost, intalling and cleaning up images I have to ask... why wouldnt you just instruct people on how to remove the bloatware in about 15 to 20 minutes. Further, with the correct product you can replace the image on the recovery partition with what you have just created minus the sysprep OOBE crap that goes on during first boot.

My father-in-law thinks "Format C" is the answer to all his problems. While I generally prefer a clean install I didn't mind removing the few things that came on the 1720 that I didn't want and it only took a little while.

 

I am absolutely sure you are aware of what is left after manually uninstalling the programs (which would take most well more than 20 minutes in any case).

Remaining directories, files, as well as left over application registry entries still play their part in slowing a system down, not to mention te condition of the hard disk.

This enables those who wish to follow it to build and appreciate their own system with exactly what they want on board and, once tweaked with my guide below, many concede their system is pretty much untouchable compared to its original configured settings.

This guide has had tremendous success... I guess the proof is in the puddin'.

 

There is no question you have given people the correct information for a clean install but those who are leary (and perhaps weary) might appreciate a different approach to cleaning up their system I guess.

I cleaned up the reg. and file system then I imaged the OS back to the restore partition an then re-applied it so as not to worry about the fragmentation issues etc...

At any rate, not meaning any disrespect just wondering if a secondary option might not be an option for some.

 

No, I appreciate it and your post answers the questions for many others who aren't sure. For many though, this is much easier than digging into the reg and file system.

With respect to a secondary option, I find many who try that end up here in any case, most realizing that they appreciate the fact that they can repartition and delete the recovery partition once they create disk backups of their system...

 

hey i have a pretty serious problem and was wondering if anyone here could help me, i formatted everything using this guide, and when i go into vista and reinsert my mediadirect cd 3.5 (which i just received) it says "installation stopped due to invalid system id. please check your system and try again". I am not sure what to do to get rid of this and i really want to reinstall mediadirect, i made a partition for it but it doesnt show up in my computer.

 

Did you follow the instructions initially and insert it to create that initial partition?

That disk should have been the first disk you inserted if you followed the guide?

 

Yha i did that, i chose option 1 and it made 2 partitions. the mediadirect and the primary c, even when i was installing vista i saw the mediadirect partition so i know its there but its not listed in my computer and when i enter the mediadirect cd i get that error invalid system id. This actually happened to me before so i decided to reformat it again and i am still getting the error. could it be because i am using mediadirect 3.5? and now that i look at the cd it says 3.5 for inspiron laptops. could that be the problem? its the wrong cd? or is the same cd used for inspiron and xps laptops.

 

If you are looking at the drive layout in the disk management tool and you only have one partition then something went wrong probably during the vista install. It sounds like when you used the Vista CD you may have inadvertantly formatted the drive to a single partition and installed vista on it.

I got my 1720 about 3 weeks ago and the version that came with it is 3.5. The only other thing I can think of right off the bat is that your trying to use it on a non-dell system.

 

My MediaDirect disk not only identifies that it is for XPS systems but also states that its for the M1330.

 

i have an m1330, it was actually missing the mediadirect cd so they sent me mediadirect 3.5 for inspiron laptops i guess they made a mistake and sent me the wrong mediadirect cd. When i read for inspiron laptops i assumed it was for the m1330 also because on dell's driver website for the m1330 the mediadirect patch is for inspiron systems and the m1330. Oh well, i guess i'll just have to give them a call.

 

Just incase anyone else finds this post whose getting the same error i got during this great reinstallation guide "Installation stopped due to invalid system id. Please check your system and try again" you should go into your bios and in system information you will see Asset tag and Ownership Tag if there are no numbers for these tags and all you see in the spot is {none} then you should give dell a call because you have a defective motherboard. I got a replacement sent to me, but it will take 10-14 business days. Apparently this is a extremely rare issue but i am sure someone else in the future will run into it.

 

I used your guide step by step and everything works like a charm. The only thing that i can't get to work is the official Dell audio driver, the Sigmatel one. The driver that was installed by Vista works great, but i miss a lot of audio options so i wanted to install the official driver, but i can't get it to produce sound.

What am i doing wrong ?

 

Supersimon...

How long have you had your system? if it is less than 30 days I would contact them and demand a replacement system which will be new.

Thats kinda like having a car a few weeks and then having them offer to replace your engine.

Its your right under their policy guidelines and you need to ensur that it is allowed...if your within the 30 day period.

 

Guys.... any thoughts about this swap of HD strategy?

I assume that the Laptop Reformat steps would also work if you had just replaced the stock Dell drive with a new one, and wanted to format the drive and build the system from scratch. (minus bloatware)
That way the original Dell H.D. could sit on the shelf and be re-installed if necessary.

So your procedure of booting from the MediaDirect 3.3 CD would also be the first step when powering up after installing a new Seagate Drive.

Correct? All other steps would follow, just as you have listed. Correct?

I would be using a blank un-formatted Drive (with the Dell drive sitting on the shelf)

thanks for any tips about this swap-out of HD process.

 

The process is exactly as I have put forward even with a new drive. i have reformatted on a few new drives....no diff.

 

Les, I should have probably made that a bit clearer they are sending me a replacement system not a replacement motherboard. I wonder if this means i will get a free upgrade to penryn since i had a t7500 in my current m1330.

 

Need some of ya'lls wisdom.

Just got the M1530 and will be dual booting Ubuntu and Vista without Mediadirect. There is quite a few threads on the mediadirect button (without mediadirect installed) screwing up the partitions when it is pressed. Have you seen this problem, or is this only on the older versions of Mediadirect?
Planning on reformatting with Vista , then new install, followed by Ubuntu.

Clues are greatly appreciated

 

Supersimon...

I know of at least two others who have been given that upgrade automatically.

 

Les - I have a 1720 on the way with Ultimate and I am about 95% sure I am going right to 64-bit. I have started dl'ing drives and most all support 64-bit except for the Intel chipset and nvidia - should I burn a CD these drivers and use it for step 10 in addition to the Dell disc? Or just burn a new disc with all of the latest drivers? I guess I am asking what is the best way to install 64-bit drivers during this clean install procedure. Thanks.

 

If you put all of the latest 64-bit drivers onto a flash disc or a cd, you could just use that as soon as vista finishes installing. There's no point using the Dell drivers disc if it is just going to have 32-bit drivers on it. You could just install all the downloaded drivers from your newly made cd with 64-bit drivers.

 

Ya what he said.....

First, make yourself a disk of the 64bit drivers you may need...just in case. On this disk, have the latest AHCI driver from Intel expanded.

Make sure...again...MAKE SURE... that, when you get to the screen where you elect which partition to install Vista to, that you hit the button bottom left for drivers and direct it to the AHCI driver on your disk.

This will eliminate the most probably BSOD that will occur if you don't do this.

I find the best places to find 64Bit drivers are Dell.com, laptopvideo2go.com for your video as well as x-drivers.com where you will find pretty much anything else needed.

 

Oh yeah I meant to post this on here the other day. You CAN switch a Vista machine installed with ATA set in the bios to AHCI. Alternatively you CAN install with ATA set (so as not to have to worry about drivers during install) then switch to AHCI.

Once installed (or if its been up and running) do the following:

1. Open Regedit and browse to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci

2. Loot at the Start Value it is a DWORD and is probably 4. Set that to 0 (ZERO) that tells it its a boot time driver.

3. Now you can reboot the machine and before OS boot you will need to enter the BIOS and set AHCI mode.

4. Exit saving changes and reboot to windows. Your Controller and drive will be redetected and you can install you own AHCI controller driver at that point.

I apologize if this has been posted elsewhere or is common knowledge I just have seen the comment about blue screen after re-installing due to AHCI mode stuff and thought this would add food for thought to the discussion.

 

Thanks to you both. Though the 1720 was not due until 4/09, I called in today and it is in boxing stage, so it should be out soon I assume. I have dl'ed all the required 64-bit drivers and plan on putting them on a USB drive - and thanks Les, I will make sure the AHCI is already expanded.

One other thing - NSS - is this a required load or is it Dell bloatware?

 

Thanks to Les and Darthsat for the guidance. Took a little shy of 3 hours for the full restore, then I spent spare time over the last week or so doing tweaks and driver updates. I wanted to post some benchmark results for comparison. System specs are in the sig. Ran all the Futuremark stuff at default options (including the punitive screen resolution, 1280x1024 or whatever the default is... zowch).

Out of the box: PCMark 5723, 3DMark 3844
Debloated, stock drivers: 5744/3860
Tweaked, stock drivers: 5760/3858
Tweaked, ForceWare 169.09 (laptopvideo2go): 5931/3928

I picked 169.09 as it appeared to be the most popular of the series that culminated with the GeForce 8x00 chipsets, and has a lot of positive comments on stability. My next move will probably be to go to 174.31, though some users have been having trouble with power saving modes and chipset speeds on that driver so I'm wary (would love some feedback from anybody on the newer drivers, as the lv2go forums are hardly Dell specific). The biggest gains from the debloat procedure are clearly in harddrive organization, and you get some massive boot improvements from the tweakage, but benchmark performance seems to reside largely in the drivers.

All worth it, in my opinion, to get a system tuned when it's new, but for novice users, you can draw your own conclusions on whether the entire procedure is worth it to you. A lot of people won't get close to filling 100GB of space in the next 2-3 years.

Thanks again for the effort and guidance from Les and Darthsatt.

PS - Graphics chipset shows up in Futuremark as 8600GS now, instead of 8600GT. Anybody else seen this?
PPS - +rep Les and Darthsatt - may the Schwartz be with you!
<edited to fix formatting>

 

AJ - It was suggested to me that 174.31 was the way to go for the 64-bit install - and I noticed today that it is also the driver version now available at Dell. I am going to try it first (my 1720 is on it's way) and then revert back to 169.09 if it does not work well. I have also read threads about success with 169.09 on both 32 & 64-bit installs.

 

Hey there,

I am expecting my M1330 soon. However I want to be able to re-partition the drive so that I have a data drive. Based on everyone's feedback on here, I am sure I will want to remove the bloatware as well!

However I have read that people have had problems with more than 4 partitions in Vista (ie. System drive, MediaDirect, Diagnostic tools, Recovery drive, Data drive).

Can anyone validate these problems? Has anyone managed to use the guide and come away with a data partition as well? Were they able to just delete the system partition and divide it in two without deleting the other three? Will the recovery option still work if the drive is partitioned?

Thanks!

 

Please guys, give me a hint please,.....

 

Nice thread!

Have you ever created a list of items that are removed. That meet the definition of "bloat ware" And were they were removed from?

 

Bubba, I'd heard that Dell was pushing 174.31 - but putting in my service tag still has them recommending the version that shipped on my machine (which was 157 and change, or something along those lines, veeeery old and creaky). Where's Dell got the official pack with 174.31?

 

I just went to the support site and looked up drivers for the 1720 - HERE'S the link.

 

Ok Les if I understand everything I've read here. This process will kill the diagnostic and Recovery Partitions? If in the future I wanted to put these back...say on a new Drive to have it setup as I got it from Dell. Would I be able to? Maybe if I use Acronis to make an image of these drives.
Thanks Don

 

If you don't want to, you do not HAVE to delete the restore partition. The reason for deleting it is to free up 10GB HDD space.

 

Hi all,

Great to join and participate in this forum.

I have just received my Dell XPS M1330 and wanted to follow the guide which was posted by Les. Just a few questions before I proceed:

1) I have a Media direct v3.5. Would it be possible to use the guide? In the guide, it was stated media direct v3.3.

2) Currently I have a drive C (OS) and a drive D (recovery). Just to check what does the recovery partition does? I guess after reloading everything, the recovery drive will no longer be available.

Hope someone will be able to assist me on the above.

Thanks!

 

Hi Les, thanks for a great guide! Got my machine today and already wiped it clean of bloatware like your instructions said. Unfortunatly, I wasn't able to get rid of the third 30GB partition but that's all right. I named it Runt and dumped WoW and Civ4 on it.

 

Cloudwane, that version of mediadirect will be fine. The recovery partition makes it so that you can click F10 during bootup and restore the computer to exactly how it was when you received it from the manufacturer.

 

I'm such an indecisive twat. I cannot decide if I should do this reformat or not
I mean, we are talking 10 GB of space here.. out of 250.. still, 10 GB is a lot..

Wanna know the worst part?
- I still haven't got the computer in my hands

This is a great forum btw

 

Simple question to answer that...

How many have done this and regret it?

and maybe....

How many have done this and returned very happy?

 

Hehe I don't know the figures of that but I see where you are heading and I'll follow your excellent lead Sir

 

IMO, this has more to do with making your laptop run better w/o bloatware than it is about the 10gb of recovered disc space. I don't care about that 10gb - I want a lean, clean running machine.

 

Is there a way to reformat a Dell Inspiron E1705 without the CDs that came with it, I ask because I am a college student and unable to get them from home. on the computer i have a recovery partition, but i've been unable to figure out how to reformat the computer without the CDs.

Thanks,
Idown

 

bubbatex; yeah that makes it even more valid to follow this reformat and removal guide.

I have now mastered up enough courage for it

 

Can't you just burn new ones from the recovery partition (I could on my Toshiba and my Vaio, but I don't have my Dell yet)?

The neat thing about this whole process is that even if you mess up, you can start all over with your recovery disc's! I think even Les said it here or elsewhere that he did it a few times.

 

Hey Les
I want to do and will do your Bloatware removal. My question is. Is Acronis true Image what i should use to save/copy my diagnostic and recovery partitions. In case I want to put them back to return my laptop to new default condition?

 

I don't know how i would go about doing that, if anyone can point me in the direction of how i would go about doing that i would be much obliged <3 in advance. etc etc

 

Hi darthsat,

Thanks for the reply and clarifications.

Is there anyway to image both the OS and Recovery partition so that in the event of reloading everything back the factory delivered settings? I would want to go ahead and try out Les guide but also wanna take a back up of what I have currently.

Will Acronis be able to perform the above?

 

Pm'd you the response as you pm'd me...

yes Acronis True Image 15 Day Trial will make an EXACT copy of your hard disk and the copy is bootable so you can restore your system at any time.

 

How long does it take for vista to reinstall? it just keeps coming up with Dell screen with the bar filling up and starting over again.