HP Pavilion DM4 – 14in Laptop

[SniffMoney]

I have a HP Pavilion DM4 14in Laptop I’ve been using for DJ'ing and a few other things. I was wondering how people get the most out of there laptops around here? Seems like they come full of bloatware and just don't perform as good as the specs on them would if you had a desktop with similar specs, but installed windows yourself. I pulled some of the bloatware off the think a year ago or so, but I just don't know everything to remove.

They don't even give you a windows install CD with the thing... just some recover partition on the hard drive that brings back all the bloatware and crap.

How easy and how common is it among people to format the hard drive and install a real copy of windows on a purchased name brand laptop? I'm assuming the drivers are kinda a pain to find and you might end up with things not working right?


Anyway, I just wanna get this thing working as good as it should be. Just feels held back I guess you can say.



Here's the rest of the specs on the thing

HP Pavilion DM4 – 14in Laptop
Serial # CNV1011BV6
Product # X1T124UA # ABA
Model: DM4-1160-US
CPU: i5 CPU M450 2.40GHz
4GB RAM
64 Bit Windows 7

 

[voyagerfan99]

I'd do it if I bought a stock machine. All you need to do is download a stock Windows 7 iso from here and burn it to a DVD or a flashdrive.

http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325

Once that's installed, go to HP's support website website http://support.hp.com (from another computer) type in your model number (the real one is on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop) and download all the necessary drivers for your system.

 

[DMGrier]

I'd do it if I bought a stock machine. All you need to do is download a stock Windows 7 iso from here and burn it to a DVD or a flashdrive.

http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325

Once that's installed, go to HP's support website website http://support.hp.com (from another computer) type in your model number (the real one is on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop) and download all the necessary drivers for your system.

+1,
Just be careful as Hp puts their bloatware under the drivers category, so when you look at it and if it does not sound like hardware related don't install it.

 

[Okedokey]

It is is easy and relatively straight forward to do a windows reinstall by creating a new partition, installing and then deleting the old one using the following method. This gives you a clean, vanilla Win 7 64 bit install with absolutely no bloat ware, latest drivers etc. Windows 7 64 bit ISO linked below. Now there are (as always) some risks and if you have a spare drive, use that and skip all the stuff around partitioning, but if not, this process always assumes you have a back up. Id recommend having these instructions on another computer/laptop next to you whilst you complete it, or print it out.

Please read these instructions all the way first, download EVERYTHING to an external source (preferably USB thumb drive). Prior to taking any action.

Use Windows Easy Transfer to backup and setup all your files and other settings you currently like. I would also ensure your key files (pictures etc) are stored on something external like an external HDD or USB.

Download a standard Windows 7 64 bit ISO from here (legitimate/legal source). Once you have downloaded it, Burn it to a DVD.

Once you're happy that you have a back up of your precious files and settings and a working Windows DVD:

TIME TO SHRINK CURRENT PARTITION TO MAKE ROOM FOR NEW WINDOWS INSTALL

1. Right click on Computer and go to Manage.
2. Click on Disk Management.
3. Right Click on the C: (assuming thats your Windows) and select Shrink.
4. Shrink it by the maximum it will allow. You'll need at least 30 - 40 GB so if you don't have that spare space, back up your files externally first, and delete them to make room and download and run Ccleaner to get rid of crap.
5. You will now have a Unallocated Partition. Leave it unallocated and don't format it.

TIME TO DOWNLOAD ESSENTIAL DRIVERS

1. LAN and Wireless drivers from here Save these on an external source for later use (e.g. USB). This ensures that once you are up and running you can access the internet to install the remaining drivers. Your display, chipset etc are all from intel, however get them from HP for now here. IMPORTANT - make sure you have your chipset and LAN drivers as a minimum. If you're unsure of which ones (LAN) particularly (as there are various versions of your machine, download PC Wizard from my sig, install it and go to FILE, SAVE AS and click OK, and that text file will tell you.

Then get your remaining drivers from here including:

1. Latest BIOS
2. Essential Windows Updates for your system
3. Sound Drivers
4. Download WinRAR in case any thing needs to be unzipped prior to you having access to the internet within the fresh install.

TIME TO UPDATE YOUR MOTHERBOARD BIOS

1. Within Windows, Run the BIOS program downloaded earlier or download it here.
2. Follow prompts and restart.

Once you have the above drivers all downloaded them to an external USB drive, and shrunk the current partition, and burned a copy of Windows 7 to DVD do the following:

TIME TO BACK UP YOUR SOFTWARE KEYS AND INSTALL WINDOWS

1. Download Magic JellyBean Windows Key finder and install it.
2. Run it and record down on a text file all of your Windows keys (including Office and any other applications), and save them to your USB / external source.
3. Insert your Windows 7 64 bit DVD (created earlier).
4. Restart
5. Boot from DVD (you may need to enter the bios of tap a particular key to select DVD although its usually set as the first priority on most machines).
6. Hit any key when it asks to enter the Windows installation process.
7. Select Install Windows Now.
8. Accept the Licence Agreement. If at any time it asks for a key DO NOT put it in yet. You can do that later once you're sure it all goes to plan.
9. Select the "Custom (Advanced)" Option
10. There will be various partitions there, carefully select the Unallocated partition (the shrunk partition we created earlier -not your existing Windows Partition or anything else)
11. Press Next.
12. Windows will install and restart several times, when it does, leave it alone, it will know what to do (don't press any keys etc).

Once you are finally in your new Windows installation,

TIME TO INSTALL ESSENTIAL CHIPSET AND LAN DRIVERS, WINDOWS UPDATES AND YOUR PERSONAL FILES

1. Install your Intel Chipset Drivers
2. Restart
3. Install your Intel Graphics Drivers
4. Restart
5. Install your network drivers (downloaded earlier).
6. Restart.
7. Install Intel Turbo Boost Drivers here
8. Restart
9. Install the Essential System Updates for your machine downloaded earlier or from here.
10. Restart
11. Install Java (required for the next step)
12. Restart
13. Go to Intel Auto Update and ensure everything is up to date, if not, download it and install it individually, restarting after each.
14. Right click on Computer, Properties and select Activate Windows. Enter your key. Hopefully all of that will go fine. If not use the Telephone Option and follow the prompts, this is completely anonymous and has never failed me. If that fails, speak it will give you an option to speak with the operator, do that, as you genuinely own Windows 7 64 bit and they will give you the activation code. Tell them your HDD died. It will work trust me, but without a doubt it will just Activate.
15. Once Activated, Update Windows.
16. Restart
17. Update remaining drivers from your USB/HP site ensuring that when you Right Click on Computer, Properties and go to Device Manager that there are no Yellow, Red or Unknown entries in the hardware.
18. Restart after each install.
19. Now navigate to your previous Windows partition (should be D or E drive or something) and transfer across any files / settings you want to transfer, or use the Windows Easy Transfer method as linked above.

Once you have all your hardware installed and updated, all your files transferred and you're happy with the install being complete,

TIME TO REMOVE OLD PARTITION

1. Right Click on Computer and go to Manage, Disk Management.
2. Right Click on the OLD Windows Partition and Select Delete Volume. Be careful you select the old one.
3. Exit Disk Management.

TIME TO EXTEND NEW PARTITION.

Windows doesn't do this, so well, so we're lucky there's a great free tool:

1. Download Minitools Partition Wizard Boot Disk (free)
2. Burn it to a DVD
3. Restart and Boot from the Minitools DVD
4. It will come up with a Screen - Select "Boot from Partition Wizard Boot Disk"
5. It will then ask you to choose resolution, select 1 and hit enter
6. You will then see a screen, with your disk on it and a lot of options. You're interested in your disk which will look like this:

If you put your mouse between the Windows Partition and the unallocated slot (old partition), you can drag the NEW partition to take up all the remaining space on the HDD.
Follow the prompts, it will restart and then complete the action.

Once it has finished (it may take several restarts), you will boot into a brand new Windows install, with no bloat ware, and completely updated.

You can then go ahead and customise the way you like, update Windows, DirectX, and install other applications.

Then create a backup of your system image on an external HDD if possible.

good luck.

 

[SniffMoney]

It is is easy and relatively straight forward to do a windows reinstall by creating a new partition, installing and then deleting the old one using the following method. This gives you a clean, vanilla Win 7 64 bit install with absolutely no bloat ware, latest drivers etc. Windows 7 64 bit ISO linked below. Now there are (as always) some risks and if you have a spare drive, use that and skip all the stuff around partitioning, but if not, this process always assumes you have a back up. Id recommend having these instructions on another computer/laptop next to you whilst you complete it, or print it out.

Please read these instructions all the way first, download EVERYTHING to an external source (preferably USB thumb drive). Prior to taking any action.

Use Windows Easy Transfer to backup and setup all your files and other settings you currently like. I would also ensure your key files (pictures etc) are stored on something external like an external HDD or USB.

Download a standard Windows 7 64 bit ISO from here (legitimate/legal source). Once you have downloaded it, Burn it to a DVD.

Once you're happy that you have a back up of your precious files and settings and a working Windows DVD:

TIME TO SHRINK CURRENT PARTITION TO MAKE ROOM FOR NEW WINDOWS INSTALL

1. Right click on Computer and go to Manage.
2. Click on Disk Management.
3. Right Click on the C: (assuming thats your Windows) and select Shrink.
4. Shrink it by the maximum it will allow. You'll need at least 30 - 40 GB so if you don't have that spare space, back up your files externally first, and delete them to make room and download and run Ccleaner to get rid of crap.
5. You will now have a Unallocated Partition. Leave it unallocated and don't format it.

TIME TO DOWNLOAD ESSENTIAL DRIVERS

1. LAN and Wireless drivers from here Save these on an external source for later use (e.g. USB). This ensures that once you are up and running you can access the internet to install the remaining drivers. Your display, chipset etc are all from intel, however get them from HP for now here. IMPORTANT - make sure you have your chipset and LAN drivers as a minimum. If you're unsure of which ones (LAN) particularly (as there are various versions of your machine, download PC Wizard from my sig, install it and go to FILE, SAVE AS and click OK, and that text file will tell you.

Then get your remaining drivers from here including:

1. Latest BIOS
2. Essential Windows Updates for your system
3. Sound Drivers
4. Download WinRAR in case any thing needs to be unzipped prior to you having access to the internet within the fresh install.

TIME TO UPDATE YOUR MOTHERBOARD BIOS

1. Within Windows, Run the BIOS program downloaded earlier or download it here.
2. Follow prompts and restart.

Once you have the above drivers all downloaded them to an external USB drive, and shrunk the current partition, and burned a copy of Windows 7 to DVD do the following:

TIME TO BACK UP YOUR SOFTWARE KEYS AND INSTALL WINDOWS

1. Download Magic JellyBean Windows Key finder and install it.
2. Run it and record down on a text file all of your Windows keys (including Office and any other applications), and save them to your USB / external source.
3. Insert your Windows 7 64 bit DVD (created earlier).
4. Restart
5. Boot from DVD (you may need to enter the bios of tap a particular key to select DVD although its usually set as the first priority on most machines).
6. Hit any key when it asks to enter the Windows installation process.
7. Select Install Windows Now.
8. Accept the Licence Agreement. If at any time it asks for a key DO NOT put it in yet. You can do that later once you're sure it all goes to plan.
9. Select the "Custom (Advanced)" Option
10. There will be various partitions there, carefully select the Unallocated partition (the shrunk partition we created earlier -not your existing Windows Partition or anything else)
11. Press Next.
12. Windows will install and restart several times, when it does, leave it alone, it will know what to do (don't press any keys etc).

Once you are finally in your new Windows installation,

TIME TO INSTALL ESSENTIAL CHIPSET AND LAN DRIVERS, WINDOWS UPDATES AND YOUR PERSONAL FILES

1. Install your Intel Chipset Drivers
2. Restart
3. Install your Intel Graphics Drivers
4. Restart
5. Install your network drivers (downloaded earlier).
6. Restart.
7. Install Intel Turbo Boost Drivers here
8. Restart
9. Install the Essential System Updates for your machine downloaded earlier or from here.
10. Restart
11. Install Java (required for the next step)
12. Restart
13. Go to Intel Auto Update and ensure everything is up to date, if not, download it and install it individually, restarting after each.
14. Right click on Computer, Properties and select Activate Windows. Enter your key. Hopefully all of that will go fine. If not use the Telephone Option and follow the prompts, this is completely anonymous and has never failed me. If that fails, speak it will give you an option to speak with the operator, do that, as you genuinely own Windows 7 64 bit and they will give you the activation code. Tell them your HDD died. It will work trust me, but without a doubt it will just Activate.
15. Once Activated, Update Windows.
16. Restart
17. Update remaining drivers from your USB/HP site ensuring that when you Right Click on Computer, Properties and go to Device Manager that there are no Yellow, Red or Unknown entries in the hardware.
18. Restart after each install.
19. Now navigate to your previous Windows partition (should be D or E drive or something) and transfer across any files / settings you want to transfer, or use the Windows Easy Transfer method as linked above.

Once you have all your hardware installed and updated, all your files transferred and you're happy with the install being complete,

TIME TO REMOVE OLD PARTITION

1. Right Click on Computer and go to Manage, Disk Management.
2. Right Click on the OLD Windows Partition and Select Delete Volume. Be careful you select the old one.
3. Exit Disk Management.

TIME TO EXTEND NEW PARTITION.

Windows doesn't do this, so well, so we're lucky there's a great free tool:

1. Download Minitools Partition Wizard Boot Disk (free)
2. Burn it to a DVD
3. Restart and Boot from the Minitools DVD
4. It will come up with a Screen - Select "Boot from Partition Wizard Boot Disk"
5. It will then ask you to choose resolution, select 1 and hit enter
6. You will then see a screen, with your disk on it and a lot of options. You're interested in your disk which will look like this:

If you put your mouse between the Windows Partition and the unallocated slot (old partition), you can drag the NEW partition to take up all the remaining space on the HDD.
Follow the prompts, it will restart and then complete the action.

Once it has finished (it may take several restarts), you will boot into a brand new Windows install, with no bloat ware, and completely updated.

You can then go ahead and customise the way you like, update Windows, DirectX, and install other applications.

Then create a backup of your system image on an external HDD if possible.

good luck.

Holy smokes! That’s quite the list of things to do.... thanks for such a detailed explanation of how to do this. I don't think I would have been able to without it. It is kinda scary to thing I can lose music, files, and audio production settings and projects. Also installing all the audio production software again and trying to find all the registration keys and weird quarks that some of the plug-ins and other software had that needed to be done to get them to work right (like run as administrator and other things).

But that’s was a given on doing a fresh install anyway, no matter what way or how it was done. Just stressful non the less. I think I’m going to drive over to fry’s today and pick up a new external hard drive to transfer my files to. I have one already, but it’s getting full and it’s kind of old. I’d feel safer with a new one.

With the way you described above, will it retail any windows setting I’ve done in the past? I can’t recall everything I did to it, but I know I ran through a bunch of “optimization” kinda techniques that where recommended to do when running a specific piece of DJ software (serato scratch & serato itch).


Thanks again for all the help. I’m hopping this will really speed this thing up and make it perform as good as home built desktop with the same kinda specs.

 

[Okedokey]

No worries mate. I think it is a good idea to get a new drive and do it that way. Depending on how rich you feel and how much space you need, i would HIGHLY recommend an SSD - say a 500GB Samsung Evo. This difference in performance between that and a standard HDD is night and day. You can also use your old drive for storage/backup via the USB3.0 caddy.

Either way, get the new drive, and also get a USB 3.0 2.5" HDD caddy. That way you put the old drive in the caddy, and the new drive i the laptop. Use the Windows Easy Transfer Files and Settings approach and save it to your existing (old drive).

Before you change over, ensure you have your Windows keys (take note of what Version too e.g. professional, home premium etc) and update your bios, and a burnt copy of windows (links above).

Then swap the drives over using these instructions (Page 53 - 54).

One further recommendations. With your new drive, create a partition, say 60GB (or larger) for Windows and another for your files etc. (instructions below). That way in future, its very easy to reinstall Windows without affecting your files partition (Windows sees them as two separate HDD) - meaning you will not have to worry about your files etc with a reinstall.

Install Windows (and create partition)

1. Put your NEW drive in the laptop using instructions above.
2. Ensure any non-essential hardware is not connected and the laptop is connected to mains power. In fact remove all USB, SD cards etc.
3. Ensure that you have all the Essential Drivers from the previous post above on a separate USB drive (not connected to laptop at this stage) so that you can access them after install (where you may not have network drivers) - windows 7 is pretty good a having drivers though.
4. Insert your Windows 7 64 bit DVD (assuming done the above)
5. Restart
6. Press any key to boot from DVD (if it doesn't boot from DVD, restart again and press either F10 or F12 and choose the DVD as priority boot - although it should be default)

Select Install Now

This Screen Will Show

If connected to the internet (many computers always are), Select to "Go online" for latest updates.

This screen will show:

Then select the Windows Version you want to install. In your case it will be whatever your key is for - (as per Magic Jelly Bean - 1 & 2 of TIME TO BACK UP YOUR SOFTWARE KEYS AND INSTALL WINDOWS from previous post). It may also be written on the bottom of your Laptop on a COA sticker. Select the right one.

Accept the license terms and click next.

Select "Custom (advanced)"

In this screen you see existing partition (in your case there should just be one). Click "Drive options (advanced)".

Click on New

You can choose to use the entire empty space, or just a part of the space. If you choose to partition (60GB for Windows, the rest for files) then enter 60000. If you have a large disk, then you can make the Windows partition even larger - say 100GB (100000). Then press Apply. Don't format anything.

Windows will, by default, create the "System Reserved" partition.

Now click on the "Disk 0, Partition X" - choose the one that is the same size that you created earlier. Select next.

Windows will begin installing.

Let it install, it will restart several times.

When you finally install and get to the screen below, DONT ENTER serial yet. Just select "Next" without entering anything.

Complete the "TIME TO INSTALL ESSENTIAL CHIPSET AND LAN DRIVERS, WINDOWS UPDATES AND YOUR PERSONAL FILES" section from previous post. Make sure everything works BEFORE you enter your key (see 14 under that section).

All going well you'll have a new, activated copy of Windows 7 64 bit. If it all goes horribly wrong, you can re-replace your old drive and be back up and running.

All going well, next job is to go to Disk Manager and create your "Files Partition" or whatever you want to call the remaining space on your HDD that you want to put files and your 'stuff' on. (the part of the disk you didn't install Windows on). Do this by:

1. Right click on Computer
2. Select Manage
3. Select Disk Management in the Left Pane
4. Right Click on the Unallocated Partition and Select New Volume
5. Follow the Wizard allocating a new drive letter and a quick format naming it what you want (e.g. Files and Documents).
6. After a short while, you will have a C: and probably a new E: (D: being the DVD ROM).

After this attach and navigate to your 'old' drive via the USB caddy. Run the Windows Easy Files and Settings transfer again, navigate to your old drive and your new machine will look like your old. Then simply manually install new applications and files form your old one.

Then download Auslogic Disk Defrag and defrag the entire two partitions using the Defrag and Optimise option.

Update Windows.

Once you've done that, and you're confident that you have all your stuff transferred over, use the external caddy and old drive and perform a backup.

 

[voyagerfan99]

Hey Oke if you wanna write that all up and post it as a guide in the OS section that would be awesome :good:

 

[Okedokey]

Hey Oke if you wanna write that all up and post it as a guide in the OS section that would be awesome :good:

I was thinking that might be useful too. When i get time ill combine. Two pathways, shrink and new install, or new disk partition method i guess?

 

[voyagerfan99]

The two separate ones would be helpful. Same guide, just different methods.