[scottiedog92]

I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 laptop (running Windows XP) which my kids have filled with 'stuff'. i would like to restore my laptop to the original factory settings to remove all the 'stuff' but only have the disks for re-installing the dvd player / copy / writing software (Sonic RecordNow and CyberLink Power DVD). Is there a way or restoring my laptop without a recovery CD? I have a genuine version of Windows XP Home edition which i used to update my tower, can this be used? I have uninstalled all the games / programmes the kids have put on the laptop but there is still only 800MB free space left!!
any guidance / tips / advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.
many thanks
Stephen

[Advertisements]

scottiedog92

The first thing that I suggest that you do is save all of the present notebook drivers either to disk or a USB thumb drive, second check that you have backed up all important data off the HDD.

Next check for is a Dell factory restore partition on the HDD;
Restart the notebook and when you see the Dell splash screen press the Ctrl+F11 keys down at the same time, hopefully XP will go into restore mode, if yes you will be notified that all data will be lost and asked if you want to restore the laptop to its original factory settings. Click "Yes."

It should take between 30 and 40 minutes to complete.

If there is no system restore partition complete steps one and two and then post back please.

[phillpower2]

scottiedog92

The first thing that I suggest that you do is save all of the present notebook drivers either to disk or a USB thumb drive, second check that you have backed up all important data off the HDD.

Next check for is a Dell factory restore partition on the HDD;
Restart the notebook and when you see the Dell splash screen press the Ctrl+F11 keys down at the same time, hopefully XP will go into restore mode, if yes you will be notified that all data will be lost and asked if you want to restore the laptop to its original factory settings. Click "Yes."

It should take between 30 and 40 minutes to complete.

If there is no system restore partition complete steps one and two and then post back please.

[scottiedog92]

Hi Phillpower2,

i have copied all the documents, photos etc from my laptop, the Dell Drivers folder and its contents, and an AOL folder and its contents to a CD, along with a System folder from the Common Files folder. A folder labelled Dell which contains Quickset and WLAN drivers. An Intel folder containing InfInst and PROSetWired folders.

Ctrl F11 did not go into restore mode

grateful for any guidance you could offer

[rshaffer61]

Try this and see if it will get you to the recovery partition:


The key combination is CRTL + F11 pushing the keys at the same time at the the dell screen during post. Once you push them then you want to release them.
It should go into the recovery partition so you can do a system restore.

[scottiedog92]

Hi rshaffer61,

i have tried Ctrl + F11 again, as soon as i press the power button i press the Ctrl + F11 keys (and release them) and still do not get the restore screen. my laptop goes from the DELL page to a black screen then Windows starts?

[rshaffer61]

It may be that you have no recovery partition and Phill can instruct you on how to check for that to see if it is present on your hard drive.

[scottiedog92]

Hi rshaffer61,

many thanks for your assistance. i will await Phills guidance, fingers crossed.

[Ztruker]

Post a snapshot of a fullscreen Disk Management:

To open Disk Management, press Windows key+r, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter or click GO. Make it full screen.

CAPTURE - How to capture screen images (screen shots), Windows Made Easy

For GeeksToGo: Use the Browse and Attach This File buttons below the text input area while using the Full editor to upload and insert here.

[phillpower2]

Thanks Ron and Rich respectively for providing the additional guidance

Hello Stephen

Regardless of what the Disk Management screenshot shows I suggest that you make a back up of the OS and other important data that is on the HDD, I will provide the information for this when we have established what your best option is.

Tip: When you power up the notebook do you see a blue bar at the top of the screen + the www.dell.com logo, if yes then there is a recovery partition present, if no then there may never have been one, it has been damaged/corrupted or the HDD has previously been formatted.

I am not sure if the facility is still available or whether or not you have ever had a Dell recovery CD for your notebook but you were previously allowed free of charge a Dell recovery CD, if you have never had one it is worth checking to see if it is still possible to download and burn the Dell XP recovery software to disk, check what is available to download here

[scottiedog92]

Hi guys,
on checking the start-up when i press the power button i get the Dell logo with a white progress bar (loading BIOS), i didn't see any blue progress bar?

on the disk management screen there is one continuous blue bar on the C: drive. i take it this means no partition?

on pressing F8 at start up and going into advanced boot options there is no 'repair your computer' or 'dell factory image restore' option.

on the dell page (from your link) there are a number of drivers listed but i didn't see a recovery cd (i have attached a screen shot of the page) below:

any guidance you could offer would be greatly appreciated, many thanks
stephen

<removed>

Edited by scottiedog92, 22 February 2014 - 10:49 AM.

[scottiedog92]

oops, the picture didn't come out?? let me try again

hmm, can't see where you attach / insert a picture / file?


strangely when i posted the reply above the picture was just lots of text, but on clicking edit the picture appears again?

hope you can see it?

Edited by scottiedog92, 22 February 2014 - 05:46 AM.

[phillpower2]

You must save the screenshot as a JPEG.

See my attachment below for "how to include attachments"

[scottiedog92]

HI,

hopefully my attachment will work this time?

that'll teach me to use the quick reply

[phillpower2]

Post a snapshot of a fullscreen Disk Management:

To open Disk Management, press Windows key+r, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter or click GO. Make it full screen.

CAPTURE - How to capture screen images (screen shots), Windows Made Easy

For GeeksToGo: Use the Browse and Attach This File buttons below the text input area while using the Full editor to upload and insert here.

Crossed wires scottiedog92

Please provide the screenshot requested by Ztruker the details of which are above.

[scottiedog92]

Phill,
my apologies for the delay in getting back to you - have been away.

please find attached screen shot of the disc management as detailed above.

any assistance you can provide on how to restore my system to the factory settings would be greatly appreciated


many thanks

Stephen

Attached Thumbnails

•