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Inspiron 1100-Help-My Start Menu & Shortcuts disappeared
My 1100 boots up ok but when it gets to my desktop, I have no start menu and all of my shortcuts are gone. I have read through most previous messages posted with similar problems and have tried:
pressing Ctrl & Esc keys at once;
Pressing Alt key & space bar at the same time;
Right clicking on the blank desktop
None of the above has worked. I did a Ctrl / Alt / Del to get the task manager and I have looked through "new tasks" and my desktop shows the shortcuts, but I don't know how to get them back.
I have also had Dell run a hardware diagnostic check and it was ok. (My hardware warranty is good thru 3-06)
I have tried starting in safe mode, also starting and hitting F8 to start in the last good mode and that didn't work either. It was suggested from a co-worker that I do a recovery disc. I am not a "computer guru" by any means and am not sure how to do this. I have all of the CD's that came with the computer, do I just re-load ALL of those or just the "Re-installation CD Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Including Service Pack 1 or Operating System" or "Drivers, Utilities & Applications for Re-installing Dell Inspiron 1100 & 5100 System Software or both?
Thanks in advance, any help would be appreciated.
JRT
LICHE1908
313 Posts
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September 13th, 2005 22:00
2. Restart, and press F12 right away to bring up the boot choice screen. Choose to boot off the CD.
3. Once you get to the setup screen, choose to install the operating system, NOT repair it.
4. There will be three partitions on the drive. The one labeled "-" contains Dell diagnostics. It doesn't take much space, and you might as well leave it. Delete the other, which is your OS restore partition.
5. Choose the "unpartitioned space" to set up your installation. Also select "NTFS" file system and do not use the "quick" format option.
6. After Windows XP installs, put the Drivers and Ultilities (Resource) CD into the drive. Installl it (you're just installing the menu and Active X to verify system components).
7. Install drivers from the disc. Detected components will have a check mark next to them. Start with your chipset driver, then your video driver, then all the rest. Reboot after each driver install.
Message Edited by LICHE1908 on 09-13-2005 07:58 PM
RThomp
3 Posts
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September 14th, 2005 10:00
RThomp
3 Posts
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September 15th, 2005 23:00
OK, I must be an idiot. I did steps 1 & 2, but after I chose "boot from cd-rom drive" from the boot menu and hit enter I did not get a setup screen. I got a blank screen with the line "press any key to boot from CD". I hit a key and it just logged on. I tried it again and did not hit a key and it still logged on. Am I missing something or how do I get to the set up screen?
Thanks again,
JRT
LICHE1908
313 Posts
0
September 16th, 2005 03:00
Press any key on the keyboard immediately as you will have only 3 seconds to press a key.
LICHE1908
313 Posts
0
September 16th, 2005 03:00
2. Restart the computer and start tapping the F12 key at the Dell logo on the first screen.
3. You will see one time boot menu listing a couple of options to boot the computer from.
Note : You may or may not see the one time boot menu depending on the Hard Drive content. If you don't see it the first time, please repeat the steps above. If you still don't see it, you probably need to change the boot sequence in the BIOS and boot off the XP cd.
4. Insert the Windows XP CD in the drive now.
5. Select "CD/DVD" option from this screen and press "Enter" key.
6. The computer will display a message asking to "Press any key to boot from the CD".
7. Press any key on the keyboard immediately as you will have only 3 seconds to press a key.
8. Now you should see a blue screen with "Windows Setup" written on top.
9. At the end of this screen, you will have options either to get into "Recovery Console" by pressing "R" or to setup Windows XP by pressing "Enter" key. Please press the "Enter" key.
10. The next screen should be to accept the agreement. Please read the agreement and press "F8" to accept it.
11. The next screen would have an option to press "Esc" key to setup a fresh copy of windows XP.
Note : A few of the options may change depending on the hard drive content. Please take your decision to select the appropriate option that would lead to a format of the hard drive.
12. The next screen would list the partitions available to setup windows XP on. Please select the partition that is largest in size and press "Enter" key.
13. Press "C" to continue using the same partition on the next screen.
14. The next screen would list a few different options to format the partition. Please select "NTFS(Quick)".If you choose the Quick format option, format removes files from the partition, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors. Only use this option if your hard disk has been previously formatted and you are sure that your hard disk is not damaged otherwise use the full format option. I always use the quick format option to save time in the reinstall.
15. Press "F" to format the drive now.
16. The computer will format the hard drive and will copy certain files off the CD on to the computer and will restart.
17. Let the computer boot off the hard drive this time and it will start the windows XP installation phase which will take about 39 minutes.
18. Please answer all the questions that will be asked during setup. The computer will restart once this phase is complete.
19. Computer will ask you for a few basic settings and creation of user accounts.
20. After this the computer will be back up and running to the normal mode. You are requested to install the Drivers off the "Drivers and Utilities" cd. You need to install all the ones which are checked by clicking on them. The first one that needs to be installed is "Chipset". If Chipset is not available, you can pickup any in any sequence. Please click the respective driver and follow the onscreen instructions to complete the installation.
21. After installation of the drivers, you can use any cd in any sequence to install the softwares that came preloaded on the laptop