[friedpooodle]

Hello everybody. I have a Dell Inspiron 5000 laptop. I'm not sure how old it is but it's definately aged. I would like to restore the computer as it first was and just restore it to all of the original factory settings. I do believe that this is also called a destructive recovery.

The problem is I'm not exactly sure how to do that. A friend told me to just hit the F10 key on startup. I tried it, and it failed. After some research I came to the conclusion that this does not work on a Dell but only on certain brands like Hp and others. In further research it seemed like the answer would be to hit Ctrl + F11 on startup. I tried this and it didn't work either.

I'm not sure if I'm either pressing it at the wrong time or if the computer is too old and this function was not included on earlier Dells.

If someone could tell me how to restore the computer to factory settings and start clean please let me know. Any way of doing this is appreciated.

[pip22]

If the recovery files are on a hidden partition on the hard disk you normally get a special custom-made floppy-disk to boot from which starts the recovery process. Or sometimes the recovery files are provided on a couple of CDs, and you boot up your PC from them. With both these methods, the disks for recovery are supplied when the laptop is bought.

[friedpooodle]

Problem. I don't have either of those. Any way I can do it without them?

[friedpooodle]

Can anyone help? I really need to get this done. I just want a fresh copy of XP Pro on this computer with everything that has ever been on it previously to be gone forever. A free method of any type of getting this done whether it's destructive recovery or some other form of resetting everything would be great.

[Retired Tech]

Enter your service tag, or use the find my service tag option

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/glo...&redirect=1

See what options they give you, don't get involved in paid support