http://www.amazon.com/Alienware-AM11x-826CSB-Gaming-Laptop-Cosmic/dp/B0044XU34C

this is my laptop, again for reference, and you guys were very helpful regarding my memory question.

so i wanted to reload it using the included cd so i could get rid of the recovery partition. the included "alienrespawn" application kept updating itself and glitching so i said to hell with all that preinstalled mess. in its defense, alienware doesnt really install a lot of bloat. but the only thing they did install that actually worked was command center (changes the LED colors, etc).

so ive come to find out the included CD is just windows and thats it, which is fine, i plugged the service tag into the dell site (2MKT0P1 if you wanna check it out), and found everything i need.

i have some questions though about what i actually need-

moving down the list on dells site from top to bottom:

1) under communication, i dont think i have wireless broadband, how do i find out? is it harmful to try installing a driver only to have the computer tell you it doesnt exist?

2) under network, how do i know what cards i have? how do i know if i have bluetooth? again is trial and error recommended? what is that wifi link 5100?

3) what exactly is matrix storage manager and intel rapid storage technology under SATA drives? that PM800 driver says SSD and im assuming thats a solid state drive (which i know i dont have) so i can skip that right?

4) under video, that one driver says beta, and its early than the other. this computer has switchable graphics between the integrated graphics and discrete nvidia. both of these drivers are for the nvidia and the discrete graphics get updated with the chipset driver right? i should ignore the beta driver?

i know these are noob questions, but better safe than sorry.

thanks in advance-

5/26/2011 9:00:38 AM

Quote :

"http://www.amazon.com/Alienware-AM11x-826CSB-Gaming-Laptop-Cosmic/dp/B0044XU34C this is my laptop, again for reference, and you guys were very helpful regarding my memory question. so i wanted to reload it using the included cd so i could get rid of the recovery partition. the included "alienrespawn" application kept updating itself and glitching so i said to hell with all that preinstalled mess. in its defense, alienware doesnt really install a lot of bloat. but the only thing they did install that actually worked was command center (changes the LED colors, etc). so ive come to find out the included CD is just windows and thats it, which is fine, i plugged the service tag into the dell site (2MKT0P1 if you wanna check it out), and found everything i need. i have some questions though about what i actually need- moving down the list on dells site from top to bottom: 1) under communication, i dont think i have wireless broadband, how do i find out? is it harmful to try installing a driver only to have the computer tell you it doesnt exist? 2) under network, how do i know what cards i have? how do i know if i have bluetooth? again is trial and error recommended? what is that wifi link 5100? 3) what exactly is matrix storage manager and intel rapid storage technology under SATA drives? that PM800 driver says SSD and im assuming thats a solid state drive (which i know i dont have) so i can skip that right? 4) under video, that one driver says beta, and its early than the other. this computer has switchable graphics between the integrated graphics and discrete nvidia. both of these drivers are for the nvidia and the discrete graphics get updated with the chipset driver right? i should ignore the beta driver? i know these are noob questions, but better safe than sorry."

1) You probably don't have wireless broadband so you can likely ignore this. However, if you try to install it, worst case scenario is that it won't work -- it shouldn't mess anything up at all.

2) You probably have bluetooth -- most laptops have this pretty standard now -- cant hurt to try and install it if you are unsure. As for network cards -- looking up your service tag in the driver downloads -- you want to download the "Atheros - Driver" this will be your physical network port on your laptop. Your wireless card is probably the "Intel - Driver" download.

3) This is probably a bit more complicated than you want to deal with. Basically this allows you to create a disk that you can use during your windows install (F6) to install the sata controller/driver. Without doing this, you may get a message that Windows was unable to detect a hard drive, even though your hard drive is plugged in. If you do not get this message during your Windows setup, you can just ignore this. If you DO get this message, it might be easier to go into your BIOS and change your hard drive setting from SATA to ACHI. You might see a very very slight drop in performance, but most people never notice any difference.

4) I would recommend avoiding the beta driver -- just go with the other one. Chipset driver will likely reinstall your integrated graphics. You can also run windows updates once you get your network driver installed -- when you have the option to do express or custom install, select custom install. In the list on the left, select "Hardware" and select any drivers listed under here. This will probably find a few driver updates for various pieces of hardware, and is pretty good about finding integrated graphics drivers.


Edit -- you can also contact Dell Support and request a set of recovery cds. I am not sure how they are sent now, but in the past they used to have separate cds for OS, Drivers, and Applications. If they still send them the same way, this would work for you. If it is packaged as a recovery DVD, then you probably don't want to go this route since you are trying to avoid all of the bloatware their recovery provides.

[Edited on May 26, 2011 at 9:57 AM. Reason : .]

5/26/2011 9:56:04 AM

this is why you install BelArc advisor BEFORE you reformat a machine

5/26/2011 7:19:57 PM

ok i installed everything and its running great.

still have 2 yellow alerts in device manager.

how do i find out what they are?

6/1/2011 8:38:38 AM

What do the yellow alerts say? Base System Device/Audio Device/etc

6/1/2011 10:18:46 AM

base system device, yeah

6/1/2011 10:35:18 AM

Have you tried installing the "JMicron JMB380 - Card Reader and 1394" listed under Chipset in the driver downloads? That would be the first thing I would try.

6/1/2011 11:38:42 AM

yep. did that one and it works too.

6/1/2011 6:45:04 PM