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Packard Bell imedia 1805 - clean installation

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by Christer, 2004/12/09.

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  1. 2004/12/09
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    Hello all!

    It seems like I will have to "fix" a Packard Bell imedia 1805 by either using SmartRestore to factory fresh condition or by wiping the HDD and subsequently installing XP clean (which I would prefer).

    There is a hidden partition that is used by SmartRestore. Is there someone out there who has removed all partitions from the HDD (including the hidden one) and successfully repartitioned, formated and installed XP (or any other OS) clean on a Packard Bell?

    Thanks for Your time,
    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  2. 2004/12/11
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    I've fixed it by using SmartRestore.

    The hidden partition was visible in Disk Management but I'm not sure if it would be visible to the Windows installer, taking it from square one.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  4. 2004/12/11
    sparrow

    sparrow Inactive

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    Hi Christer,

    For my curiosity, why? A problem would seem to be lack of some necessary drivers with a clean install.

    Was SmartRestore an image restoration or an actual installation?

    And why not (or did you?) make an image after all the other software (not included with the factory setup) is installed?

    Just wondering what I'd do in a similar situation. :D
     
    sparrow,
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  5. 2004/12/12
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    Hi Mike!

    The harddisk in OEM computers is usually in a single partition. I partition in three, to separate the system from the data and to have a separate Ghost partition. If an image has to be restored, user data aren't affected. This way, I'm not only backing up the computer in a way that is easy and efficient, I'm also protecting my work. If the user has fat fingers, it's a matter of 5 minutes and a cup of coffee while Ghost does the job.

    That may be different on different computers.

    I did a HP Pavilion a few weeks ago and it only needed the latest nForce drivers. The drivers on HP support were not full versions, only upgrades and of no use.

    A while ago, I did a Compaq LapTop and it needed all the drivers from Compaq support. These drivers were full versions for touch pad, buttons and other LapTop "specials ".

    Packard Bell SmartRestore took 7-8 minutes to complete and my conclusion is that it is some kind of an image. The restore partition is hidden and I didn't bother to unhide it to check the contents.

    HP Restore took 15-20 minutes and was definitely a "normal" Windows installation.

    No, I didn't create an Image. With only a single partition it would have to be created directly to CDs (4 of them). To complicate imaging further, there was no Floppy drive.
    The only installation after the restore was SP2 and two updates, NIS and the Nokia Suite.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  6. 2004/12/12
    sparrow

    sparrow Inactive

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    Thank you!

    Thanks for the clarification. I've just purchased a USB external HDD connector, to get an image to burn with my DVD drive for such situations, but I've not yet used it. The last laptop I cleaned made me think of that.
     
    sparrow,
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  7. 2004/12/12
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    Mike,
    if You have not yet bought imaging software, chek up on USB compatibility issues. I don't have any USB harddisks but I have read about the problems with drivers and the necessity to "tailor" the boot disk(s).

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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