Doing a total reinstall on a dell laptop

BillyGoat · Post by **BillyGoat** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:37 am

Hello,
Just did a trade locally here for a dell latitude d600 lappy. Workd great, but the guy i got it from left all sorts of crud on it so I would like to do a reinstall. It came with a dell reinstalation cd with xppro sp1
and a driver cd. all I need to do it set this up liek a normal xp install? Will microsoft activation freeak if the find out im not the origainal owner?
Thanks
Bill

Busby · Post by **Busby** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:00 am

Shouldn't. I have a Dell D600 also. According to Dell, the reinstall order for the laptop is:

<ol>
<li>Dell Notebook System Software
<li>Intel Mobile Chipset driver
<li>ATI Mobile Radeon 9000 video driver
<li>SigmaTel STAC 9750 audio driver
<li>O2Micro 02711EC1 PCMCIA/SmartCard controller driver
<li>Broadcom 570x Gigabit Integrated Controller driver
<li>MDC driver
<li>Wireless MiniPCI driver (if customer has a device)
<li>Wireless Bluetooth (if customer has a device)
<li>Alps touchpad drivers
</ol>

While the order shouldn't matter it did for me and I "had" to reformat after doing it once. If you need any of the software let me know as I have it all. Also, get the latest ATI driver from ATI then get <a href="http://www.driverheaven.net/patje/">Mobility Modder</a> to let the ATI drivers install on the mobility chipset.

ZYFER · Post by **ZYFER** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:39 am

you won't have to worry about the activation, Dell has their own special version of XP for their systems that won't work on any others, should just be able to book from the restore cd and be on your way

BillyGoat · Post by **BillyGoat** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:06 am

Bubsy, how do you like it, seems like a nice lite lappy, what kinda battery life are you getting, And do you have a dvd+rw in your too? I imagine no drivers are needed for it

MegaVectra · Post by **MegaVectra** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:13 am

Originally posted by ZYFER
you won't have to worry about the activation, Dell has their own special version of XP for their systems that won't work on any others, should just be able to book from the restore cd and be on your way

Not always, I have seen some that are just OEM install discs with a few added dell icons. It still needs to be activated.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:28 am

You WILL need to activate after you re-install, although it should not be a problem.

HOWEVER to make life easier, backup the activation file and restore it after you do your clean install. As long as your hardware doesn't change, that will bypass the need for the activation.

Use the WinKeyFinder to backup your activation file and then restore it: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4501.html

ZYFER · Post by **ZYFER** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:42 pm

Originally posted by MegaVectra
Not always, I have seen some that are just OEM install discs with a few added dell icons. It still needs to be activated.

hmm, interesting never have yet to see it with any of the Dell restores I have done...

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 2:25 pm

Originally posted by FlyingPenguin
You WILL need to activate after you re-install, although it should not be a problem.

HOWEVER to make life easier, backup the activation file and restore it after you do your clean install. As long as your hardware doesn't change, that will bypass the need for the activation.

Use the WinKeyFinder to backup your activation file and then restore it: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4501.html

Thanks for the link to that utility.

MegaVectra · Post by **MegaVectra** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:44 pm

Originally posted by ZYFER
hmm, interesting never have yet to see it with any of the Dell restores I have done...

The ones I have seen were called "reinstallation discs".