What to do on my first startup?

[Shane]

My G74sx-dh71 from Newegg was delivered by Ups today and before turning on the computer, I plugged in the battery and have had it charging for the last 7 hours. I would like to know what steps I should take upon the first startup to ensure my new G74 runs smoothly. Such as what drivers might need to be updated and what software I should uninstall. I have read numerous reviews and threads recommending to uninstalling the Asus Live Update software.

I also ordered a Sandisk extreme 120gb SSD that i plan on installing as the master drive once I know this computer is running smoothly with the factory hardware. I am very excited to see what this machine is capable of when running the current games like D3! I am upgrading from a custom desktop with Windows XP, a pentium 4, 2gb of ram, Amd radeon with 512mb Vram, and a 120gb HDD.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[PILGRIM]

Welcome to the Forums and congrats to your new laptop!..
(Just curious, what made you choose the G74 over the newer G75?)

I would be doing these things, if I were you:
-Do a "physical check-up" of the unit for scratches, cracks, etc.
-Power on the unit (with the battery and AC) and check if Windows, Drivers,
and applications work consistently. It's worthwhile to use DPC Latency Checker in here.
-Power on with battery only. Drain and recharge it by using the Windows' Power Options > Calibrator.
-Install some stress-testing programs (Furmark, any power-hungry games, etc.)
-Update Windows, manually update drivers (uninstall ASUS Live Update).
-Fiddle, fiddle, and do more fiddling on the unit for some time.

Since you'll be having an SSD soon, I strongly suggest you do an OS clean install.
Many of us here are satisfied users with the OS clean installation.

ADDENDUM: Many of the bloatwares are unnecessary. But a few of them may be
useful to a particular user. The bloatwares I have are:
-AI USB Charger (to recharge my phone via the G74)
-Power4Gear Hybrid (for the ROG button to function as 2D/3D toggle)

[zsld0423]

Along with PILGRIM's great advice, I would also say you should use the Asus AI Recovery Tool to make backup discs, in case you ever need to restore your computer for stock for some reason. Since you'll be using an SSD, you won't have that recovery partition that comes standard on the hard drive with your computer when you got it.

As for drivers, the big one to update would be your Nvidia drivers, as the ones your laptop was shipped with are probably fairly old. I've had good luck with the 296.16 and 296.17 drivers, but YMMV

[dstrakele]

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread...ll=1#post67178 provides a checklist to test your new laptop in stock configuration to determine if you will keep it or exchange it for a new unit while you're still within your retailer's exchange/return period.

High DPC Latency of earlier version Atheros WiFi drivers caused numerous issues on G74SX systems. Make sure your Atheros WiFi driver version is 9.2.1.432 or later. http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread...untry=&status= has a link to version 9.2.1.470, which will work nicely.

If your laptop has a Sentelic touchpad and you plan to use a Mouse, consider installing Sentelic version 9.1.7.7. Earlier version Sentelic touchpad drivers have an issue where the touchpad will re-enable after it is disabled with Fn-F9, possibly conflicting with USB Mouse functionality.

Don't let ASUS Live Update attempt to update your BIOS. It will use Winflash and this method has a higher probability of bricking your laptop. If you choose to update your BIOS, follow Brody's .PDF guide that may be downloaded in: http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread...untry=&status=

[PILGRIM]

Glad you linked that up, dstrakele. I was looking for it just a while back to link it to the OP.

[brecker]

i know this is included on the remove the bloatware, but i want to stress this point

Uninstall asus live update

[Shane]

I have got my computer up and running with Windows 7 and am currently in the process of creating backup dvd discs for my OS before I do anything else. I have also uninstalled Asus Live Update so it does not try to update my BIOS. Once my backup is finished, I will proceed to update my Nvidia drivers along with all the other suggestions you guys have given me.

The reason I went with a 74 rather than the newer 75 was that, the models that were offered on newegg or amazon did not have the hardware I wanted to still be in my price range. The 75's in the 1600-1800$ range, for instance, only had 2gb of ram for the graphics card. And only the models over 2 grand had 3gb of ram. Plus, with the G74 being out for so long, most of the issues with this model have been addressed so solutions to possible problems will likely be easier to find.