I've never had to format my laptop by myself. Can anyone give me a step by step on how to format my Dell Inspiron 640m Inspiron? I really want to clean the entire slate!
Note you may want to copy your windows disc to a folder on your desktop and use a program to slipstream the latest service packs to your this folder aswell as some tweaks, then burn a more up to date CD/DVD as required. This is very slightly more advanced, programs for this are nlite (for Windows XP), vlite (for Windows Vista) and RT7Lite (for Windows 7). If using XP Media Centre Edition do not even try a slimstream and instead just install the service pack after installing windows.
The second step is to obtain all the drivers you require, these can be found on the Dell Drivers and Downloads page Enter your service tag on this page (Not the Forum) for your individual system configuration this is a 7 digit code found at the base of your unit. Download your drivers and save them in a folder on an external harddrive. (Note for a Windows 7 32 bit install use the drivers listed for Windows Vista 32 bit, likewise use the Vista 64 bit drivers for a Windows 7 64 bit install. Note do not use the Vista bluetooth drivers for Windows 7 use instead R226750)
1. Dell Notebook System Software (under system Utilities)
You must first insert the Media Direct Disc into your computer. Power down and hold F12 while powering up, select boot from CD/DVD and tell it to create the partitions (follow the onscreen instructions). Then change the disc when prompted to your Windows XP/Vista/7 disc and boot again holding F12.
Follow the onscreen instructions for install. Then install the latest service packs and then the drivers in the order I have listed. Then once you have done this and rebooted, insert your media direct disc while on the windows desktop and allow it to install media direct, open media direct to get all the updates.
That should be your computer functional. You will next need to configure security software. I recommend using:
Philip_Yip
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June 5th, 2011 15:00
What Operating System, do you plan on using the discs? Do you have the windows disc and the media direct disc?
I will assume you want to do it with discs and not using the Dell Quick Restore.
The first step is downloading the latest service pack to your OS.
For XP
XP Service Pack 2 (maybe included on your XP disc)
XP Service Pack 3
For Vista (32 bit)
Vista Service Pack 1 (x86) (maybe included on your Vista disc)
Vista Service Pack 2 (x86)
For Vista (64 bit)
Vista Service Pack 1 (x64)
Vista Service Pack 2 (x64)
For Windows 7
7 Service Pack 1
Note you may want to copy your windows disc to a folder on your desktop and use a program to slipstream the latest service packs to your this folder aswell as some tweaks, then burn a more up to date CD/DVD as required. This is very slightly more advanced, programs for this are nlite (for Windows XP), vlite (for Windows Vista) and RT7Lite (for Windows 7). If using XP Media Centre Edition do not even try a slimstream and instead just install the service pack after installing windows.
The second step is to obtain all the drivers you require, these can be found on the Dell Drivers and Downloads page Enter your service tag on this page (Not the Forum) for your individual system configuration this is a 7 digit code found at the base of your unit. Download your drivers and save them in a folder on an external harddrive. (Note for a Windows 7 32 bit install use the drivers listed for Windows Vista 32 bit, likewise use the Vista 64 bit drivers for a Windows 7 64 bit install. Note do not use the Vista bluetooth drivers for Windows 7 use instead R226750)
1. Dell Notebook System Software (under system Utilities)
2. Chipset
3. Video
4. Communication
5. Audio
6. Network; Broadcom, Wireless then Bluetooth
7. Mouse and Keyboard
8. Diagnostics
9. Applications (Dell Quickset especially)
10. Dell Support Centre
11. Dell Dock (optional)
Now that you have downloaded all you need.
You must first insert the Media Direct Disc into your computer. Power down and hold F12 while powering up, select boot from CD/DVD and tell it to create the partitions (follow the onscreen instructions). Then change the disc when prompted to your Windows XP/Vista/7 disc and boot again holding F12.
Follow the onscreen instructions for install. Then install the latest service packs and then the drivers in the order I have listed. Then once you have done this and rebooted, insert your media direct disc while on the windows desktop and allow it to install media direct, open media direct to get all the updates.
That should be your computer functional. You will next need to configure security software. I recommend using:
Microsoft Security Essentials (free)
Windows 7 Firewall Control (free version for XP/Vista and 7)
Malwarebytes (free version although I recommend the pro version)
You will need to then let windows update run and the latest version of internet explorer, media player etc. available.
Then it is a case of installing other applications you may have provided such as Roxio and Microsoft Office
I recommend also Google Chrome with the adblock extension and the list of software below.