Restoring dell pc restore by symantec

Question

To everyone that has installed vista beta 2 or had any other problems with trying to get your comp back using system restore ctrl + F11 then get this tool, it will restore your comp back to the way it was when you bought it so no more problems,  why the heck dell couldn't realease a tool that could do that is beyond me, tuns of people have restored there comps back to the way it was when they bought them by using this tool, so all the vista beta 2 problems are now a thing of the past, have fun guys and thanks very much to the creator of the program,he's saved my bakon and tuns more people the guy is brilliant, thank you.     http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/fixes.htm

godai · Answer

You will run into issues if you   A) don't have a floppy drive B) don't have access to another working dell (one with Control + F11 capabilities)   c) one of the other tools had issues with my SATA drives (I'm assuming that was why it couldn't detect my HD)   alternative for those with media direct.   The Media Direct Repair Utility <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>   http://ftp.us.dell.com/app/R121517.EXE   will fix the problem for those who didn't wipe out thier restore and media direct partitions when installing. (Burn cd, boot from cd, choose repair option)  Reboot should have Control + F11 capability restored.     Godai

subwoofer151 · Answer

first of all you dont need a floppy drive, you can just burn the image to disk and boot from that, second you dont need access to another working dell as this tool will repair your ctrl + f11 function.  just download the dsrfix.zip file then extract it and burn the image to disk,  then boot using f12 and then select botting with your disk option and then just run dsrfix, and then dsrfix /f to fix your dsr boot files, easy peasy,  oh and i gess it takes a guy to make a program and fix over 100 computers and more since oh way back in 2005 and now dell come up with the excact same tool,  took them long enough,   A) you don't need a floppy drive,' just burn to disk'   B) you dont need access to another working dell (one with Control + F11 capabilities)  as this program fixes the ctrl +F11 function   anyway guys either use this tool which has fixed hundreads of comps already or use the dell tool, it's about time dell made this tool anyway, especialy with all the resorses that they have at there desposil. good on you's dell.

godai · Answer

I might of been going by an old version of the page or such because the instructions i had refered to a dellmbr.bin which was taken from a 'clean' machine.

zshall · Answer

do you think that the fix you described in the first post would fix my problem? (At least i'm not the only one having this problem)

-------------------------------
After I installed the public beta of Windows Vista on my new Dell E510 PC
(upgraded from XP media center), the Dell PC Restore option has stopped
working. Windows disk manager shows that the PC Restore partition is still
on my hard drive, but I cannot boot to it. (The "blue bar" displaying
dell.com does not show up.)
As this is the only way for me to get Windows XP Media Center 2005 back on
my hard disk, I am concerned.

Scanning my hard disk, I see that Vista has incorporated all the hidden
partitions into one big c:\ drive.

Looking for evidence of PC Restore on my computer, I found these files:
i386 [directory]
dell.sdr [file]
dell [directory]
drivers [directory]

I am not sure if these files are related to Dell PC Restore, but I decided
to mention them.

My questions are as follows:
Is there a way to restore my computer back to XP media center?
If I use my Partition Magic application, and set what I think is the
Dell PC Restore partition (no label, about 4GB) to be the active partition,
will the computer boot into Dell PC Restore?
Is there a way to uninstall Windows Vista, and get back what I had
before?
When the Vista beta expires, will there be a way to uninstall, or will I
be stuck with a non working computer?
Can I download the Dell PC Restore stuff from Dell.com?

I just want to make sure that I can reverse the Vista installation somehow
if something goes wrong.

Sincerely,
Zach

godai · Answer

Is there a way to restore my computer back to XP media center?     IF the restore partition is still there, the first posts methos should work.  If I use my Partition Magic application, and set what I think is the Dell PC Restore partition (no label, about 4GB) to be the active partition, will the computer boot into Dell PC Restore?      I am not sure.   Is there a way to uninstall Windows Vista, and get back what I had before?     No. When the Vista beta expires, will there be a way to uninstall, or will I be stuck with a non working computer?  No way to uninstall. Might be able to upgrade to the Release version of Vista but no garuntee.   Can I download the Dell PC Restore stuff from Dell.com?   You won't be able to get a restore image from downloading.  However you can call up and request a restore/recovery cd. (Not sure on the name.)     One word of warning.   If you do get the partition working via Partition magic or the original posters method. Realize that the restore partion is a DESTRUCTIVE restore. Meaning all of your personal files will be gone afterwards.  The restore returns the computer to the fresh out of the box state. So you need to back up any important files you might have.

ZoomCon · Answer

SUBJECT: Repairing PC Restore boot procedure after Vista   Thank you! Thank you to a utility from Dan Goodell who posted this solution:   Steps to fix/repair PC Restore boot option (Ctrl+F11) after manual install of other operating systems. (Vista or XP Pro). (Tested on Dell Inspiron 1300 with no floppy drive)   Download dell utility R121517.EXE and burn bootable CD. We will use to get DOS prompt. Download and unzip NO-Dell utility Dsrfix from http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/fixes.htm.  Copy DSRFIX.com to another CD (any CD). Boot from Dell CD and obtain DOS prompt F:> Switch CDs to run Dsrfix. Type DSRFIX to see if your system is qualified. Run DSRFIX /F /PBR4   Magic!!!! You can use Ctrl+F11 again!  Thank to Dan Goodell for the utility and for detailed documentation!   Note about PC Restore: Your files on drive D: are intact and untouched after PC Restore.  Tested twice on Dell Inspiron 1300.

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Restoring dell pc restore by symantec

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