I haven't received my new netbook yet (Just bought an Advent 4211c) but i wanted to do a format of the HD, wipe it clean and then, either put XP back or put Vista on (Ordered an extra 1gig of ram for the netbook). Now, i have a device that allows me to connect my DVDRW drive to it including power which i then can connect to the netbook via USB. Can i use that to boot my XP or Vista Disc from and install windows that way? Do i need to go into the netbook (Advent 4211c) bios and change boot sequence to enable boot from USB or is that part of the boot sequence anyway? If the answer is yes, does Vista work ok on the Advent 4211c with 2gig of ram? Or should i stick with XP? Sorry about all the questions! I know i could do a search, which i have done, but i am a noob with a netbook so needed an experts precise answer! Cheers guys.
I would imagine there's an option to boot from CD. Why do you want to reformat? Why not just keep the XP install you get with it? Vista is a bit hoggish for an Atom, and with a new XP on there, what's the trouble? Break out the XP power toys and customise it up!
I'm running Vista on the same computer with 2GB RAM and while usable, XP is just far quicker. However Windows 7 (RC1) is quite quick (almost as fast as XP) and for me it even improves battery life by about 10 minutes. You can either boot from CD or simply transfer the install disk contents onto a bootable USB drive.
It could be useful to check out the PCWorld support pages for the Advent 4211C ( rebadged MSi Wind) especially the parts about recovery media and the BIOS updates. http://support.thetechguys.com/layo...86}&ID={877920eb-7d14-465f-890f-83330d7cf470} You may encounter warranty issues adding more memory as the "warranty void" sticker is over a screw which needs removing to do this. Microstar are quite happy about it if you nofify them but as this is an ODM netbook with Techguys not Microstar support you may find the rules are a bit different.
It will void your warranty, however so will installing a new Operating System.... Unfortunately i used to work for the Tech Guys...
yeah krikkit.. the average tech.. 'ah this is bad, you need a new computer' serious to ham it up.. they boot memtest.. shake thier head a couple of times and recommend data recovery...... in the clean room XD
Just a bunch of thieving gits tbh. Someone should set up a company providing techs who are totally honest, guaranteed. This attitude of "it's not working right, let's replace everything" is just a load of crap.
Those stickers can be prized off carefully and put back carefully!! Done this a few times with Graphics cards etc! Never had a problem with getting money back!! lol Plus, you can do a recovery of the Operating system if need be! Is the recovery on a CD or on a pertition? If on a partition, can it be transferred to a CD to boot from if the Hard drive is changed / completely wiped?
It'll be on a partition for a netbook - no CD/DVD drive. You could probably restore it, but it'll be big effort. Just tweak the stock one tbh.
Well, i may want to change the OS so will need the recovery or just install fresh XP and get drivers from net? Can the Advent ones be easily sourced? Where? Or, can i get the drivers from my laptop and save them? If so, how?
What do you mean "might want to change the OS" ? What are you going to be replacing the standard XP Home with? Have a look on the advent site (or wherever) for drivers, shouldn't be hard to find.
What if i formatted the PC, Made it one partition, installed Linux then at some later date decided i wanted to put XP back on? No recovery partition! So, where do i get the drivers from then? Either XP or Vista? I have looked but nothing! Edit: Might have found them!!! This right?
orly? Not sure if it will be the same for the advent/xp. But I can't see that it will be a big deal getting the original install back on. I am sure my eee had a recovery partition on it, but I purged it, if I had left it I imagine it would have been easy to get back to stock. KoolPC, I would see what you think of the default XP install, apart from the tech guy links etc, it might not be too bad. I tried vista on my eee and it was alright, but it sure isn't XP in terms of speed. I am still looking at going to ubuntu again though.
Agreed 'The Tech Guys' are extortionately overpriced... But that doesn't mean the staff are thieving gits! You'll find 90% are well informed and know what they are doing, but as most have to do. If you want to keep a job, you have to follow company procedures...
The bios order includes usb floppy drive, usb hard disk, usb cdrom, harddrive and pxe network. The order can be fiddled with in the bios. The 'Tech Guys Recovery' partition is hidden and is accessed through the bootmanager or xp desktop. I have flashed my 4211B to the latest MSI Wind bios (1.0B) - dead easy to do and works a treat. I can now at the touch of a button overclock the cpu to 1.9something Ghz when it's plugged in, or underclock it on battery if I'm doing simple tasks. Using setfsb, you can There were no stickers at all covering any of the screws when I took it apart to stick an extra gig in. Btw, I have a spare 1GB stick, as I ordered a pair not realising the Advent's existing 1GB is soldered onto the board. You can also get a 2GB stick and disable the onboard memory. I'd also recommend (if you haven't got one already) one of these for carrying it about in. I had a look in PCWorld today and they wanted £30. Less than £20 from Currys. Next thing on my list is a 6-cell battery I get an hour and 3/4 ish out of the supplied 3-cell. Btw, don't expect it to be rocking in games. I've tried HL2:ep2 and it's not even funny. Portal - as soon as you look through a Portal, the power of the Atom asplodes and the game crashes. This is with everything toned down and using SwifShader 2.0.1, too. I just wanted to see how it fared and the answer for me is, very badly indeed. AudioSurf works really well though
