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Factory Restore on Studio 1555, Windows 7 upgrade from Vista
Hi there,
I left for the night to stay with a friend. I usually leave my laptop on to idle with the monitor turned off (power options > close lid).
Useful if I'm downloading large files overnight. In this case, I wasn't. I had simply left it and when I returned the next day I was greeted with 'Log on' screen. Which was strange.
Long story short, the laptop appears to have a damaged harddisk and/or somehow many have caught a virus. I'm still digging into the cause and what the damage is but I'm also weighing up my options in the event I have to wipe the thing and start from scratch.
My Studio 1555 comes with a partition to re-set the machine to it's Factory Settings. I tried to access this using on boot-up but this no longer seems to work.
I availed of the option to upgrade my laptop to Windows 7 from Vista. I still have all the installation disks for both the original system and the upgrade... but I would have thought the recovery partition on the laptop would still be accessible?
Is it possible that once upgraded, the recovery partition is no longer available? I've tried as well as navigating and set-up screens with no joy.
Thank for any advice!
-B
fireberd
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33.3K Posts
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December 15th, 2010 03:00
You will have to do a manual reinstall, either on the existing hard drive (if it hasn't failed) or on a new drive. Once an OS other than the original is installed, the recovery partition will not work.
As you have the Windows 7 disc, try the startup repair as a first option. If it works you won't have to do a complete reinstall.
How to run Win 7 startup repair.
Brendan Bannon
4 Posts
0
December 16th, 2010 01:00
Hi there,
Just an update to let you know what happened. I'm still no wiser to what damage was done, nor what caused it.
Running a battery of tests on the harddisk gave mixed results (BIOS memory test came up green, the Dell test found something *then froze*).
The operating system was still unresponsive so I opted to go with a fresh re-install. I have backups so most of the important stuff has been saved and at the moment it seems pretty fluid and responsive.
But without knowing what caused it / what the damage is it's speculative to say it's the end of it's problems! It could well require a new harddisk.
Thanks for your help! It made things move a lot faster this side getting it back up on it's feet (for now!).
-Brendan
sagatr
4 Posts
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December 17th, 2010 04:00
I would recommend you do clean install. Its the best solution if you dont want the hassle of a flacky install.
If you are unfamiliar with this you can follow this guide :
How to install Windows 7
Make sure you backup all your data first. If you do an update you will have all junk from the previous windows install remaining. This means all existing virus and spyware and any registry entries will be there. Stick to clean install.
sagat
scuby123
6 Posts
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December 29th, 2010 11:00
I have a better suggestion. If you can return your Dell and buy a HP or Sony. I have been having a recurring problem that Dell is unable or unwilling to fix. I will not buy any more Dell products due to this.
Brendan Bannon
4 Posts
0
December 29th, 2010 14:00
That would sort out my issue, yes!
While this doesn't really address the hardware issues I've had, I totally agree with you, mate.
I've had a very bad experience with Dell on overheating that they simply refuse to take responsibility for.
Reading through the forums here and elsewhere, I've pretty much resigned myself to working with what I have.
bapowel
3 Posts
1
December 31st, 2010 10:00
COULD IT BE THAT THERE WAS SOME SORT OF AUTOMATIC UPDATE THAT OCCURED WHICH REQUIRED A RESTART AND THUS THE SIGN IN SCREEN; PERHAPS THE UPDATE CAUSED A HIC UP THAT THE SYSTEM DIDNT LIKE. HAD ALMOST THE EXACT SAME ISSUE WITH MY 1721 , AND LOST THE ENTIRE DISC--THE ONLY MESSAGE I GOT WAS DATA BIT 79. THIS JUST HAPPENED ABOUT THREE WEEKS AGO FOR ME.
Brendan Bannon
4 Posts
0
January 2nd, 2011 11:00
Hey Bapowel,
That is possible, yes. I ran searches around the time of the crash for any news items and other message boards to see if there were any peaks or a rise in reported crashes right after an update. There was nothing that really stood out. Given I was not around when the actual crash/restart took place, I can only speculate what caused it!
That said, the timeline and the effect of your issue is very similar to my own. It is entirely possible that it was the same thing, yeah.
The laptop still seems to be running quiet well! On a seperate note, not applying the BIOS update seems to have sorted out my overheating issue!
So far this mysterious crash has been a blessing in disguise!
-b