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129792
October 8th, 2012 15:00
T5500 Recovery Partition
I would like to reinstall my Precision T5500, but I cannot figure out how to access the recovery partition (yes, it is there, I can see it in Computer Management/Disk Management). Support Chat told me first to use Dell Backup and Recovery Manager (DBRM), and that it was standard on Precisions since 2009. However, my 2011 T5500 does not have that software on it, nor have I ever removed it or any of the Dell software.
As an alternate, I was told to hit F8 at startup, select "Repair Your Computer", and "on the Windows Recovery Screen, choose Dell Backup and Recovery Manager. In the Restore System Frame, select the Dell Factory Image from the Drop Down Menu, Click Next. In the Confirm Frame, Check both boxes to confirm overwrite and understand that the Process cannot be stopped or Un-Done, Click Start."
BUT, none of that works, as there is no option to select "Dell Backup and Recovery Manager" or "Dell Factory Image". Instead, after selecting "Repair Your Computer", a GUI appears and after asking you to select a keyboard language, it asks you to provide log-in credentials as a local user with admin access. Upon doing so, you get a System Recovery Options menu that asks you to choose a “recovery tool”. The options are: Startup Repair, System Restore, System Image Recovery, Windows Memory Diagnostic and Command Prompt. I tried them all (except the memory diag and the startup repair), to no avail.
If I assign a drive letter to the recovery partition, I can view the contents (sort-of -- most dirs are "not accessible").
The one thing that MIGHT work, though I haven't tried it completely is, if I select the command prompt under the repair your computer menu, I can go the the root of the X: drive and there is a setup.exe program. If you run that, it brings up the beginnings of a Windows 7 install menu, but I didn't know if this was just going to get me a straight Windows re-install, or if it would have all the Dell drivers, etc. There is a Dell directory on X:, but it "appears" empty when you dir it.
Any one got an idea for me?
Thanks!
Dave
osprey4
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October 10th, 2012 17:00
You may have no choice but to perform a manual installation of the OS.
osprey4
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34.2K Posts
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October 8th, 2012 16:00
Hi Dave,
Have you checked downloads for the DBRM?
dbrhoten
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October 8th, 2012 17:00
Wow. That not only seems like it will solve my problem, but also makes me angry (at Dell) and look like a fool all in one blow!
I swear, when I went in with my service tag and looked for downloads for my machine, neither DBRM nor quite a number of other items were present. I had even done a google search and came up with a DBRM download from Dell's site, but it wasn't for my machine. (I tried it anyway, but it didn't work).
Thanks again, and I'm sorry -- I really thought I had done my due diligence....
I'll download it ang give it a go!
Dave
dbrhoten
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October 8th, 2012 17:00
Okay -- it didn't pan out. I dl'ed and installed the DBRM you pointed me to, but while it is "for" the T5500, the button for restore system is greyed out, and if I click on Dell Recovery Tools, and then on the link to create a recovery disc or device, I get a .NET framework unhandled exception "Could not find file "C:\Mount\Dell\Image\Factory.wim".
:-(
Dave
dbrhoten
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October 11th, 2012 07:00
Yes, this is the decision I've reached as well. The chat-rep also had me try hitting F11 during the reboot, but to no avail. She also pointed me to the https://smartsource.dell.com/ site to download the Roxio & CyberLink sofware that would otherwise have been lost.
Thanks for your help!
Dave
osprey4
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October 11th, 2012 16:00
Good luck, Dave!
DELL-Roshan L
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May 18th, 2013 01:00
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