I think it depends. Did you order your E520 with XP originally then do the Dell upgrade to Vista? If so, then you can legally move down to XP. If your machine came with any of the Vista Home OSes then you cannot legally downgrade to Windows XP. You'll have to purchase an XP License.
E520s ship with a recovery partition on your hard drive. I'm not sure what the Vista Upgrade does to this partition. Its my understanding that the proceedures you outlined below return your machine to the state it was when it was purchased. If it came with XP, then after this it will be running XP again. Everything you've done on your computer since you purchased it will be gone so backup any documents and files you'll need before you try this.
You can use anyone's full version XP disk to install it. Just make sure you have YOUR COA number, which should be on your computer. Also, look through all the disks you got with your computer. XP would be on a green disk labeled "Operating System".
Restoring the PC won't be a problem. I've done it several times with the restore partition, on both laptops and desktops. Just do a restore and your computer will be back to XP (if that is what it originally came with) when it came out of the box. In my dealings with this, it takes 10 - 40 minutes.
You are correct in that the E520 came with XP installed on purchase.
It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I don't trust myself when it comes to computers, but are you sure this restore will be the right thing to do ? I mean, what's the worst that can happen if I do the restore as suggested ?
I've had one heck off a day with Dell - they are adamant that they sent the XP disks with the machine, but it clearly states on the Invoice that there is No Recovery CD.
The man on the phone suggested trying Ctrl + F11 when the Dell logo comes up, but this has done absolutely nothing.
Man, this whole thing is just getting to me now.:smileysad:
can you type out exactly what I have to do. I just went to try the F8 tapping like the Dell man suggested, and PC restore isn't there - I've got the following come up :
LOL....dude, you certainly know more about computers than me - that's a fact ! :smileyvery-happy:
I ordered my E520 over the phone, and I swear he never mentioned an option about buying the recovery CD. See, I've never even heard off a partition recovery
If I can get Dell to send me a copy of XP after the day I've had with them - I'll buy you ALL a beer :smileywink:
When I ordered my E521 there was an option to get the recovery media on CD for $10. If you had the same option you had to pick it to get the CD, otherwise Dell supplies their partition for recovery. I've never used Dell's recovery partition so I don't know how well it works. I did a Google search and there wasn't much information on it.
The only other options that I can think of is get someone else's CD to recover XP or to purchase a new copy of XP.
You might be able to get Dell to send you a copy after failing to run the recovery with tech support on the line.
If it doesn't work, the Dell PC Restore feature may have been disabled by the installation of Vista. If the "hidden" partition and it's content has not been indiscriminately deleted, the DSRFIX utility provided by Dan Goodell may be able to repair it's functionality.
In any case, continue to contact Dell to obtain the XP installation CD. There is no substitute. A restorable image is an alternative, not a replacement. The Dell PC Restore feature cannot survive a disk replacement, nor is it compatible with partition adjustments or even a clean installation, which may be the root cause of it's current state.
Hopefully Vista has not destroyed that partition. I've only restored a lost partition table once. But I'm thinking it is intact. At the point where you were pressing F8, instead press CTRL+F11. This will load a symantec restore program. I can't remember exactly what steps, but it is pretty easy. It will double check you to make sure you know what you are doing.
I have a PC Dell B110 that came with XP and I LOVE IT....then I buy this laptop Inspiron 1501 that came with Vista ...I HATE IT.....
I want to put XP on the laptop,,,,,,can I use my XP disk that came with my PC? Will it let me use the same key to register it on the laptop or am I going to have to buy another one with a different key?
Well In your particular case, even if you didn't ordered your CDs for XP you can get them. Just contct Dell and they will send you, no with customer Care, I just expliained I didn't received any CD and they very friendly send me a lot of CDs... (Roxio, Sonic, XP...) If I get them really easy, I don't see a problem in your case, The only thing maybe that you are out of warrant, something I don't think so, since the minimun of warranty es one year, and E520 has not a year on the market...
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