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bluemoon785

3 Posts

139224

October 10th, 2007 00:00

Restore To Factory Settings Dell Inspiron 1200

Hi,

I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 purchased summer of 2005. I am in need of instructions on how to restore the notebook back to original factory settings.

I do have several CD’s that came with the notebook as noted below, will I need these or are they outdated?

Reinstallation CD MS Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2

Reinstallation CD for Cyberlink Power DVD 5.3.102 Software

Reinstallation CD for Sonic RecordNow 7.3 LE Software

Drivers & Utilities CD for reinstalling Dell Inspiron System Software

Drivers & Utilities CD for reinstalling Dell Wireless WLAN Card & PC Card

Corel Word Perfect

Thanks for help Denise

ro_lie07

182 Posts

October 10th, 2007 01:00

hi bluemoon785,
 
if your computer has PC Restore, then you can restore your computer back to factory condition w/out using those CD's.  click the topic below for the instructions.

How to Use the Dell™ PC Restore by Symantec Utility to Restore the Operating System to the Original Factory Condition

:smileywink:

 



Message Edited by ro_lie07 on 10-09-2007 09:19 PM

bluemoon785

3 Posts

October 11th, 2007 01:00

Hi ro_lie07,
 
Can you tell me where I might find PC restore on my notebook?
 
Thanks

Calla Lily

243 Posts

October 11th, 2007 02:00

There is a web site that explains all about PC Restore.  It's Dan Goodel's website.  The link is as below:

ro_lie07

182 Posts

October 11th, 2007 06:00

one way to check if you have pc restore is when you turn on your computer, try to check if you see a blue bar that would appear on the top of the screen and has the website www.dell.com written on it.. if you see that, it means you still have a valid pc restore, or backup image of your computers original factory configuration.  or just try to press + when booting up the computer, those are the key combination to bring up your pc restore.  btw, if you formatted your hard drive before, you may no longer have this option... try reading the info about pc restore as posted above also..:smileyhappy:

bluemoon785

3 Posts

October 11th, 2007 23:00

Thanks Cally Lily for the link. It is informative, although a bit over my level. I still find it informative enough that I will ask questions before I blissfully click away. :smileytongue:

Ro_lie, I have a concern about where I am heading.

I have read there is this magical Dell/Symantec restore was installed on all comps after July ’05. I purchased my daughters 1200 online direct from Dell  7-25-05.

Just this a/m I fired up the 1200, I did see the blue bar a top of screen with the www.dell.com logo. I was excited. Yippee, a couple buttons & away I go.

 

Then sitting here basking in my alleged ease, prior to doing the F11 thing, my mom calls.

Mom has an Inspiron 1000, purchased 7 months before the 1200 and she has some NB woes.

 

Off to moms to investigate. First thing I notice is: The 1000 also has the blue bar a top of screen with the www.dell.com logo when starting NB. Hmmmm, after poking around, I have confirmed that both NB’s have in the Add/Remove Programs an item titled Dell System Restore. Now I am wondering is this the magical button?

 

In a nut cliché: I am a bit unsure about what I am ding here. Can just hit a button & make it all right. (Like a pair of Pradas in my virtual closet :smileyvery-happy:) How do I know if I have the magical Dell Symantec PC Restore on my computer? Is there like a specific file name or location?  

Calla Lily

243 Posts

October 12th, 2007 01:00

Hi bluemoon,
I've done a number of PC Restore and it usually takes about few minutes to complete.  The procedure is described in your owner's manual, and in a lot of cases, I've noticed that Dell Tech Support gets you to do this procedure as last resort to try and sovle issues. 
 
Make sure your have ample power supply during this procedure, otherwise, things may screw up if power is cut off during the restore.  Just have both the battery (well charged) and AC adapter in to make sure.  Just follow the procedure as given in the Owner's Manual, and don't turn off the computer.  Once you're done with PC Restore, the computer will show a screen that takes you through Windows customization.  So basically, don't turn off the computer till you actually get to a point where the OS has been newly restored and loaded, and remember to follow all the instructions that comes up on your screen. 
 
As for the file that you found in Add/Remove, I have the same file on there as well. I would not touch it unless you know what you're doing.  To operate the PC Restore, you do not need to go into Add/Remove.  As the Owner's Manual says, during start up, you have to press Ctrl and F11 at the same time at a certain point during boot up.
 
From what the previous poster has said, it sounds like you and your mom both have PC Restore (because of the www.Dell.com logo).  I know it's a little unerving trying out the PC Restore for the very first time.  I know I was.  The only thing to remember is the following:
* follow the Owner's Manual instructions, and once PC Restore starts, follow instrucitons on the screen
* Make sure you will have constant power supply, don't turn the computer off, in fact, you will have to keep it on and it will never ask you to turn off the computer at all during the procedure, and not even when you get into Windows setup, you will not be prompted to turn the computer off.  The only time that you can turn off the computer is once you finished with PC Restore, then finished Windows setup, and you have the OS loaded again, then, if you wish to turn the computer off, do it by clicking the Start button, and then turn the comptuer off that way, and the laptop will turn itself off. 
 
Also, remember that since you're getting your hard drive to its original factory state, it means that you would have to download the Winodws update as well as any other update that is needed on your computer. 

Calla Lily

243 Posts

October 12th, 2007 01:00

One moe thing, just as a reminder, as I recall, you would have to remove any external USB keyboard, mouse etc before you do the PC Restore.  The only thing you should have on there is the AC adapter plugged into your computer.  Don't even have any phone line for the modem or high spped connection attached.  You can plug those in AFTER the OS has been loaded.

DELL-Jimmy P

1.5K Posts

October 12th, 2007 19:00

bluemoon785
 
 Also remember to backup anything you do not want to lose, any music, pictures, favorites, e-mail...etc. PC restore completely wipes all that stuff.

emaanlotfi

1 Message

May 19th, 2013 08:00

how restart computer minecraft dell 2005

 

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