Restore to Original Factory Settings

Question

I am at my wits end. I have been looking all over the internet and on Dell for the past 2 hours trying to find help with no luck. I have a Dell Inspiron E1505. I want to wipe everything off this laptop except what was on it when I purchased it. I keep reading hit F12 or control F11 and then click Restore. There is no Restore anywhere. I have searched and searched and I can't find anything. I have found that a lot of other people don't have that option either. Please help!

Thanks!

ExtremeGamer · Answer

can you do something like that for inspiron 1510....complete reboot then just a few days roll back on it??? i want complete factory restore, not just a roll back of a few weeks ago. & how do you get a hold of a 'dell direct usb key solution' ??? i know i kind of asked on another one, but on what i seen it would be real handy to have and solve issues like this.

England86 · Answer

Thanks so much for getting back with me.  It's actually XP.

DELL-Sujatha K · Answer

Hi England86,

If the system has Windows vista Operating system follow the steps given below to restore the system to the factory installed state:

1. Restart your computer
2. Press F8 a few times at the Dell logo to access "Windows Advanced Boot Option
3. From Windows Advanced Boot Options
4. Select the option "Repair My Computer". You will get a screen that says
5. "System Recovery Options" which will list all the User Accounts.
6. Once you click on the User Account you will get a
7. "Windows Recovery Environment" which will list the following options.
8. "System Repair, System Restore, Windows Complete PC Restore, Windows Memory Diag tool Command Prompt Dell Factory Image Restore"
9. Select "Dell Factory Image Restore" from the list of option, then follow the on screen instruction to complete the PC restore.
Let me know if you have a different Operating system to assist you further.

If in case the PC restore is not showing up, I suspect the recovery partition is corrupted and you will have to clean install the Operating system.

Note: Let me if it is a different Operating system.

DELL-Sujatha K · Answer

Hi England86, Please follow the instruction given in the below link for Windows XP manual: http://dell.to/16k9b0D Revert for further queries.

England86 · Answer

Thanks so much.  I will try this today.

England86 · Answer

Ran into a road block... I was reading this -

If your Dell System didn't come with Disks, Dell has designed two new backup and restore programs that do not come with their own disks, see below for the details:

Dell Inspirons, Studios, and XPS Systems use DataSafe Local Backup 2.0 as of April 22, 2009.

Dell OptiPlex, Latitude, Vostro, and Precisions use Dell Backup and Recovery Manager as of May 26, 2009.

Click here to find out more information about this software.

Then I clicked on it and got this -

Currently this article is not available. Please try later.

I don't have any disks, so what do I do now?

Philip_Yip · Answer

Ignore the top of the form and fill out the bottom:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/en/backupcd_form?c=us&cs=19&s=dhs&DoNotRedirect=y

Fill in the information at the bottom and hopefully you should be able to request the Dell Media Direct DVD and the Windows XP Reinstallation CD.

To Clean Install Windows XP follow my wiki Windows Reinstallation Guide/A Clean install of Windows XP:

http://philipyip.wordpress.com/dell-community-forums/

Note this system is a Media Direct System so you should follow Step 7b and Step 14a.

For Drivers install the following in order: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/w/laptop/3745.inspiron-6000-windows-xp.aspx

Note Windows XP is reaching its End of Life in April 2014 for more information see Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 - End of Life April 2014.

It is not recommended to continue using such an obsolete version of Windows and it is recommended to migrate to a modern version of Windows such as Windows 7 or Windows 8. The Inspiron 6400/E1505 equipped with 2-4 GB of RAM will run Windows 7 32 bit and Windows 8 32 bit without a problem. Note if 4 GB of RAM is installed only 3.25 GB will be usable. I would recommend Windows 7 32 bit over Windows 8 32 bit due to the inferior user interface of Windows 8 however Windows 8 32 bit is cheaper and Windows 7 functionality can be restored via use of Classic Shell http://classicshell.net/.

Should you wish to install Windows 7 32 bit then use the following drivers as listed here:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/w/microsoft_os/4526.inspiron-6400-windows-7-32-bit.aspx

Most these drivers will work with Windows 8 32 bit also.

Instructions for clean installing Windows 7 and 8 are also mentioned in my Windows Reinstallation Guide.

DELL-Sujatha K · Answer

Hi England86,

Since you were unable to restore the system to the factory installed state, next option was to resintall the Operating system. Please send me a private message with the system service tag to assist you further. Please click on my name and click Start Conversation to send me a private message.

DELL-Sujatha K · Answer

Hi ExtremeGamer,

I assume the system model is Vostro 1510. If it is Vostro 1510, Dell has shipped this system with Windows XP or Vista. There is no DUSB key for this Operating system. Please send me a private message with the system service tag to assist you further. Please click on my name and click Start Conversation to send me a private message.

ExtremeGamer · Answer

sorry for the confusion, but its a Inspiron N5110....my bad. and it has windows 7.....i just would like to maybe get a hold of disk's or better yet the dell direct key solution.

DELL-Sujatha K · Answer

Hi ExtremeGamer,

Please send me a private message with the system service tag to check the system details and assist you further. Please click on my name and click Start Conversation to send me a private message.

Philip_Yip · Answer

Would you happen to know how to completely nuke an Inspiron 6400xp Made in 2006?

Full instructions on securely wiping the hard drive and carrying out a clean install of Windows are here:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/

This is a media direct system so the media direct partitions should be prepared after securely wiping. Windows should then be loaded preferably Windows 7 32 Bit opposed to Windows XP which has reached end of life.

kanji341 · Answer

Would you happen to know how to completely nuke an Inspiron 6400xp Made in 2006?

SNAPOLI · Answer

How do I change the message box color?

teresabb495 · Answer

I have an Inspiron 3541 how do I completely wipe it clean to the factory settings?

Locked Topics – Laptops General

Restore to Original Factory Settings

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