Asus G74SX Clean Install Clear-ups and Doubts

[XVeno]

I think you may have misunderstood what a clean install is. Every Windows installation starts with a generic copy of Windows, as released by Microsoft. OEM installations add all their own drivers and utilities to that. And when a customer buys one their computers, part of what they're paying for is a single license to use that edition of Windows on that computer.

When you do a fresh installation, you start with a generic copy of Windows as well. It's not a hack or illegal copy....it's the generic build released by Microsoft, just like the OEMs use. But then you add only the drivers and programs you actually want. You activate using the Product Key you have already paid for....again, entirely legal....so you ARE in fact using a copy of Windows that is YOURS, and yours only, for that matter. Your product key cannot be used on any other computer, but you can use it on the computer you purchased it with, as many times as you want.

Oh I see it, and as for the wifi card, does it really suck as much as everyone says?
What would be the average price for switching the stock card with a...let's say, Intel Ultimate 6300 card?

[BrodyBoy]

No. With the updated drivers, it's a perfectly good 150Mbps card.

If you use a router that runs a faster network (typically 300Mbps), you would get a performance boost with a card upgrade. Fortunately, it's one of the cheapest upgrades you can do....about $35-45 for the 6300. If you use a 150Mbps router, a card upgrade would make no difference.

[XVeno]

No. With the updated drivers, it's a perfectly good 150Mbps card.

If you use a router that runs a faster network (typically 300Mbps), you would get a performance boost with a card upgrade. Fortunately, it's one of the cheapest upgrades you can do....about $35-45 for the 6300. If you use a 150Mbps router, a card upgrade would make no difference.

Oh then i'm alright, since I use wireless connection and my router goes up to 100Mbps, and so does my internet, so, i'm alright with that.

So, last from my questions for the moment, I take it that the difference between pressing F9 to restore the system and making a clean install, would be that pressing F9 would re-install the bloatware all over again, making it no "cleaner" whatsoever, while using a iso with win7HP would only install the root files needed by windows in order to make the laptop fully operational. right?

Brodyboy, i take it that you have a g74 as well, if so, what is your personal "review" about the equipment?

[FenrirMH]

My Windows 7 ISO which I got from DigitalRiver has been fully activated using the sticker underneath the notebook, as computer's nowadays don’t come with a actual Windows Disc, you will need a ISO to actually do a Clean Install, just mount to either a DVD or USB, then just activate it, via the Windows key on the sticker underneath. Bear in mind you need the right ISO which relates to the version which originally came with your notebook (so if you only got Win7 Home Premium, you can’t then use your key to activate Win7 Ultimate, see my thread here http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread...ht-Windows-ISO for getting the right ISO if needed.

Also, yes on bootup pressing F9 will install all the bloatware. Instead, make a bootable DVD or USB with the ISO image, then press F2 when you see the ASUS logo to enter BIOS, then select BOOT, select your USB or DVD as preferred BOOT device, insert DVD/USB, save and exit, then should get dislpay saying boot from DVD, press ENTER (you will only get a few seconds before this disappears and it continues to load Windows normally), then just follow the onscreen prompts, make sure you have the latest Drivers on DVD or USB before hand, saves alot of hassle.

Have I missed anything Brody?

[BrodyBoy]

Oh then i'm alright, since I use wireless connection and my router goes up to 100Mbps, and so does my internet, so, i'm alright with that.

Yeah, like I said....with the new driver, the Atheros should work just fine for you.

So, last from my questions for the moment, I take it that the difference between pressing F9 to restore the system and making a clean install, would be that pressing F9 would re-install the bloatware all over again, making it no "cleaner" whatsoever, while using a iso with win7HP would only install the root files needed by windows in order to make the laptop fully operational. right?

Essentially...yes. F9 will do a factory restore, which is a complete, automated re-installation of the out-of-box configuration....bloatware and all. A clean install is a manual process. First, you install Windows. Then, you install the 8-10 essential drivers required to attain functionality of all the G74's onboard devices.

Brodyboy, i take it that you have a g74 as well, if so, what is your personal "review" about the equipment?

Yeah....I've had three of them!! lol! In a nutshell, I think the G74 is a really nice desktop replacement laptop computer, with a really bad OEM software installation.

• I would have preferred that Asus installed Synaptics touchpads on all the G74s (most have Sentelic), but that's a minor annoyance.
• It has relatively poor speakers (compared to some older laptops I've owned), but they're passable.
• The full HD display is excellent, IMO....probably the best LED I've seen. (I have another Asus model that's only a year old, and its 1600x900 display is hideous compared to the G74.)

All in all, I think the hardware platform is good, but I really believe that this model requires a clean install if you want stable, reliable operation. That makes it less-than-ideal for people who want a plug-n-play option.....this one requries some user intervention. Finally, I think Asus support is bad, but I honestly don't know if it's any better or worse than the other big manufacturers.

[Trijicon]

Heck all I have done is throw 4GB more memory into mine, update my drivers and select the external speakers thru THX for better sound.... I have not done a clean install or remove any of the bloatware and she is running like a friggn champ.

The only 'issue' I ran into was while updating my video driver the picture in CinePlayer stopped playing... I could still hear the movies sound but had no picture... All I had to do was roll the driver back and all worked fine after that... Still running that driver and games are playing fine so I'll stick with it until I have issues... And then at that time I will just get better BluRay software to play movies if there's still an issue.

So far so good with this beast though!

[XVeno]

So I guess i'll just stick by the clean install option, it's not that much of a deal anyways, besides from the ATK package, graphics driver, and some of the other gibberish, what software from Asus should I download? I've heard that GameFast for example, is nowhere to be found on the internet.

[dstrakele]

GameFast is included with the Rotation Desktop software.

[XVeno]

GameFast is included with the Rotation Desktop software.

Hmm I understand...

Well, after reading most of the G74SX threads here (trust me, I had, god bless my patience xD), and learning how to get a better chance at NOT bricking my soon-to-be Asus G74SX, i noticed most of you mention installing the Chipset driver, a INF something, and since I'm going with a Clean Install as soon as I get it and play with some of the bloatware, I don't wanna miss anything important that might affect my overall experience...

I am familiar with some of the Asus issues (specially the Asus Web Storage crash with the Explorer.exe, but I managed to fix that myself), since I've recently acquired an Asus as well, but I don't think I'll dare risking much more than updating the BIOS.

So, if it's not asking much, may I have a step-by-step tutorial, explaining all essential drivers that i must have, in order to make it fully enjoyable and operational? You can leave the DL links to me, as I'm aware of the existence of both Jrd1st and Chastity's threads regarding drivers.

Thank you in advance.

[BrodyBoy]

Updating the BIOS is pretty safe if you use EasyFlash. But if you don;t have keyboard issues, you really don't HAVE to do it. FOr which part of the process do you want a step-by-step tutorial?