If the links are to threads on the Dell Community, the URLs of messages older than October 31, 2008 were changed as a consequence of being imported into the new forum host. The messages are most likely still there, you just can't find them using the old URL.
If you wish to visit Dan Goodell's page to learn about the subject being discussed, you can still find that here: Inside the Dell PC Restore Partition.
Jack has it correct: due to the change in server, software, and domain name, links to the Dell Community Forums are redirected to the main page for the new Dell Community Site. The problem is that the old and new forum software use completely different methods of identifying threads and posts, so there was no way to have the old URL redirect to its new location. I admit is isn't ideal, but the search feature of the new site works a lot better than on the old one, so if you know who posted the thread, or some of the text that will be in it, you can usually find it without too much difficulty. Posts older than 5 years (as of November 2008) will not be available, however, as we decided to limit the carryover in an attempt to reduce the amount of data that had to be migrated (it took over a week as it was).
The short version of this is that you have used CTRL_F11 to restore your computer to the factory delivered configuration. During that process, the special Dell MBR unhides a partition having the original image of your C drive and executes a program that replaces the current contents of your C drive with that image. When done, the program is supposed to re-hide the restore partition, mark the first partition of your drive as active, and boot the Dell program that helps you to name and register your computer, just like it did when you first received the computer.
What sometimes happens is that the Dell program becomes corrupted for reasons I don't understand, so that when the computer attempts to boot from the first partition, it hangs trying to load the operating system; DRMK. Your computer has been restored, but you need a bootable CD, or if you have a floppy diskette drive, a floppy disk with a partition editor so that you can change the first partition back to Dell's hidden partition type, and change the second partition (normally; Mr. Goodell explains the exceptions in his paper) to make it active. When you do that you should be able to boot into Windows.
I am attempting this same procedure with a Inspiron B120 laptop and am having the same problem with the computer hanging at "Loading DRMK Version 8.00." I tried to link to the previous reply, but was unable to because of the site update. I have been trying to search for the answer that was referred to, but have not been able to locate it. Can someone post the solution or an updated link?
Once you receive the CDs, yes, you can perform a manual installation and will not need to worry about the restore partition. In fact, once you perform the manual installation, your PC Restore feature will be disabled.
PC Restore and the image restore from Vista are definitely two different things. PC Restore uses the CTRL_F11 hot keys during boot-up, while the Vista image restore work through the Vista start-up menu. The link I gave to Dan Goodell's PC Restore page also has a link that discusses the Vista recovery process. That info will be a lot more complete than anything I can tell you.
Actually, PC Restore and Image Restore are two names for the same thing: restoring teh factory installed image from a hidden recovery partition on the hard drive. The differnce between XP and Vista running Image Restore is that CTRL+F11 is how you start it in XP, while for Vista you use the F8 Windows Startup menu.
mombodog
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September 7th, 2007 20:00
quylej
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September 7th, 2007 20:00
mombodog
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12.7K Posts
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September 7th, 2007 20:00
If that does not work, here is a solution from the expert Dan Goodell
http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_harddrive&message.id=125951&query.id=146326#M125951
Message Edited by mombodog on 09-07-2007 04:47 PM
mombodog
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September 7th, 2007 21:00
quylej
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September 7th, 2007 21:00
Message Edited by quylej on 09-07-2007 05:56 PM
kyle.walker30
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December 30th, 2008 06:00
why do these links take me to the dell community home page??
jackshack
6.4K Posts
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December 30th, 2008 12:00
If the links are to threads on the Dell Community, the URLs of messages older than October 31, 2008 were changed as a consequence of being imported into the new forum host. The messages are most likely still there, you just can't find them using the old URL.
If you wish to visit Dan Goodell's page to learn about the subject being discussed, you can still find that here: Inside the Dell PC Restore Partition.
Larry R
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1.7K Posts
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December 30th, 2008 13:00
Jack has it correct: due to the change in server, software, and domain name, links to the Dell Community Forums are redirected to the main page for the new Dell Community Site. The problem is that the old and new forum software use completely different methods of identifying threads and posts, so there was no way to have the old URL redirect to its new location. I admit is isn't ideal, but the search feature of the new site works a lot better than on the old one, so if you know who posted the thread, or some of the text that will be in it, you can usually find it without too much difficulty. Posts older than 5 years (as of November 2008) will not be available, however, as we decided to limit the carryover in an attempt to reduce the amount of data that had to be migrated (it took over a week as it was).
jackshack
6.4K Posts
0
January 8th, 2009 10:00
The original post eventually refers to this page: Inside the Dell PC Restore Partition by Dan Goodell.
The short version of this is that you have used CTRL_F11 to restore your computer to the factory delivered configuration. During that process, the special Dell MBR unhides a partition having the original image of your C drive and executes a program that replaces the current contents of your C drive with that image. When done, the program is supposed to re-hide the restore partition, mark the first partition of your drive as active, and boot the Dell program that helps you to name and register your computer, just like it did when you first received the computer.
What sometimes happens is that the Dell program becomes corrupted for reasons I don't understand, so that when the computer attempts to boot from the first partition, it hangs trying to load the operating system; DRMK. Your computer has been restored, but you need a bootable CD, or if you have a floppy diskette drive, a floppy disk with a partition editor so that you can change the first partition back to Dell's hidden partition type, and change the second partition (normally; Mr. Goodell explains the exceptions in his paper) to make it active. When you do that you should be able to boot into Windows.
ccan62
2 Posts
0
January 8th, 2009 10:00
I am attempting this same procedure with a Inspiron B120 laptop and am having the same problem with the computer hanging at "Loading DRMK Version 8.00." I tried to link to the previous reply, but was unable to because of the site update. I have been trying to search for the answer that was referred to, but have not been able to locate it. Can someone post the solution or an updated link?
Thanks!
ccan62
2 Posts
0
January 8th, 2009 19:00
Thank you for the response. So, if I use the operating system cd's (requested from Dell), I can boot from the cd and the problem will be corrected?
jackshack
6.4K Posts
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January 8th, 2009 19:00
Once you receive the CDs, yes, you can perform a manual installation and will not need to worry about the restore partition. In fact, once you perform the manual installation, your PC Restore feature will be disabled.
rem_rem_rem
21 Posts
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January 8th, 2009 19:00
anyone knows if its the same thing in vista's Dell Factory Image restore...??
jackshack
6.4K Posts
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January 9th, 2009 08:00
PC Restore and the image restore from Vista are definitely two different things. PC Restore uses the CTRL_F11 hot keys during boot-up, while the Vista image restore work through the Vista start-up menu. The link I gave to Dan Goodell's PC Restore page also has a link that discusses the Vista recovery process. That info will be a lot more complete than anything I can tell you.
Larry R
2 Intern
•
1.7K Posts
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January 9th, 2009 14:00
Actually, PC Restore and Image Restore are two names for the same thing: restoring teh factory installed image from a hidden recovery partition on the hard drive. The differnce between XP and Vista running Image Restore is that CTRL+F11 is how you start it in XP, while for Vista you use the F8 Windows Startup menu.