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April 26th, 2006 15:00
Reformatting and Reinstalling Windows XP to my recently busted hard drive.
Recently I had issue booting up my computer. It kept giving me the blue screen of death, and the message "UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME". Well, after several hours on the phone with the Tech Support folks, I managed to get everything working properly (they had me run the Windows Recovery utility). The problem is that, now that I have everything booting up correctly, almost all of my program icons on the desktop are gone. Most of my Start menu has been wiped out. The few folders which are left are missing sub-folders and programs within those remaining folders. For instance, Accessories doesn't have System Tools anymore. I even lost System Restore from the Start menu.
Now, the Dell technician I spoke with helped me use the System Restore, but it didn't fix anything. All of the program icons and everything are still missing. Also, many of the programs which are left no longer work properly. The Microsoft Word program which came pre-installed (and the disk for which I have lost) no longer works properly and demands that I reinstall the program in order to access my various Word documents. Many of my music files which required licenses no longer work, as the computer cannot find the licenses. Several times it has asked me if I'd like to restore the licenses, but doing so (for each individual song, which was tedious) didn't fix the problem. I'd like to use the utility it offered to restore my licenses, but my internet connection has been wiped away.
In short, this all has me very upset.
I recently spoke with an IT professional here at my college, and he says it sounds like the registry entries for these programs have been wiped clean by the Recovery utility. According to him, it is possible to restore these manually by creating new registry entries for each individual program, but the process would take days with all the files and programs on my computer. His alternative suggestion was to simply reformat the computer entirely, wipe clean the partitions, set up new ones, and fully reinstall Windows XP.
But herein lies the problem. I've gotten so many conflicting messages from people that I'm terrified of messing with the computer at all for fear of screwing it up even more. I spent too much money I didn't have on the system to watch it all go to junk now.
My question, now that I've given you the long and detailed history, is this: What do I actually need to do to reinstall Windows XP back to the way it was when I got the computer just over 3 years ago? I need step-by-step instructions that I can understand, which will tell me exactly what to do to fix my freakin' computer. I mean, do I need to reformat, and wipe clean the hard drive? Do I need to mess around with my partitions, deleting and recreating them? The entries here on the Dell website conflict directly with things I've been told by others, namely the IT professional here at the school, so that I'm not sure who's right and who's not.
Help?
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osprey4
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34.2K Posts
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April 26th, 2006 19:00
Sorry, crystal ball not working. What is the system model? Do you have all of your discs? Windows XP Reinstallation, Dell Resource disc, application discs, etc.
If you have everything, it's a simple matter to follow your reinstallation guide and get your computer back to peak performance!! It will likely run better than before it crashed.
phoenixofthenet
14 Posts
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April 26th, 2006 20:00
Well, I'm running a Dell Dimension 4600. I have all of the discs that came with the system, with the exception of the Microsoft Word disk. Somehow, that disk has managed to lose itself. Which begs the question, how can I go about getting a replacement disk for Microsoft Word from Dell? Is that even possible?
Anyway, my primary question wasn't really answered. I realize the reinstalling Windows is a relatively streamlined process, but my question was, do I actually need to remove the existing partitions, create new ones, and then remove everything from the computer by formatting, or will simply running the Windows XP reinstallation do that for me automatically? I ask because, as I mentioned before, I was told that I would have to do this manually (removing the partitions, creating a new one, and then wiping the disk clean), but some of the sites linked by community helpers say that the computer will do these steps automatically.
I'm confused, and getting lots of conflicting messages, and in the end none of the people meant to help people in my situation have been the least bit helpful.
osprey4
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34.2K Posts
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April 26th, 2006 20:00
Dell will not replace your lost Word disc. Sorry.
If you follow the XP reinstallation process, the drive is re-partitioned and formatted. Nothing else needs to be done.
Follow Denny's Windows XP Reinstallation Guide. Read carefully and follow the links he's given to ensure a good reinstallation. You'll also want to refer to the reinstall guide for your system to install drivers and applications. To find that, click Desktops above, enter your service tag number and select Reinstallation Guide from the drop-down list. The order of reinstallation is as follows:
Message Edited by osprey4 on 04-26-200605:23 PM
phoenixofthenet
14 Posts
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April 26th, 2006 20:00