Problems installing/Uninstalling After BIOS update (ASUS K53E)

Hey all,

I currently have an ASUS K53E that I've put a 60GB SSD into. I recently had to send out the laptop for service with ASUS, but I swapped the SSD for the original drive at that time (to save the chance they may re-format the drive)...

In any case, their repair apparently included a BIOS update... When I got the computer back, I naturally swapped the SSD back into the computer. Since then I've had numerous issues, the most prominent being that WLE stopped working (Every time I load Messenger it inexplicably stops working), and when I attempt to un-install it it will have a problem and abort the removal.

With skype, I installed it fine, but it will launch, have a problem, then close! This is extremely frustrating..

So really, my first thought is that there is a BIOS-update related issue, because the BIOS was flashed with the other drive in the laptop, and the installation on the SSD was installed/configured before the BIOS flash.

Am I looking at a clean install of windows? Or could I get away with just a repair? I'd really prefer not to reinstall if I don't have to (Getting the OEM install on the SSD was hard enough in the first place).

Any help is appreciated, thank you.

Flashing the BIOS should have no effect on the hard drive, other than some BIOS settings being changed to defaults. You can flash the BIOS with no hard drive installed. I think I might reset the BIOS to fail safe defaults or at least look over all the setting to make sure they are set correctly for an SSD drive. If your still not happy then think about doing a repair or re-install. What was the service for? Maybe there is still something wrong with it.

The service was just to replace the LCD component for some BrightDots I had noticed... considering it was an output component I can't imagine it affecting software... I will look at my BIOS settings to see if that makes a difference.

What settings should I be looking for to optimize for an SSD?

You'll need a Win7 Installer for your version with SP1 included (not slipstreamed) to do the Repair Install if you have SP1. If not, you'll have to uninstall SP1 or use a pre-SP1 installer: uninstall Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Have you tried to Repair WLE from the Programs and Features menu? If not have you tried installing a fresh download over itself to see if it works or will uninstall correctly? I suggest the same for the other programs having problems to see if it's limited to them.

Make sure no component of WLE is running in SysTray or checked in msconfig>Startup or msconfig>Services after hiding MS services (then reboot) - this will sometimes block uninstall.

I've troubleshooted both those ideas, and actually made use of a Install/Uninstall tool from microsoft support (The actual name is lost to me). I was able to get WLE uninstalled with some effort, (after using the tool, repairing, then uninstalling.) Skype, however, remains an issue. Any time I try a fresh download and install, Skype merely stops working. I have no attempted a fresh install of WLE, but my assumption is that this will result in the same issue as before... I have not tried an old installation of Skype either, so I'll try that to see if it works.

My gut is telling me that this is an underlying issue, and though WLE and Skype aren't essential to this machines operation, I would hate to have the issue get worse.

fragment137 said:

The service was just to replace the LCD component for some BrightDots I had noticed... considering it was an output component I can't imagine it affecting software... I will look at my BIOS settings to see if that makes a difference.

What settings should I be looking for to optimize for an SSD?

OK, yes an LCD replacement shouldn't cause this, assuming no other damage was done. If it had been something like RAM replacement, then I'd question whether it was repaired correctly or not.

After thinking about it, I guess there aren't any BIOS settings specific to SSD. Other than making sure the drive is detected properly and the SATA controller is set to AHCI and not IDE mode.

Those settings are set. It was suggested to me to try re-installing some of the ASUS drivers manually to see if that may help fix the problem. I'll attempt this and re-post if it fixes my issue.

I would clean reinstall Win7 following these steps to get a perfect reinstall: Reinstalling Windows 7

Note that you want to go with the drivers given by the installer then quickly updated via optional Windows Updates, only importing those which remain missing in Device Manager from the Support Downloads web page for the computer or device make/model.

Only change out drivers that prove to be problematic after following troubleshooting steps.

I think what I may end up doing is doing a clean install on the original HDD (the one that came with the computer), just so that i have a clean drive if I have any problems with the SSD... then I'll most likely be installing a flavour of Linux onto the SSD... I was planning to anyway, this seems a good excuse. I currently am doing C# development in Visual Studio '08, but I can do that in a VM...