Dell complaints

scdude · conscientious beginner Joined: 09 Feb 2008 Posts: 2

I have someone who wants to buy my laptop, I don't want it so I'm happy to get rid of it. It hasn't been too bad, except for the price and the eternity I waited to get the damn thing. Anyway, I'm trying to reformat to factory settings, so I check my D drive and in the Tools folder is a PCRestore, I click on it and It goes about half way and then I get an error window that just has a big X and says ok. I've tried about three times now, but it won't do shit. This is pissing me off, any help would be great.

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:13 pm Post subject:

You can either manually delete all your personal files, or format the harddrive and delete everything. The latter option leaves the buyer with no operating system, which probably impacts the value, since they will have to replace it somehow, with either a retail or pirate version.

If you have encountered the same error with 'restore' 3 times, it's not going to work no matter how many times you try it, and it can't be 'fixed'.
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scdude · conscientious beginner Joined: 09 Feb 2008 Posts: 2

aw weiner poopy

Padawan2007 · Dances with Hate Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Posts: 134

If the PC Restore on the separate partition fails... then it is corrupted...

I presume you booted to that partition to run it... I can't remember which button, but Pressing F11 or F12 on bootup may get you to the PC-Restore Partition and then you can run it outside Windows...

If you have booted to that partition and it still fails then the only thing to do is wipe clean the Hard drive by putting in your Windows CD and booting to that... Delete the old Partition and re-define the partition again... then reiinstall the OS from that CD... then reinstall the drivers with the chipset being the first ...

If your selling it, you might as well let the new owner have the CDs... I believe they will only work on the Dell system...

Drivers for this system can be located at:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&ServiceTag=&SystemID=INS_PNT_PM_1720&os=WLH&osl=en&catid=&impid=

If you have never installed an OS from scratch on a system - it might be wise to get a tech friend to help... for I am not a tech, but know enough to be dangerous... so don't take my advise as the only way - there may be other ways to delete your personal files... and good luck getting Software Support... Wink

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incident_man · Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:56 pm Post subject:

For Windows Vista-based systems,

1. Start system (cold boot)
2. At "Dell" screen, BEFORE Windows loads, tap <F8> 2x per second until you see the "Windows Advanced Boot Options" screen.
3. If Windows loads, you didn't execute step 2 properly. Shut down and try again, this time, start tapping <F8> immediately after you turn the system on.
4. At the "Windows Advanced Boot Options" menu, select "Repair My Computer."
5. At the next screen, select "English"
6. Next you should see a list of all user accounts on the system, click on your own username, NOT the Administrator account and type your password (if you use one to log on, if not, leave the password blank).
7. Next, you'll see a menu of about 6 selections. Select "Dell Factory Image Restore" and click next, ok or confirm (whichever one gets you to the next step).
8. You'll be told that the operation will erase all the data on the hard disk, click confirm or proceed (again, whichever advances you to the next step).
9. The system will then restore Vista and software to factory settings, just like when you got the machine. This process takes about 5-20 minutes depending on how much preloaded software you have.
10. You'll receive a confirmation that the restore has been completed and the system will ask you to restart.

That's it. After this, the system will go into first-use setup upon startup, just like if you just received it, so that you can put owner info in, choose how you go online, select timezone, keyboard layout, etc.
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captainhowdy · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:07 am Post subject:

You cannot access the recovery partition from within The OS. Dell uses a version of norton ghost for this. to access the recovery partition on a xp machine:
1. reboot system
2. at the Dell splash screen hold down ctrl and tap <F11>

this will take you to the recovery screen and it should say Dell and/ symentec norton ghost.
Follow the directions incident_man gave for vista.

Also if this system was purchased through the buisness divisions, it will not have this partition.