The laptop has arrived!

The first step to getting this laptop up and running is upgrade that RAM. The laptop was ordered with 1GB of RAM, but I purchased 2GB separately (cheaper). Installation of RAM was my first challenge..

RAM Installation

Installing RAM is my biggest complaint about the laptop.  Unlike most laptops where you just remove a cover from the back and replace the modules, you have to remove the keyboard as well:

  

Alas, once the RAM was installed, the system booted and I was off to running Windows Vista Home Basic (yuck!) for the first time (I already own Vista Ultimate, so I opted for the cheap OS for an instant re-install).

First Boot

Once booted into the OS, I was greeted with a EULA for Microsoft and Dell, then presented with the usual Vista setup screen where I select my name, picture, password, etc. After that process was finished, I was presented with the desktop.

I was surprised to not see an overwhelming amount of crapware installed on the machine. Just some Dell stuff and Google crapware. I don’t have a benchmark of a “normal” Vista Home Basic install, but the Dell-installed version had 65 processes upon startup:

The Performance Rating:

Some random stuff Dell installed that I took screenshots of just for the heck of it:

And finally, the Remove Programs list, as untouched by me:

Reinstall Process

Well Vista Home Basic, nice knowing you. Time for Vista Ultimate! I’m not going to include all the steps and numerous amounts of times it took me to finally get this process down right, but here it goes (order is critical):

1. Insert the Dell MediaDirect CD and partition all available space to C:

2. Reboot, insert your Vista CD and start the install.

3. At the disk preparation screen, be sure to load the SATA AHCI driver, which you can load from the Dell driver disc (I swear, this is the first time I have ever  used the Dell driver disc). You can also get a new driver from the Dell site, assuming a new driver is available.

4. Partition however you want, just don’t remove the last partition (it’s for the MediaDirect, which was set up in step 1. Remove that and your MediaDirect button on the laptop is pretty much worthless.)

5. Proceed as usual.

Let’s just say I missed step 3 and I could not get Vista to boot. Ever.

The installation is progressing. I’ll post some updates once I have a new install finished and de-Dell’d.

Farewell, Inspiron 9100. It’s not that I didn’t like you. It was just your time. 

~Jaker