If you have XP, press Ctrl-F11 when you see the narrow blue band at top of the screen and follow the prompts. If you have Vista, press F8 and follow the menu. Be aware that, either way, this wipes all personal files and software you installed off the hard drive. So you shouldcarefully consider the consequences of doing this.
Does the PC boot? If it does, consider posting a log on the HijackThis forum for help removing malware. Be sure to click the red link at top of that forum page and follow the instructions to post your log file.
If this is XP, you need to press CTRL-F11, not just F11, when you see the narrow blue bar at top of screen. And keep in mind that the PC Restore feature (Ctrl-F11) is only on available on systems shipped after July 14, 2004.
I have a E510 xpsp3 upgraded to vista hp sp1 The f1 and f2 screen has dissapeared but I still can't reformat my drive pressing CTRL -F11 or CTRL -F8 does nothing but goes to desktop. Also I don't have any restore disk, I believe its all on the computer?
If you installed Vista, you changed the master boot record so Ctrl-F11 won't work even if the Restore partition is still on the drive. And for Vista systems, it's only F8 (not Ctrl-F8), but it still isn't going to work for you because the new MBR won't recognize either command.
If you're geeky, you can read this for some info that might let you recover access to the Restore partition.
Your only hope may be to get a XP Reinstallation CD from Dell. Dell's link for a free replacement CD no longer works so it appears they're no longer offering this service. You can contact Tech Support to see if you can persuade them to give you the XP CD or you'll have to buy a retail version of XP.
RoHe
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September 2nd, 2008 23:00
If you have XP, press Ctrl-F11 when you see the narrow blue band at top of the screen and follow the prompts. If you have Vista, press F8 and follow the menu. Be aware that, either way, this wipes all personal files and software you installed off the hard drive. So you shouldcarefully consider the consequences of doing this.
Does the PC boot? If it does, consider posting a log on the HijackThis forum for help removing malware. Be sure to click the red link at top of that forum page and follow the instructions to post your log file.
Ron
andy261
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September 3rd, 2008 13:00
RoHe
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September 3rd, 2008 17:00
What system and what version of Windows?
If this is XP, you need to press CTRL-F11, not just F11, when you see the narrow blue bar at top of screen. And keep in mind that the PC Restore feature (Ctrl-F11) is only on available on systems shipped after July 14, 2004.
Ron
andy261
4 Posts
0
September 4th, 2008 13:00
RoHe
12 Elder
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45.2K Posts
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172.6K Points
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September 4th, 2008 18:00
If you installed Vista, you changed the master boot record so Ctrl-F11 won't work even if the Restore partition is still on the drive. And for Vista systems, it's only F8 (not Ctrl-F8), but it still isn't going to work for you because the new MBR won't recognize either command.
If you're geeky, you can read this for some info that might let you recover access to the Restore partition.
Your only hope may be to get a XP Reinstallation CD from Dell. Dell's link for a free replacement CD no longer works so it appears they're no longer offering this service. You can contact Tech Support to see if you can persuade them to give you the XP CD or you'll have to buy a retail version of XP.
Ron
andy261
4 Posts
0
September 5th, 2008 12:00