Driver issues on laptop

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by 607, Apr 22, 2019.

  1. So last week, Dell said they would send someone to my house to replace the motherboard. But then the next day they said they would recommend a clean install first anyway. I will wait until the end of the academic year for that. Is there anything I should keep in mind? I've never installed Windows myself, I think. I guess there will be a button for it somewhere.
    luckycordel likes this.
  2. Assuming its Windows 8. I think 8.1 is a little different not sure though.
    Backup anything you've added, files/programs to a flash drive you want to keep. So you can add them back later.
    1. Go to your PC Setting
    2. Then click on General
    3. Click on Remove Everything and Reinstall Windows
    4. Click on Get Started
    607 likes this.
  3. I skipped 8 and 8.1. :p I think I will actually want to use this, as it specifically mentions that drivers will be removed also. https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10startfresh (I couldn't find 'General' in Windows 10, so I did a Google search)
    luckycordel likes this.
  4. Yes I vaguely remember using some type of tool to wipe Windows 10 on my new PC. Its been a few years now. I installed Windows 8, only because it was what I was familiar with. (I don't like change:eek:) I had a flash drive with Windows 8 and installed that instead. I see no reason why the link you provided won't do the job for you. Make sure you have a product key and a copy of Windows 10 before you wipe. Sorry I wasn't much help.
    607 likes this.
  5. Oh? How? You might have been of help if it turns out that this is indeed needed. :p
    luckycordel likes this.
  6. Yes please make sure it's needed, or you may have to purchase it.
  7. You can reuse the product key (for Office too) on the same machine if needed. I believe I used a program like ProduKey to find these keys when I needed to do this a couple of times (always worked).
    luckycordel and Jelle68 like this.
  8. Well you don't need a product key it just means you can personalize windows and a few other things
  9. I didn't even realise I had Office on this. :p (but I do, it looks like)
  10. Of course it has Office, almost every prebuilt computer has Office, especially if it's a "business" computer. :)

    lol no sorry, you do need a product key for more things, I'm afraid. :p
    607 likes this.
  11. Besides that and me wanting proper ownership of things I use anyway, customisation is actually very important for me. :p Although I am using the default desktop wallpaper for now, as it's just so beautiful...
  12. Even the tool to do a clean install doesn't work. xD
    TomvanWijnen likes this.
  13. I did do a clean install last Monday, and as expected it didn't fix any issues (but it did make me lose some stuff, as I had make a list including things to back-up but forgot to actually look at it before doing the clean install, aaah).
    Yesterday the person from Dell came and replaced my motherboard. The GPU works now! The audio issues remain unscathed, unfortunately.