I'm having the same problem.....a customer of mine has the dell dimension 8400 and I need the xp system cd and they have none. I have a feeling it is installed on the hard drive but no not where so I'm waitin to see how this thread plays out.

frankz

My Xp pro system does not have the option to burn a cd does that mean I dont have the restore feature also?

THanks Tom

I have read that but beside data files will it also effect any other progams I have installed after day 1.

or will I have reinstall all of them again. or update them. I have some curpt files in the windows drive Microsoft has a easy fix for this. doing the system restore will fix this?

thanks Tom

And if you have this Symantec restore partition on your system you can also burn to cd one time only a copy of Windows XP.  Link is shown below in how to do it.  Keep it if you ever want to reformat and reinstall windows someday.

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1091713&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19   How to burn a new Operating System CD

Hi: You have to contact customer service for the replacement CD.  You may or may ot have to pay for the CD.  Cost is about $11.00.  However, I am fairly sure you will have to provide service tag number billing address, etc. of the original purchaser in order to get one.

Since just went thru this, most likely your system was sent with service pack 1  disk, Dell part number  r2553. Dell internally canceled this order and I could never find out why.  The same disk with service pack 2 is h8412.  These  part numbers are for an 8200.  I do not know if the part numbers change for other model systems.  All customer service agents are not equal!!!!  you might have to try several, several times before you get an agent you can work with!  Frankly, I find dell's current infrastructure completely disfunctional!  You should call 1-800-49-3355 an follow prompts.

What do you know about updating bios?  If you can answer some questions, please respond!

Good luck

john

 Sorry!  Full number is: 1-800-449-3355 and follow prompts! You might try extension 7266966.

Again, less I was unclear, I think, because of software security,copy right issues, you will be required to provide all the information-service tag, billing address, etc. before you can acquire a disk.  If you are not the original owner, it might be possible to do a owner transfer and still get the disk. That was not an issue for me so I did not need to address. However, they did ask me a lot of questions!

Good Luck!

john

Tom:  It is not over yet!  They might cancel the order!  You need to watch!  If they do, call back! You will be able to get the order reinstated!  However, you might have to talk to several agents!  This might particularly so, if they order the R... versus the H.....!  (I think the R version is obsolete and not available, however, they do not automatically supercede the R with H. you have to ask, I think)!

Did not mean to make anyone think it was easy! I knew it is and was not to be!  Remember I indicated you might have to talk to several agents in order to resolve the issue!  Having purchased printers and ink recently, I can assure you  nothing is easy with Dell!  On issues such as this, they are so compartmentalized that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing!  Wheter this is intentional or just a poorly organized very large support organization is beyond me!  I do think their current disconnects is driving some customers away! It has dismayed me!  Fortunately, they do have a number of good agents if you can find them . I find you  just have to have persevance.  Their equipment is good for my purposes or I would likely go somewhere else. I have spent hours on the phone or chat just to be talking or waiting on the wrong person or get disconnected!