Questions regarding restoring to factory settings a XPS 15

Question

Good afternoon,

Happy 4th of July. I looked through some of the postings hoping to find an answer to my question; however I wasn't able to find anything specific to my issue so here I am.

I have an XPS 15 running Win 7 that has caught a nasty virus, I suspect, though my virus detector says I'm clean. Anyhow, it wiped out all my restore points and every time I go to restart or turn off the computer, it freezes up. At that point I have no choice but to power it off and when I turn it back on, I always end up having to cycle through the whole "safe mode." At which point, once safe mode loads, I'm able to restart from there and it loads fine.

So my questions are these if I do a restore to factory settings following the instructions from this page http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/19/KCS/KcsArticles/ArticleView?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&docid=125843

1) Should I assume that I'll have my Win 7 operating system when I'm done?

2) Will this restore take care of ANY viruses that I've picked up?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

C.J.

DELL-Appu S · Accepted Answer

Hi C.J,

Here are the steps:

Restart PC, press 3-4 times when the Dell logo appears.
Advanced Boot Options menu appears, ‘Repair your Computer' is highlighted, press Enter. (Use the arrow keys to highlight your choice)
Windows is loading files screen appears. Wait for it to load.
System Recovery Options prompt appears. Specify the language and keyboard input that you want, and then click ‘Next’.
Log in as a user who has administrative credentials; select the username from the drop-down list, type the password and click OK.
Choose a Recovery Tool Window appears, select Dell Data Safe Restore and Emergency Backup.
The Welcome screen will show 2 options; Restore computer and preserve my new or changed files and Select other System Backup and more options. Select the second option (Select other System Backup and more options) and click Next.
The next window shows these options; Backup Files and folders and Restore my computer. Select ‘Restore my computer’.
Select the Factory Image and click ‘Next’.
The next window shows 2 options; 'Preserve new or changed files before restoring to selected System Backup' and 'Restore without preserving new or changed files'. Select the second option (Restore without preserving new or changed files) and click Next.
A prompt appears stating that your computer is about to be restored all data currently on your computer will be deleted and replaced with your selected Full System Backup. If an Emergency File & Folder Backup was created, it will still be saved at the location you selected. Click 'Yes, continue' and click Next.
PC restore will initiate. Once done, click Restart.
Follow the onscreen instructions to create a user account

Please reply if you have any questions.

DELL-Appu S · Answer

Hi C.J,

Performing a factory restore using the steps mentioned in the article will re-install Windows 7 back on the computer. This step leads to complete data loss including pictures, music files, videos, documents and applications. Yes, this should take care of the virus issue.

I would suggest you to run the Dell Diagnostics to check the hardware functionality. Power off the computer -> restart the computer, press 'F12' key on the Dell logo -> Select ‘Diagnostics’ from the boot menu.

Please reply if you have any questions.

C.J.734 · Answer

thanks

C.J.734 · Answer

Appu, I ran the Pre-Boot System Assessment Build 4129 as you suggested. The initial diagnostic test came back clean. I went ahead and did the complete one when it gave me the option. It took over half an hour and seemed to come back clean as well.

At this point, should I just do the restore?

C.J.

DELL-Appu S · Answer

Hi C.J, Since diagnostics did not produce any error code,  you may go ahead and restore the computer back to factory settings.

DELL-Appu S · Answer

Hi C.J, You are welcome. Let me know if you need any further assistance.

C.J.734 · Answer

p.s.  I've already backed up ALL files that I wish to keep, e.g. photos, music, docs, etc.

DELL-Appu S · Answer

Hi C.J, You are in the right direction. Please proceed with 'Dell DataSafe Restore and Emergency Backup'.

C.J.734 · Answer

Okay, so the instructions are no longer helping. I chose the "Dell DataSafe Restore and Emergency Backup" option and am at a second menu. My choices are:

"Restore computer and preserve my new or changed files (recommended)" or

"Select other System Backup and more options"

C.J.734 · Answer

Appu,

Actually, I do have a question. I followed the instructions on the link above to do the factory reset. Everything is fine through Step 8. At Step 9 the instructions state I should select "Dell Factory Tools" or "Dell Factory Image Restore." However, I'm am currently at the "System Recovery Options" menu and am face with six options none of which are either the ones listed in the instructions. Before going any further I wanted to confirm with you what route I should take. The six options I am looking at are:

"Startup Repair"

"System Restore"

"System Image Recovery"

"Windows Memory Diagnotic"

"Command Prompt" and

"Dell DataSafe Restore and Emergency Backup"

I suspect that I should go with the last choice; nevertheless it is different enough from the directions that I wished to check first.

Thanks,

C.J.

C.J.734 · Answer

Appu, Thank you so much for all your assitance.  I'm back up and running and everything looks great! Best, C.J.

DELL-Appu S · Answer

Hi C.J, I am delighted to hear that! Feel free to reach out in case you need any assistance in the future.

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Questions regarding restoring to factory settings a XPS 15

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