Inspiron 530 (Windows Vista) - Impossible to restore to factory settings? Please Help!

If the Dell recovery partition is corrupted and unuseable you will have to do a manual install.  There is no Dell "recovery" disc, just the Operating System DVD and the Drivers and Utility disc that you note you have.  There may be some updated drivers on the Dell downloads, but use the supplied disc initially and then if you want to upgrade any drivers download and install them AFTER everything is working properly again.  I530 Vista Downloads

HERE is the Dell manual install procedure.  Before you do the actual complete reinstall, back up your user data to either an external hard drive or to CD's as part of the procedure is to reformat the hard drive.  (DO NOT skip the Intel chipset drivers install sequence as that is key to a successful install).

Hi fireberd,

First off, thanks for replying so quickly!

This is pretty much what I have done already. I reinstalled Vista (have an external hdd so shifted everyhing I needed to keep to there)

However, the machine is still performing slowly (definitely not how it was when I originally purchased)

My question is; is restoring the machine to factory settings the same as reinstalling Windows Vista? I have already done this once and it left a 'backup' of the old version (called windows.old) on the system. Leads me to thinking that just reinstalling Windows isn't enough?

I may very well be wrong here and will happily stand corrected if this is the case!

Thanks so much again,

Sam.

Hi,

I fear that may be the problem, the reinstall of Windows (following the Dell article you linked to) hasn't really impacted on the speed.

I'll have another go at reinstalling Windows a further time, incase that helps any.

Just to check;

What would be the standard procedure to reformat to factory settings with a system set up like mine? (where you cannot access F8, Cntrl F11). I'm curious as to how Dell expect you to reformat without being able to access these. I'm pretty confident the .wim file isn't corrupted (I haven't gone near it since I bought the computer) so how would one go about being able to use that file? It's effectively useless without being able to access it through Windows or through F8/F11. as far as I can see.

Really appreciate your help with this Fireberd.

Sam.

The manual install procedure and correct install sequence is as I outlined in my original response.  You boot from the Windows disc and allow Windows to reformat the hard drive and start the install. 

WERE DO I GET THE CHIPSET DRIVER DISC, ALL I HAVE IS THE WINDOWS VISTA, DELL DRIVERS AND UTILITIES DISC PLEASE HELP ME, IM HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM AND IM NOT VERY GOOD ABOUT THIS STUFF, SO I DONT WANT TO SCREW UP. YOU SEEM TO KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT.AND WHAT DO TOU MEAN BACK UP USER DATA.      PLEASE CONTACT ME    < ADMIN NOTE : Email id and phone no removed per privacy policy >

BUDDY A17

The Inspiron 530s Chipset driver should be included in the Drivers and Utilities DVD sent with the computer packege.

It can also, be download from HERE to another computer and transfered to a USB thumb drive for installation on the 530s.

A hint: Don't use Dell's buggy Download Manager, use the download to my browser option instead.

Bev.

Ps. Please don't use CAPS, as this implies that you are shouting, plus they are harder to read.

Thank You, im going to try it today, i hope this works. And no more caps sorry. I ll let you know if it worked.

BUDDY A17

:emotion-21:

Bev.

sjwmobile  and firebird, I, too, have the same computer as sjwmobile, but I have a windows 7 upgrade disk as well.  My biggest problem is my wmp12.  No matter what I do in 'turn off and on features' my wmp12 will not rip cd's or hold music in the player.  It always has to search to find my music.  I got the windows 7 to be able to listen to my music in the family room with the big stereo. (Yes, it was cool when it worked.)  Now over half of my music is gone and I can't get the player to rip, so I want to do a clean install.  Is it safe to assume that I need to start with the windows vista disk and THEN put in my windows 7 upgrade, or can I start with the upgrade?  I'm very new to this and I just don't want to mess it up as the whole family enjoys the computer and I don't want it to be down too long.  Thanks for any help you can give

Follow my instructions below for best effect. Use you're Windows disc at step 3. There is no need to install Vista again.

Read to see what you need to download before starting and download everything onto an external hard drive. Such as Windows 7 Service Pack 1, Internet Explorer 9 and the system drivers.

Thanks for all of the info!  I finally have everything backed up and the things downloaded to my external hard drive, so I am going to attempt to do this tomorrow afternoon!  Wish me luck and I'll let you know if I was successful!

To restore
your computer to the original factory installation, follow these steps:

1. Turn on the computer, after the Dell Logo appears and then disappears
   repeatedly press the key until you see the Advanced Boot
   Options menu.

   ---

2. From the Advanced Boot Options highlight Repair
   Your Computer with the arrow keys and press .

   ---

3. Click

   Next >

   and
   login to your administrator account on the computer. The administrator account
   is the account created the first time the computer was turned on.

   ---

4. Click Dell
   Factory Image Recovery and DataSafe options and follow the prompts
   provided.

what i repair is not an option that is given

kyrasmomma3322 

If you  are unable to use the system restore option, then you would need to perform a clean reinstall of Windows, follwed by loading the drivers and applications.

For more help. you will need to post the computer model and the version of Windows installed.

Bev.