Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

This is an old thread, but I'm thankful for it. It saved me from having to buy a new Win7 disk in order to install a clean version. I verified a download of Win7 .iso with the sha1 referenced here and used my existing key on my HP dv7t-3000 CTO successfully in that it boots, dl'd Win7 updates, and seems to be working. However....

Just noticed in Device Manager under Other devices it has yellow exclamation marks on three "Base System Device" items and one "Unknown device". Don't know what the first three are, but are listed as PCI bus 4, device 0, function 1, 3, and 4 respectively. The Unknown is listed as Intel(R) PM 55 Express Chipset LPC Interface Controller -3B03. All list the driver unknown/not available.

I'm at the limit of my knowledge level. Any ideas on best way fix with appropriate drivers? Following the caution against using HP drivers, I'm reluctant to load, though I know there is an HP driver for the PM55 chipset available.

Thanks for any assistance.

This is not an "old thread" but one of the busiest tutorials on the web with over 1.3 million served. Your questions are answered in the tutorial in passages about drivers which are important enough they are printed in red.

Go ahead and install the HP Chipset to see if that resolves the one. How to find the others is also explained in Step 7, especially in these steps:

Unknown Devices are often card readers, may be revealed by a function still missing on the PC such as laptop function keys or keyboard lighting, or can be traced using Device Manager - Finding Unknown Devices - Windows 7 Help Forums

Co-processor, SM Bus controller, USB and Storage controllers are often elements of the chipset. If no chipset is posted on your model's Downloads page, use the Intel Drive Update Utility or AMD Auto-Detect to find your chipset, or ask in our Drivers forum. You can also trace any missing driver using . It's often faster to google the Driver Detail's Hardware ID than to look it up.

If googling the hardware ID doesn't reveal which driver it is on the HP Support Downloads webpage, then trace the Hardware Identification.

Base System Devices are often a card reader, so go ahead and install those because they may resolve everything except the chipset element you can also download and install.

I meant the first part as a compliment. This tutorial saved this system and me, very helpful!
You're right, I should have read more thoroughly/completely. As you indicated, the Base System Devices came back to a JMicron card reader.
Thanks for help!

Glad to help.

Just follow the tutorial's suggestion to save a backup image after install and setup to use in place of reinstall. This is the modern way and will hold activation in most cases.

You also want to preserve the COA sticker key as long as the PC exists.

As to the numbers traded during phone reactivation which transmit the hardware ID, I cannot say for certain that these can be useful in the future. Someone else may know. Most users don't need to do the phone reactivation since they are keeping the same hardware or only doing minor changes - the mobo is the only single part I know of which if changed always forces reactivation via phone.

Greg... I'm planning to reinstall Windows 7 Pro x64 on my new Dell desktop with the Operating System Reinstallation DVD that I obtained from Dell.

The OEM Disk/Drive configuration, as viewed in the Disk Management console (screenshot attached), is as follows:

Disk #0: 2TB Hard Drive (Internal)
Only one Partition (D:\) (for data files)

Disk #1: 256GB mSATA Solid State Drive (Internal)
Partition 1 - OEM Partition (39 MB) (Dell Diagnostics, accessible through BIOS with F12 at boot)
Partition 2 - RECOVERY (24 GB) (Dell Factory Image and Boot Manager)
Partition 3 - OS (C:\) (215 GB) (Windows 7)

My plan is "delete" the Recovery and OS partitions (on the SSD) with the Windows Installer and use that space for the Windows 7 reinstall. I'm going to keep the OEM Diagnostic partition; hopefully it will still work after the reinstall.

I'd appreciate your advice on 3 questions that I have, if you don't mind:

1.) What is the risk of Windows installing its "System Reserved" partition on the wrong drive (HDD) instead of the SSD with the rest of the Operating System? I've read horror stories about this happening; something about Windows wanting to install the System Reserved partition on Disk #0, or on the largest drive. Should I disconnect the HDD, just to be safe?

2.) When I delete the Recovery and OS partitions, does that space become one unallocated space or two unallocated spaces that I need to merge?

3.) With the OEM Partition still present (after I delete Recovery and OS), will Windows create both a System Reserved (100MB) partition and an OS partition, or will it lump the two together?
A.) 3 Partitions: OEM Diagnostics, System Reserved (w/Boot Manager), Operating System..... or
B.) 2 Partitions: OEM Diagnostics, Operating System (w/Boot Manager)

Thanks.

I'd unplug the data drive first to avoid derailing the System partition to it during install.After install then swap the cables if that's possible for the OS drive to be Disk0 which will avoid that possiblity in the future during repairs too.

MSATA's are a bit different if you want to try to use their caching chip which has never been reported to be that fast anyway, but so you are fully informed read over these two most frequently needed methods to Install Windows on MSATA (SSD) Drive - Windows 7 Help Forums and Install Windows on System with MSATA and ISRT - Windows 7 Help Forums.

Unless you want to hassle with all that then your plan is best to leave Dell Diagnostics since it boots, but delete the useless Dell Recovery and C, then in the resulting Unallocated space when you create and format a New partition it will likely issue a System Resrved paritition also in the space (ignore it). Select the new C and click Next.