Installing Windows 7

I had an absolute nightmare installing Windows 7 on my 1005! First I did the RAM and SSD upgrades on it and then got started. If you are installing a new HDD or SSD before installing Windows 7 read the end of this post first as you might have problems. If not read on and it will be fine.

This is how to do it:

• With the computer off, plug in your Windows 7 USB drive.
• Turn the computer on and press F2 to go into the BIOS.
• Using the cursors, move along to "Boot" and change the boot device priority to the USB drive.
• Then press F10 to save and exit.
• Leave the PC to start up and it will start the Windows 7 setup - it will say something like "Windows is loading files".
• Next you need to choose the language and keyboard setup - for me English (UK).
• Then click on the "Install Now" button.
• You must agree to the licence terms etc.
• Then I chose "Custom (Advanced)".
• This will then show you the partitions on your hard drive - you can delete all of them, there will be 4; a tiny one which is the boot booster, you can leave this on but I didn't realise so deleted it, a slightly bigger one which is the recovery partition for the Eee and then 2 others of equal size (~70GB I think) which are the C: and D: partitions that the Eee has.
• To delete them you first have to click on  "Drive Options (advanced)" then choose "Delete".
• Once you are done with the disk options click on  "Next" and the setup will begin.
• Once that it done it will restart and finalize the installation etc and then you get to choose a user name and a computer name.
• Then it is time to put in your product key - do this and you might as well let it activate itself straight away (if you don't wish to you have 30 days to do so).

Now you are done and can start playing with Windows 7 and all of its great features.
Don't forget to install the drivers for the 1005HA (found here: ASUS drivers and choose EeePC 1005HA from the drop down lists).
If you get errors when starting up your machine in Windows 7 about ACPI and SHE (super hybrid engine) then you will need to update the BIOS (as I had to) to sort them out - I had to upgrade it to version 0905 (from 0703 which it came with). Again look at the ASUS website on how to do that.

I said at the top and had a lot of difficulties installing it even though I have described it there and it sounds straight forward. The problem with me was that I did all of that and it said my product key was incorrect which I checked and knew was wrong. It turns out that because I had the "Upgrade" only version I could not install it onto a blank hard drive (or brand new SSD in my case). To sort this out you first have to install XP from your recovery disk (explained in the Upgrade Time part of this blog) and do all of that, then start at the top of this guide and install Windows 7 over the top of it, formatting the partitions etc. that is made from the XP disk. Only then did my product key work as it worked out that I had upgraded Windows rather than starting afresh. The easiest way to avoid the problem is to buy the normal version although that is more expensive.

I hope this helps, if you have any problems leave them as comments and I'll see if I can help. AJ

SSD number 2 and general update

The first EeePC wasn't mine but as I was so impressed by it that I am getting one for Christmas, which is why I haven't written about how to install Windows 7 yet. A SSD is a must so have bought one of those ready and I will also be doing the 2GB RAM upgrade (I have bought the same RAM as before).

The SSD I have bought this time is the Kingston SNV125-S2/128GB. It is one of the SSDNow V series drives which are readily available at the moment in all sizes. The reason I have not bought a Corsair S128 as before is because they have recently become a lot more expensive, I think they are over £250. The drive I was originally looking at was a Transcend 128GB SSD (Transcend TS128GSSD25S-M) which is cheaper and is slightly faster but is not available anywhere and the companies that list them do not know when they are coming into stock.
Again it has a 128GB capactiy and obviously is a 2.5" drive, power usage of 0.45W, very light, no moving parts and quick access time.


This time I bought the SSD from lambda-tek.com component shop which gave a great service and I highly recommend. It says on their website, same day dispatch if ordered before 15.30, I ordered at about 18.00 and it arrived the next day! They also offered the best price - £156.50 inc. VAT. Both models are available from them at good prices, this is the Kingston one and this is the Transcend one (which is not available at the moment).

When I put this SSD into my EeePC I will take some more pictures of the swap and inside the EeePC (I'll have a look to see if there is space and connections for other mods). I will hopefully also make a video showing startup speed etc (when it is running Windows 7).

Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments. AJ

Upgrade Time!!

Right then, time for the details of the SSD upgrade...

• First remove the battery - slide the right slider to the right to unlock the battery. Slide the left slider to the left and at the same time slide the battery away from the laptop and it should be removed.
• Second step, unscrew the 4 screws in each corner on the underside of the EeePC. You can see these in the picture on the left.
• Next, take off the RAM cover (described in the RAM post). In the bottom right hand corner of the RAM hole there is a silver screw which needs to be undone (this can also be seen in the picture on the left).
• In the area where the battery was there are 4 little clips on the side of the main body of the laptop. Using a little screwdriver or something you can carefully pull these out and you should be able to feel when they are released.
• Now flip the laptop over and open the lid. The next step is to remove the keyboard. There are 4 little clips along the top edge of the keyboard which are evenly spaced along (I can't remember which keys they are behind). If you press the keys down (the F keys along the top) you should be able to see where these clips are. Using the small screwdriver press these clips back towards the battery slot. As you press these in you might feel the keyboard lifting up. There was some double-sided tape approximately underneath the backspace on this EeePC but I think this may be in different places on different ones. Once I could get my fingers underneath the keyboard I carefully prised it upwards, working along towards the double-sided tape and then I could hear it slowly releasing. Once the double-sided tape was off I could pull the keyboard off (it hinges at the bottom), but carefully as the ribbon was still attached!



• In the picture on the left you can see that I have released the keyboard but the ribbon is attached. If you look at the connector for the ribbon there are 2 little black bits either side. Using the small screwdriver slide these backwards and they pull a little tray out that the ribbon sits in. Now you should have the keyboard free of the netbook.



• Next step is to remove the screws that are underneath the keyboard. There are 6 screws under the keyboard - 2 top left, top and bottom right, one left of middle and one right of middle underneath the warranty sticker. 
• You can see where the screws were in the photo on the left. I think some people have managed to save their warranty stickers but I wasn't lucky with mine, I tried to take it off carefully but that didn't work, I tried heating it up with a hair dryer but that didn't work and ended up breaking it as I needed to get to the screw to do the upgrade.
• Now the screws are out the top and bottom are nearly free, save a few clips around the outside. If you slide your fingernail around the outside of the netbook you can feel it parting at you can click the clips apart (they shouldn't break, just pop open). I got most of the way round but got stuck at the bit in the middle by the touchpad buttons and just couldn't prise it apart. After some head-scratching I used a credit card to open it up and ran it around the outside of the EeePC and then all of the clips popped open and the top and bottom were free. Don't rip it off though as they are still connected by the touchpad ribbon!



• In the picture on the left there is the HDD under the silver strip, but the point of the picture is showing me holding up the top half of the laptop but it is still attached by the touchpad ribbon - towards the left of the picture, with a blue bit at the end. To release the ribbon lift the black bit on the top of the connector (with the small screwdriver) and then you can pull on the blue bit and the ribbon comes out. Now the top and bottom are actually apart and you are inside the 1005HA!



• This picture is a bit clearer showing the innards of the EeePC. Most of this doesn't matter except the HDD on the right of the netbook underneath a silver strip. This strip acts as a heat-sink for the hard drive and a connector ribbon for the USB ports to the motherboard. This needs to be removed to get access to the HDD. To remove the ribbon lift the black bits on the top of the connectors on both sides as with the touchpad ribbon. Now the HDD is uncovered.



• This is what you see now (I apologize for the shadow on the left, it is from a flash!). The connector for the HDD - the SATA interface - is on the right, just inside the right hand heat-sink ribbon connector. There are 2 black screws just to the right of this that need to be removed, once they are out there is one more screw  to take out at the bottom right corner of the HDD (just to the left of where it says "Card Reader" on a different chip. Now these 3 screws are out the HDD is free.
• To take the HDD out you need to slide the HDD left-wards to slide it out of its SATA connector. You can pull it out with the silvery tab (which is causing the shadow in my photo) and once it is out the HDD can be lifted out.



• In the photo on the left I am holding up the HDD having just removed it. As you can see it is in a cage (which also acts as a heat-sink). There are 4 screws holding the HDD in the cage, 2 on each side. These need to be taken out and then the HDD lifts out of the cage.
• Next step is to put the the SSD in the cage. Make sure it is put in in the same orientation as the HDD that was take out!!



• The photo on the left shows the SSD installed in the EeePC. It was screwed into the cage then dropped into the space where the old HDD came from. I then pushed it right-wards into the SATA connector. Then replaced the 3 screws that hold the cage down (2 by the connector and 1 bottom-right).
• The next step is to do everything that was done to take it apart in reverse and put the EeePC back together! So get the top panel, put the touchpad ribbon back in its connector and press the black tab back down onto it and then press the whole top down into the clips so it is flush with the bottom. Screw the 6 under-keyboard screws in and then replace the keyboard ribbon followed by the keyboard. Put the keyboard in at the bottom then press it into the clips at the top so it is sitting down securely. Close the lid and flip the laptop over, replace the screw in the RAM slot and put the RAM cover on. Put the 4 screws in the corners back in and replace the battery, locking it in with the sliders. All back in and ready to boot up for the first time and reinstall the OS and software.



• Now as the EeePC 1005HA does not have a built-in DVD drive an external one is required to reinstall the OS. In the picture on the left you can my external DVD drive plugged in. I put the Eee recovery DVD in and started up the EeePC. It then asks you if you want to reinstall everything or something like that. Just click yes and follow through the steps and this installs everything onto the SSD so it is as the HDD comes out of the box. Once the recovery process if finished your EeePC is fully upgraded and ready to go.

Very exciting and relatively painless process to upgrade the HDD to an SSD if you follow these steps. I think I have covered everything, I'm just writing this off the top of my head but I am pretty sure I have written everything that I did.

I haven't yet done any official accurate timings of speed but the netbook is noticeably quicker - e.g. less than 30 seconds for a full restart (from on to off and to back on again and ready to use). Everything opens pretty much instantly which is great - I'm extremely pleased with it (in case you can't tell!) The other very noticeable thing is that the EeePC with SSD is silent to use unless it gets hot and the fan comes on.

I hope you find this guide helpful to upgrade your EeePC 1005HA. AJ

Solid State Drive

This is the SSD that will be fitted into the netbook.

As you can probably see it is a Corsair S128: 128GB 2.5" SATA-II MLC SSD.

What those things mean in real life are:

• Corsair S128 = model number of this drive
• 128GB =  storage capacity
• 2.5" = physical size of the drive. This is the size needed for the EeePC 1005HA as the 160GB HDD that it comes with is this size and therefore the hole when it is removed is this size.
• SATA-II = Serial ATA = the interface for the SSD (or indeed HDD) to communicate with the motherboard. The II indicates that it is a 2nd generation SATA which allows faster transfer speeds. The 1005HA can take either SATA-I or II (as it can take SATA-II and it is backwards compatible)
• MLC = multi level cell = I think this means that data is recorded on both sides of each cell inside the SSD rather than SLC (single level cell) where it is only recorded on 1 side.

I hope all of that makes sense!

The main reason for choosing a SSD is speed - the access time for a SSD is (apparently) ~0.1ms where as for a HDD you are looking at more like 12ms. This makes the SSD 120x faster than the HDD and supposedly they are as fast as RAM, which is very quick.

Other reasons for choosing an SSD are that there are no moving parts which means that you can shake one for example as much as you want and nothing will happen whereas if you do that with a HDD you will scratch the disk and make a mess. Also no moving parts means it is silent which is nice!

I was very surprised by how light the SSD was when I first picked it up but actually it is effectively like a load of USB memory sticks bolted together inside or like a piece of RAM. This SSD only weighs 72g whereas HDDs are over 100g.

As the SSD is essentially like RAM it uses very little battery - the average read/write consumption is 0.47W whereas a HDD is ~1.4W. This means that the EeePCs battery will last longer which is probably half the reason people are buying the 1005HA in the first place.

I think I have covered eveything and I hope that it all makes sense.

This SSD was bought for a very good price given the current prices for SSDs at the moment. It was bought from novatech.co.uk for £166.74 (inc. VAT) with free delivery which arrived in 2 days. All in all it was a very good service which I would definitely recommend.

I am really looking forward to installing this SSD into the netbook and seeing the advantages for myself! AJ