Cannot restore factory settings

Question

I'm having a problem here that I can't for the life of me figure out. Before replacing that my printer with the one I have now, I was advised to remedy the communications problems I was having by deleting all my USB connections, and allowing Windows to redetect them and reinstall them. This worked to some degree, but now I have a major hassle that just started this morning. Now, I can no longer use Windows at all. The boot sequence proceeds normally with the exception of the fact that Windows now 'finds' my USB ports as new hardware and flashes up a dialog asking me if I want it to search for drivers, browse for drivers, or have the hardware not be detected in the future. The only problem is that when the found hardware dialog pops up, Windows stops recognizing either my keyboard or mouse, and there's no way to answer it. This is as far as I can get in the loading process. Safe Mode has the same problems, as that was the first thing I tried. I had to boot up with a Kubuntu (Linux) CD just to sent this to you. The mouse and keyboard obviously work, since I'm using both to send this. To top it off, my system won't recognize my Vista CD as a bootable one, so I can't get in that way either. As a last resort, I decided that maybe it would be quicker to just restore the system to factory settings and reinstall everything. Instead of allowing me to do this, however, the Repair Your Computer option after pressing F8 displays a DOS window with various notifications about stopping and starting the workstation, including warnings that something 'Failed to NOBULATE', whatever that means. This culminates with 'Do not reboot the system, fail the system to EMR' which I also don't understand. It then says 'Press Enter to continue', but pressing enter does nothing. Does anyone have any ideas how I can fix this? My warranty is expired, so I'm on my own here. Thanx, Buddha

TheRealFireblad · Answer

Welcome to the forums Buddha :emotion-21:

What system do you have? Is it still under warranty?

... my system won't recognize my Vista CD as a bootable one...

It sounds like it's not set to check for bootable discs first (in the BIOS)?

I decided that maybe it would be quicker to just restore the system to factory settings and reinstall everything.

Instead of allowing me to do this, however, the Repair Your Computer option after pressing F8 displays a DOS window

Try CTRL + F11 :emotion-55:

Buddha9596 · Answer

I have an Inspiron 531, and the warranty expired several months ago. I can boot from the CD Drive using a bootable Kubuntu demo CD, which I used to get to this point and make these posts. I also tried changing the boot priority in the BIOS to boot from CD first, but I still can't boot from the Vista disk. It's been suggested that the DVD portion of the drive may be bad, while the CD portion still works. I'm trying to avoid replacing the DVD drive, but that may be unavoidable at this point in time. I've never heard of the CTRL+F11 combo before. What does it do, and at what point of the process should I use it? The 'Repair your computer' option after using F-8 brings up a Vista background and a DOS window that reels of a bunch of stuff about starting and stopping the workstation, followed by something about things that 'failed to nobulate', whatever that means. The DOS Window ends by saying 'Do not reboot. Fail the system to EMR. Press Enter to continue'. Pressing enter does nothing. It never gets to the Dell factory image restore option.

TheRealFireblad · Answer

I've never heard of the CTRL+F11 combo before.

What does it do, and at what point of the process should I use it?

It's mentioned in the official Dell 'Restoring your [Dell] computer to the factory settings' guide:

1. Turn on the computer.

2. When the Dell splash screen appears during the computer startup process, press and hold and then press .

Then, release both keys at the same time.

Buddha9596 · Answer

Thanx for the response. The CTRL+F11 combo appears to apply to XP, which probably explains why it does nothing on my Vista system. I can get the repair option by pressing F8 during bootup, but instead of getting the promised repair options, I get a Windows start-up background and a DOS window that rattles off Stopping Workstation, Starting Workstation, and several mentions that something 'Failed to nobulate', whatever that means. It then says 'Do not reboot, fail the system to EMR', which I also do not understand, and ends with 'Press Enter to continue' Pressing enter does absolutely nothing. Choosing the Utility Partition in the start up menu accessed with F12 provides some diagnostic utilities, but nothing to restore the system. I've given up on saving my present Vista installation and any of my files, since Windows flat out refuses to recognize my mouse and keyboard. I'll settle for getting the system running Windows again, and just add this experience to the long list of reasons I detest Vista. Is there ANY way get past this Failed to nobulate business? Buddha

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