[jds63]

No Problem Phill as this has been a tedious fix and sometimes not clearly stated. I did first need to know what this thumb drive OP had made from Dell, he said. If it was in fact Windows 7 Full OS.

Then thought of either trying a repair  or having to do a full recovery with the thumb drive if good. OP said Dell helped him with installing a new HD drive once ,which may tell me he does not have any recovery partition left.

 

I knew OP could not get past the Logo screen i believe, but stated the Home Screen, although been a while for me and Win7.

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After pressing f2. This screen appears: Aptio setup utility
Main. Boot. Power. Security. Exit

No entering set up.

[mowpar]

After pressing f2. This screen appears: Aptio setup utility
Main. Boot. Power. Security. Exit

No entering set up.

[phillpower2]

Aye not all Dell or other brand BIOS configurations say the same thing for all of their computers which is a pain.

 

What options (if any) are you given if you select the Boot option there.

[mowpar]

Numlock key,,,,keyboard error,,,,,usb boot,,,,,,boot mode,,,,,12345 boot device,,, etc

[jds63]

12345 boot device sounds right, still need OS disc or thumb drive in.Need to boot from USB then with thumb drive. Your DVD Drive would be a chose for OS Disc.

Edited by jds63, 26 November 2014 - 05:57 PM.

[mowpar]

Need to know if these are instructions for me to act on, or just information for my understanding. If I am to act on this, could you please give more detail. I feel like I only got one shot here, before you lose patience with me, and I don't want to mess up, this early.

Should the boot be on legacy option. Or on the other with letters and numbers listed?

Edited by mowpar, 26 November 2014 - 07:17 PM.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, the 12345 boot device is the page in the BIOS that you want, from that page you will need to select the USB, providing the thumb or flash drive is already plugged in. (it just might recognise that it is there) you will then need to use whatever the instructions are for moving that to the top of the list as the first choice to boot from.

As Phill said, BIOS systems can be different, even across the same computer manufacturer, so we can only generalise without actually seeing all the pages you have in front of you.

 

Also, don't worry that we will lose patience, Myself, Phill, and many other technical guys on here have seen a lot worse and still keep going, we are here to help, not criticise.

 

Nev.

[mowpar]

1st. Boot is. HDD, 2 is ODD device, 3 is usb storage device. Am I suppose to get the USB storage device up to the 1st boot device,,,,,,if so I can't find the sequence to get this done.

[mowpar]

Is USB boot support on this page to be enabled or disabled? Is the Boot Mode suppose to be UEFI or Legacy? Is the secure boot control, suppose to be disable or enabled?
I found the way to move USB Storage device,, into the 1st boot device slot. Pushed f10. Exit and save. This brought up a black screen that at the top said,,,,,,No boot device available

Forgot to mention that the thumb drive containing the operating system was attached through out this process

Edited by mowpar, 26 November 2014 - 08:10 PM.

[jds63]

mowpar,

 

By the way i have a lot of patience, would never loose it with someone here or anywhere, something i like doing also.

Would Enable USB Boot support. choose legacy as this is more compatible with older software, hardware, right now would not want you to use UEFI even if motherboard supports it may run into more issues, it's fine with Legacy.

Secure boot is a Windows 8 feature, why Phill thought this PC was originally with Window 8, that said i feel to disable it for now.

 

When booting then from USB make sure plugged in before you restart or boot up, press i believe you used F2, select # 3. USB ,usually press enter, should boot from USB Flash drive.

[mowpar]

Computer just went to recovery and restore. Hope this a good thing. Now checking PC.
Screen now at 3 choices,, 1,,,,,, Smart repair ,,,,,,,,,2. Data and user settings back up,,,,,,3,,,,,image recovery and reinstall


Which of these, is the one I want to initiate?

Edited by mowpar, 26 November 2014 - 08:39 PM.

[jds63]

Well you saying this PC had Windows 7 on it and this Thumb Drive has it on it, i would choose Smart Repair first. Hopefully will repair the PC's corrupted files.

Because i have a feeling no recovery image there anymore, with new Hard drive you had Dell put in. Reinstall will do a fresh install of Windows 7.

Edited by jds63, 26 November 2014 - 08:50 PM.

[phillpower2]

Good work guys 

 

As an asides here folks, the service provided by the so called techs from Dell stinks, they sound more like ragamuffins from a back street shack, mowpar, were they definitely Dell techs or were the alleged repairs carried out by a third party and possibly appointed by Staples, the replacement HDD should have arrived with a working OS and all of the required Dell utilities on it, including as jd has mentioned a Recovery partition.

 

Besides an asides    Aptio setup utility like secure boot is associated more with Windows 8 than it is with Windows 7, this because most if not all newly released computers support UEFI BIOS, Aptio btw is associated with American Megatrend Industries, for some light reading see here

[mowpar]

Last night while computer was downloading everything for set up, it came to the screen to enter user name and password.
I do not know what either of these are, since this is a brand new install why am I not asked to insert a new password, instead of trying to remember an old one. The last time I had this problem, I called Dell they got me passed the forgotten password trouble, and when I set the computer up after that I did not enter a password, because of this very reason.

Phil, I have no idea who they actually were but I called there Dell number. As always with them, I tell the first person what is wrong, end up getting transferred, swear to god never anytime less 4 times, having gone through the what's wrong scenario with every one of them.

I usually end end I India but sometimes the orient.

As to partitions and there installation I have know idea what was included when guy showed up here with replacement hard drive.


He just left saying things were fixed. One tech wanted to come at 930 at night that was when my wife was tring to set up a time for the install. I did not think that appropriate and cancelled him from ever showing up here.

I have hooked up old XP pc and will attempt a burn of cd to get past, password delemma.

Edited by mowpar, 27 November 2014 - 12:45 PM.

[mowpar]

I think I remember trying to get info like this way back when. When this un- remembered password ordeal happened long ago.
I believe you cannot help me with this, because I stole this computer and am now trying to hack the password, so I can sell it to the Chinese underground for secrets to what the Russians might be doing in the Crimea.

I understand. I have looked on line at all the crazy you tube and other sources. Have not found one to work yet. It is funny how something can come by and destroy your computer and you are able to find great guys like you to help fix the computer than something like this happens. Forgot password, might as well just throw the thing away, maybe the guy who finds it will know how to hack into it.

I really, and I mean really want to thank you guys for your help here. You have helped mr greatly and on top of that I have learned quite a lot. To bad from non use of this information, I now possess, it will slip away like the memories of my fist kiss.

Thank you again, You know me and my luck, this is not goodby, but, see you later!