If you cannot get the tapping of F8 to work then your best bet is to update to the latest version of Alienware Respawn and create media using a 16 GB USB flash drive. This USB flash drive can be used to restore to your factory settings:
Note you should attempt to make media anyway so you have a backup of your Operating System.
Making a system image as suggested will make a copy of your system as is and this won't be factory settings. Note that Windows 10 is out at the end of next month and you will be able to upgrade from it, preferably by a clean installation.
Sorry Dannilla, I did not quite follow your explanation. Natakuc4 I do not have Alienware Respawn installed on the computer, I suppose this could be a big part of the problem, none of the videos on restoring an Alienware computer to factory settings mentioned Alienware Respawn. I guess they assumed it was already on each viewers computer. I would rather not download the program just to make an image of the current state of my computert, it looks like at this point my best bet is to simply use the windows 7 disc and do a clean install of the operating system using their files. Factory settings would have been nice, but I can download all the software for my hardware after a clean windows 7 install. Though I do have one question regarding a fresh windows 7 install, after the install will I have to configure my hard drives to run in Raid 0 again? Or will my hard drives be unaffected and continue to run in Raid 0? Thanks for your replies.
Sounds like factory settings to me, you have a recovery partition. You can attempt to install Alienware respawn to see if it fixes the links with the recovery partition. If not then you are going to clean install anyway.
I believe I had Alienware Respawn on my computer at one point, that was while it was under warranty though, I wonder if the program removed itself when the warranty expired. I will definitely try to reinstall Alienware Respawn and go from there, if all else fails I can simply do a clean windows installation. I am now considering this thread closed, thank you again for all of your help!
Natakuc41
86 Posts
0
June 16th, 2015 00:00
If you cannot get the tapping of F8 to work then your best bet is to update to the latest version of Alienware Respawn and create media using a 16 GB USB flash drive. This USB flash drive can be used to restore to your factory settings:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/dell-backup-and-recovery-1-8-1-71/
Note you should attempt to make media anyway so you have a backup of your Operating System.
Making a system image as suggested will make a copy of your system as is and this won't be factory settings. Note that Windows 10 is out at the end of next month and you will be able to upgrade from it, preferably by a clean installation.
Doctor-Spoofy
12 Posts
0
June 16th, 2015 09:00
Sorry Dannilla, I did not quite follow your explanation. Natakuc4 I do not have Alienware Respawn installed on the computer, I suppose this could be a big part of the problem, none of the videos on restoring an Alienware computer to factory settings mentioned Alienware Respawn. I guess they assumed it was already on each viewers computer. I would rather not download the program just to make an image of the current state of my computert, it looks like at this point my best bet is to simply use the windows 7 disc and do a clean install of the operating system using their files. Factory settings would have been nice, but I can download all the software for my hardware after a clean windows 7 install. Though I do have one question regarding a fresh windows 7 install, after the install will I have to configure my hard drives to run in Raid 0 again? Or will my hard drives be unaffected and continue to run in Raid 0? Thanks for your replies.
Natakuc41
86 Posts
0
June 16th, 2015 17:00
What do your partitions look like in Disk management?
Doctor-Spoofy
12 Posts
0
June 16th, 2015 19:00
My Disk Mangement window, in order, lists
1. Volume - _______, Layout - Simple, Type - Basic, File System - ________, Status Healthy - (EFI System Partition)
2. Volume - DELLUTILITY, Layout - Simple, Type - Basic, File System - Fat 32, Status - Healthy (Primary Partition)
3. Volume - OS (C:), Layout - Simple, Type - Basic, File System - NTFS, Status - Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)
4. Volume - RECOVERY (D:), Layout - Simple, Type - Basic, File System - NTFS, Status - Healthy (Primary Partition)
The first Volume _________ stands for blank since there is nothing where the volume name should be.
Doctor-Spoofy
12 Posts
0
June 16th, 2015 20:00
My Disk Mangement window, in order, lists
1. Volume - _______Layout - Simple, Type - Basic, File System - ________, Status Healthy - (EFI System Partition)
2. Volume - DELLUTILITY, Layout - Simple, Type - Basic, File System - Fat 32, Status - Healthy (Primary Partition)
3. Volume - OS (C:), Layout - Simple, Type - Basic, File System - NTFS, Status - Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)
4. Volume - RECOVERY (D:), Layout - Simple, Type - Basic, File System - NTFS, Status - Healthy (Primary Partition)
The ________ in the first partition is just blank, no name or anything.
Natakuc41
86 Posts
0
June 17th, 2015 01:00
Sounds like factory settings to me, you have a recovery partition. You can attempt to install Alienware respawn to see if it fixes the links with the recovery partition. If not then you are going to clean install anyway.
Doctor-Spoofy
12 Posts
0
June 17th, 2015 07:00
I believe I had Alienware Respawn on my computer at one point, that was while it was under warranty though, I wonder if the program removed itself when the warranty expired. I will definitely try to reinstall Alienware Respawn and go from there, if all else fails I can simply do a clean windows installation. I am now considering this thread closed, thank you again for all of your help!