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Need to restore the factory setting on dell desktop with Windows XP
Please, can anyone help me with this! My desktop is crashing with virus. So i want to clean up the hard drive and reinstall. It is windows EXP. Dimension 4400 desktop. Someone told to first press ctrl when Dell sign flash at start, than simultaneously press F 11 and let go. It should take to options of restore factory setting. But it didn't. It took me to, safe operating mode etc. Can someone help. please.
ajweb76
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April 23rd, 2009 18:00
That option only works if you have two partitions in your hard drive, that was the "old way" of doing it. In your case I would recommend a clean installation. You should have either a green (XP Pro), purple (XP Home) or red (XP Media Center) disc with the operating system. Please back up your data and download the drivers for your system from support.dell.com using your service tag. Then insert the disc and restart the computer, you should see a message saying "press any key to boot from the CD.." and then you will be able to format your hard drive, get rid of viruses and reinstall it again. Remember that you should have all your programs handy so you can install them later. When installing the dell drivers please instal the chipset driver first. I hope it helps
shesagordie
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April 23rd, 2009 18:00
khurramjamil
Yes, I answered your last post HERE about a three year old computer.
The closest to factory settings you can achieve with a Dimension 4400, is a clean reinstall of XP.
How to carry out a clean reinstall of XP. Disconnect all the peripherals from the system except the keyboard, mouse and monitor.
This XP reinstallation GUIDE is excellent, or you can use Dell's XP Restallation Guide HERE.
While installing, remember to delete all existing partitions when you are prompted, then recreate the partitions and format the hard drive, following by installing XP.
After installing XP, you need to install the drivers and applications in the correct order, see HERE
Followed by installing the Anti Virus utility, updating the definitions, then all the critical Microsoft updates.
Bev.