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Getting nowhere with System Restore. Inspiron N5040 Windows 7 Home Premium
I bought this laptop of my nephew and I wanted everything on it to relate to me. So I decided to try and restore to Factory State. I followed all the details I printed off. I can't even get the laptop into the repair state. On the screen is the white bar "windows is loading files" then it goes blank and windows seems to be starting up but it just shuts down. I have made 3 restore discs (DVD's) and tried that. It starts to read then shuts down. I cannot even Restore to any date. I have tried to make a backup using my 16GB USB Flash Drive. Can anyone please help me with this, I have been at it now for 3 days with no prospect of winning. The Disk Management is..... OEM Partition 100MB..... OS (C) 451.01 GB......Recovery 14.65 GB. Thank you for your time.
PudgyOne
9 Legend
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30.3K Posts
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April 9th, 2012 08:00
Boardwriter,
With the Dell drive in the computer...
You can run the full diagnostics to see if you have any hardware issues. How to Run the Dell™ Diagnostics Utility Report back any error messages.
On Dell computers, using the Dell OEM disk, to install the operating system on a new hard drive, the product key is found from the motherboard. To install a fresh installation, the instructions would be How To Restore or Reinstall Microsoft® Windows® on a Dell™ Computer
And it's very Important to install the drivers in the correct order. How to Download and Install Drivers in the Correct Order
Rick
PudgyOne
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April 9th, 2012 03:00
Boardwriter,
The easiest method is using the Recovery Partition. Restoring Your Computer´s Software to the Factory Settings
You siad you created the Windows 7 - IMPORTANT Windows 7 Backup Disks to create then you can use Restoring Your Dell Computer to Original Factory Installation with Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0
The manual method is to How To Restore or Reinstall Microsoft® Windows® on a Dell™ Computer if the above methods do not work.
Rick
Boardwriter
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April 9th, 2012 04:00
Thank you for the speedy reply Rick. I ended up getting the BSOD a few time even trying to restart normally. I tried replacing the hdd and using the Boot disc I made before I made the 3 Restore discs'. Got nowhere. I was always a Toshiba user and I am wondering if there is anything I have missed out on, like something to do with the Motherboard. The links you sent me I have been there before posting on this site. Non of them work for me , I still got the same results. I have run out of ideas.
Boardwriter
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April 9th, 2012 06:00
I decide to swap both drives from Toshiba to Dell. I actually got the Factory State on the Dell drive using my Toshiba and ran my Toshiba drive on the Dell. Everything was updated drivers etc. The Dell drive run like a charm. Afetr I put it back into the Dell laptop I started getting the same problems. It want to repair and sticks on Windows files is loading. It must be the Motherboard even if it was the Motherboard the Toshiba drive would have spit out the same problems. I don't know where to ge from here. Except maybe the bin and drop the laptop into it. I suppose that would be one solution
Philip_Yip
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April 9th, 2012 10:00
Did you follow my wiki A Clean Install of Windows, did you load the SATA drivers?
Boardwriter
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April 10th, 2012 00:00
What can I say Rick. You are a STAR. I was on the verge of dumping the laptop. I followed your replies to the letter. I now have a 100% working Inspiron N5040 thanks to you and your patience. I cannot thank you enough. All I can say is don't ever leave this Forum. Again, Many Thanks. Regards Boardwriter.
PudgyOne
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April 10th, 2012 04:00
Boardwriter,
Glad you got it working! :emotion-21: Thanks for posting back.
Take care,
Rick