Hi everyone, I just joined and this is my first post. I have 2 new Studio 1537s on the way to be delivered sometime in January. I want to reformat my new laptops in order to do a clean install of Vista and I have a couple of questions. The first involves the AHCI driver issue. I understand how in the past this driver has installed either from a USB drive or from the Dell Drivers CD prior to the re-installation of Vista. However when I look at the available drivers for the Studio 1537 on Dell's driver download area, under SATA drives there is only one driver/file listed and it's function is as follows: "The DE16 firmware corrects an audible clicking noise." There is no mention of the Intel Matrix Storage Driver under SATA drivers. I believe I read somewhere that when reinstalling Vista from a Vista SP1 disk, this driver is no longer necessary. Can someone please verify this? Oh and should I assume my new 1537 will already have this firmware update applied to the hard drives?
My next question has to do with reinstalling Dell system software. I was looking at what I would need to download and reinstall under the System Utilities heading on Dell's support and there are three listed, with one being "urgent" dated 12/18/2008. I can't tell what this Dell utility does but it says "If you are reinstalling the operating system it is important that this software be installed first." Now I'm not exactly a noob but I can't figure out what this means. Is this a firmware or BIOS update? Since my laptops are being built after 12/18/2008, has this update already been applied to my machines? Since I want to reformat and reinstall Vista, do I apply this uodate before I reformat? That seems counterproductive unless it's a firmware issue. Or is it like the AHCI driver where I extract the files to a USB drive and install the update after the reformat but before I install Vista?
Lastly, does anyone have any advice on which order I should reinstall the drivers after I complete reinstalling Vista? I understand that the order in which the drivers are installed can be important.
Thanks in advance for any assistance I can get.
Bill : )
My next question has to do with reinstalling Dell system software. I was looking at what I would need to download and reinstall under the System Utilities heading on Dell's support and there are three listed, with one being "urgent" dated 12/18/2008. I can't tell what this Dell utility does but it says "If you are reinstalling the operating system it is important that this software be installed first." Now I'm not exactly a noob but I can't figure out what this means. Is this a firmware or BIOS update? Since my laptops are being built after 12/18/2008, has this update already been applied to my machines? Since I want to reformat and reinstall Vista, do I apply this uodate before I reformat? That seems counterproductive unless it's a firmware issue. Or is it like the AHCI driver where I extract the files to a USB drive and install the update after the reformat but before I install Vista?
Lastly, does anyone have any advice on which order I should reinstall the drivers after I complete reinstalling Vista? I understand that the order in which the drivers are installed can be important.
Thanks in advance for any assistance I can get.
Bill : )
