i need some help...

Zonda999

Right, i should start this by saying i'm not an inexperienced pc user, but i did **** this one up bad. So here goes

Right, so i got a new laptop, a samsung q330, and when setting it up for the first time i made some crucial flaws. On installing after turning it on for the first time, it asked me to partition the hard drive, nothing wrong there, i wanted to make the c drive very big and the partition d drive very small. However, i did this in reverse by accident, and made the c drive(which has windows and everything on it) as small as it could be and the d drive massive. I recognised straight away this was a stupid error. Anyways, i realised that the normal shortcuts such as "my documents" etc would lead to a drive with hardly no space in it. So, and this was stupid, i decided to see if i could just simply copy the files that the normal shortcuts led to, over to the large d drive.

Windows did not like me doing this and when copying, it gave me a load of warning messages, like "such a file cannot be transferred", you know the ones, i stupidly selected "skip" for all these. Now, when this was done copying, it f**ked up everything royally. Now if i tryed to use the normal shortcuts like "my music" for example, it simply just would not work at all. As if this was bad enough, i then tryed to use the normal internet explorer down in the taskbar, absolutely nothing would work. i was, in essence left with an laptop that was connected to the internet but had no program to access it. It was very odd, none of the normal windows programs like, media player, for example would work.

I realised at this stage, that i was out of my depth in trying to repair that, so, i decided to re-install windows. I had been thinking of doing that anyway to get rid of all the bloatware. i imagined this would sort everything out. i was doing it with another windows 7 install disc i had from setting up another friends computer. So, i threw in the cd, proceeded to re-install windows in the normal way. Now when this finally finished, i though everything would be fine. Oh, how i was wrong. When i was able to log in, i saw that absolutely none of the computer peripherals outside of windows now worked. That means the things that did not seem to work included the wifi, the os auto detecting the proper screen resolution (so i was stuck with 640 x480), and basically everything like that. At this stage, i realised that all these driver files still existed back in the windows.old folder, so i had a look in there to see if i could get anything in there to work again. Nothing does, that means if i try to install the wifi software adaptor into the new reinstalled os, it simply will not install. i think its like it sees it was installed in the old os, but it just cant seem to install them for the new os, if i try to install them, they just will not run. Its pretty hopeless really, i assume that the same thing will happen if i just download the driver on another pc and put them onto the q330 with a flash drive(remember, i cant connect to the internet on the thing because the wif adaptor will not work), the same thing will happen, because it sees all these things as being installed already.

Oh and another thing, when i was re-installing windows, it asked me for the product key which is odd, seeing as i though, the reinstalled windows would simply see the old product key in the bios and it would not need it, but clearly that didnt happen in respect of all the issues ive outlined above.

Can anyone understand whats happened here? Why hasnt the re-install worked at all? Its like the new install hasnt any real compatibility with the pc at all. What am i looking at here? A wipe of the hard drive to sort out that drivers there/contradiction with the reinstalled os thing? And then theres the issue of getting all them drivers again. All i want is a functioning laptop, in which the manufacturer shortcuts like being able to adjust the brightness and stuff with the arrow keys,and stuff like that, will work.

Would it be easier if i just let someone who knows what they doing sort it out? I'm really at a loss as to what to do, totally out of my depth. I feel really stupid in the way installing a simple laptop could go so wrong!

Any advice at all is greatly appreciated

dilallio

Did you get a Windows Disk & a Drivers Disk with your laptop?

Installing using another Windows 7 disk may not work if it's an OEM disk (one designed for another manufacturer).

If you do get Windows installed, the drivers disk will allow you to install all the drivers which are specific to your Samsung, and will enable all your hardware to work correctly with windows.

Zonda999

thanks for the quick response, dilallio, it is greatly appreciated

No, it was just a standard ms issue windows 7 disk, and no cd software came with the laptop. I'm now trying to download the latest drivers on this pc and moving them over to the q330 by flash drive, this might work, i dont know, but there are a lot of drivers if i want to make it right.

Another question by the way, is there anyway to edit the size of the partition on the hdd? Or would the hdd need to be wiped to do anything with the partitions sizes?

Is there a recovery environment or partition on your computer?
This is generally with all PC's these days, basically manufacturers partition a segment of disk and place the Operating System on this, which eradicates the use of cd's, dvd's. If you have you manual, give it quick gander for "recovery" or "factory reset" and see what pops up.

I can't get much information regarding your model, though I see some people mentioning the following to initiate a factory reset.
Turn of PC fully.

Turn on your PC, then press F4 (maybe vigorously, until you are presented with some activity).

This will install the Windows 7 version which is licensed for your machine. Even though you have a license key with your laptop, they are many different variants, the error on that earlier installation attempt indicated a licence mismatch.

If you continue with current install;

As for the drivers, go to the samsung page, herehttp://www.samsung.com/ie/consumer/pc-peripherals/notebook-computers/q-series/NP-Q330-JA01UK/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&tab=support.

For partitioning, download GParted and burn it to a CD.
Reboot pc with cd in it, this will load this program which will do what you want with great ease....

Zonda999

Cheers for the detailed response no drama

Since i last posted, i have been able to get the wifi working alright, but its obvious that i have to reinstall windows again the way you say, if i'm to sort out that product key, i'm away from home for the day now but before i left i did a quick search for the "recovery" and "factory reset", and what came up was the "recovery" section thats in the control panel. Is this what i'm looking for?

Sorting out that hdd partition thing too, doesnt seem as bad as i feared, hopefully i'll be able to do that without mucking it up again!

No worries....

I just got to look at the manual for your model. I'm a Unix user so had to boot up a Win 7 in virtualbox to view it.

Anyways, I would definitely go for the whole re-install again, if possible..
If you open up that link above, download the manual or if you have the printed version there, head to page 104, Computer Backup/Restoration.

In step 1, follow the instructions for When windows does not start.

In step 2, click Restore.

In step 3, Select Complete Restore.

This will delete any installation such as the one you did earlier and will perform a factory restore which will present the computer to the state in which you first purchased it.

I would try that first, and if that doesn't work, come back for plan b.

Voodu Child

The laptop comes with a OEM Windows licence, and your licence key on the sticker corresponds to that.

When you use a retail Windows disc to reinstall, it installs itself as a retail version. So the OEM licence key on your sticker won't work to activate a retail licence.

If you want to use a retail disc to reinstall your OEM licence, need to modify the Windows retail disc so that it installs as a OEM version. That's pretty easy, the instructions are on the web and you can do it via a USB install. It needs a clean install, I don't believe you can change it after the fact. You also have to make sure it is installing the right version (Home Premium, Pro, etc) - again, corresponding to whatever your OEM licence is for.

T-Bird

You can change doc, music and pic location by going to library and then right click, properties and change location there. I rebuild my PC a few times a year and have these on a separate disk so they are not accidentally formatted etc.

Most manufacturers have downloads on their site for the drivers. So a clean install might be best thing to do if there isnt a restore partition.

Zonda999

Thanks a million everyone, i just followed the recovery steps and just like that i'm able to start again from scratch, except for the partition problem. Didnt have to install any of the drivers or anything, they're all there, as is the pretty extensive bloatware that i'm currently going through and getting rid of

I'll sort out the partition later too and then i'll have the fully functioning laptop i'd though id nearly ruined just 24 hours ago!

Thanks again lads, hopefully i wont need any more help!

Thats great.

When your installing any new applications you should give this site a look, it will save time grabbing installers and all that jazz.

Again, great to hear it is all fine..

Zonda999

It certainly is, never thought i'd manage to sort it out that quick, i cant thank you enough for the advice on the recovery mode, i can guarantee i'd have never found that solution!

I managed to sort out the HDD partitioning too, and i didnt need to use GParted even. Mainly because i couldnt find any blank cdrs in the room! . Did a quick search and was able to do it using the disk management program thats only in windows vista and 7 apparently. It was very easy to do also. Managed it using this as an aid;

http://www.lytebyte.com/2007/02/19/how-to-partition-in-windows-vista-extend-and-shrink/

chris1970

hi guys, sister had her q330 jao2uk drop, hard drive damaged had to reinstall windows 7 with a version of windows home premium 64 i had for something else , i used the sticker licence code on back side of computer, rang a numer and got a code, works fine thing is all works apart from my wireless adapter or network adapter, there is 3 driver's in samsung support website, how do i know which driver i need for mine, my ethernet works fine when plugged in, any suggestions
cheers