No Restore CD made before formatting C

Question

Hello,   Last week my Inspiron 9300 crashed because of a worm.  I wasn't able to get into windows anymore.  Because I need my pc for professional purposes, I formatted the C by using an old winxp cd.  I assumed I could restore all software settings afterwards. Now going through all documentation and thread on this forum, I always read to make your own Restore Disk.  I only got the leaflet with the instructions together with my laptop, so no OS & Driver CDs.  The laptop is formatted now, and installed the old win version.  Without a single driver of course..  I need it restored urgently! I tried ctrl F11 while booting, not working.  Please what can I do.   (I read as much as I could on such a short notice, also on this forum, but I can't find a solution for my particular problem)

Mary G · Answer

You cannot 'make a restore disk' yourself. Dell never did have a 'restore' disk. The instructions you got were to make a copy of Windows XP installation disk, which Dell doesn't include anymore. Too late for that now that you've formatted. What you need is the reinstallation cd for Windows XP. You can use the 'old one' you used to format the disk with, as long as it's the same version of Home or Pro. None of the software is on that disk anyway. You'll have to reinstall everything from the original software installation disks. You can download drivers--chipset, notebook system, video, etc.--from the Dell download site. Be sure to update the XP installation immediately at the Windows Update site to plug all the security holes. Downloads:   http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&s=dhs

pereke · Answer

Thank you for the response.

Isn't there a way to get my original Windows back. The version I received with the laptop was Home, the version I had was Pro (of course...).
Could Dell not provide me the original Windows Home (I still have the serial number of that one)?

I can imagine downloading every single driver is a lot of work.

GreyMack · Answer

The I9300 may have an image of the original, as-shipped system software configuration on a "hidden" partition.

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1090152&l=en&langid=1&c=us&cs=19&s=dhs

The Dell PC Restore feature may have been disabled by formatting the C: partition. It may be possible to recover if the image has not been deleted.

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/index.htm

Downloading the drivers and utilities is not much work compared to the initial job of figuring out which ones you need. Refer to the Dell Software Reinstall Guides and the Drivers & Downloads for your system behind the "Notebooks" link at the top of this page.

Contact Dell for the CDs necessary for reinstallation after an event such as a hard drive failure, or if you simply prefer a clean installation.

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_mediaexp&message.id=1895

GM

pereke · Answer

Thanks.
My CTRL + F11 must be disabled when I installed the other WinXP, so I will try to use some other tricks I read about in the links above, in order to enable the CTRL + F11 function to trigger the Dell recovery Partition.

One of them is creating a Win98 bootdisk, I suppose it would work with a CD as well (?), as I do not have floppy drive on my laptop. (external won't work either due to USB drivers not installed?).

I will try this when I get home tonight and keep you posted on the outcome.

Thanks already!

GreyMack · Answer

CD or USB floppy or USB flash/thumb drive should work. Most notebooks manufactured in the past couple of years support booting from a USB device, including optical and hard drives. You should find a USB option listed in the boot order section of BIOS setup.

If the hidden partitions and contents remain intact (they should be there if you didn't delete any partitions), a DOS "operating system" with the dsrfix utility added to it should get the Dell PC Restore feature working again.

GM

pereke · Answer

If I remember correctly I noticed an unnamed partition in Partition Magic, that will be it.  I'm sure I've only formatted the C partition, so it should work.  Fingers crossed!

GreyMack · Answer

Sounds like you've got, or will soon have, everything under control except imaging software to make that Dell PC Restore feature relatively unnecessary. GM

pereke · Answer

Alright, first issue.  The link with the Win98 bootfile is unaccessible to me, I cannot download it because it's restricted.  When I try other files I find on google, none of them boot.. :(   edit: of course it's the only file I cannot access oin that folder.. Message Edited by pereke on 12-15-2005 11:51 AM

GreyMack · Answer

Try here. I'm thinking the W98 SE OEM would be appropriate. Run the executable file on a system with a floppy drive to create a DOS boot floppy. http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm   GM

dg1261 · Answer

pereke,

If you have a CD burner, download dsrfix.zip and extract the iso image. Use it to create a bootable CD with Nero, Roxio EasyCD Creator, or a freeware tool called imgburn.

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/fixes.htm#nofloppy

Dan Goodell

GreyMack · Answer

Aha! Now I see the complete ISO is already provided, most convenient for those who need a CD alternative to floppy. Had I realized, I would have suggested it earlier. GM

dg1261 · Answer

'... complete ISO is already provided ... Had I realized, I would have suggested it earlier.'   It's a recent addition, GM.  I just uploaded it within the last two weeks.   Dan Goodell

pereke · Answer

Thank you Dan, now I'm finally able to run dsrfix :)   result: good:  int13 extensions supported. alert: boot code does not match dell mbr (overwritten with older winxp) good: pbr descriptor 1 is type DE good: pbr descriptor 2 is type 07 alert: pbr descriptor 3 is not type DB good: pbr1 is fat16, label is DellUtility fatal: pbr3 is not fat32 alert: backup partition table not in sync   when I run ptedit I get 4 partitions, the 4th is the DB (Probably the recovery dsrfix is looking for?) and it has 'CP/M, Concurrent CP/M, Concurrent DOS, 2816 MB' as Partition Information.   I found in your other threads on this forum that in this case I need to swap the third and the fourth line in ptedit.   EDIT Done the above successfully.  Now I get:   good: int13 extensions supported alert: boot code does not match dell mbr good: pbr descriptor 1 is type DE good: pbr descriptor 2 is type 07 good: pbr descriptor 3 is type DB good: pbr1 is fat16, label is DellUtility good: pbr3 is fat32, label is DellRestore alert: backup partition table not in sync   mbrsaver /r dellmbr.bin gives me 'Problem restoring MBR sector'       Message Edited by pereke on 12-17-2005 03:45 AM

pereke · Answer

Done, everything is 'good' now.

I'm close, I can feel it..

EDIT Laptop is currently restoring. Thank you so much Dan, GM and all of you. Reading solutions is one thing, but actually carrying them out is hard to do on your own. Luckily there are still people out there who try to help you out.

Thanks again. :)
pereke

Message Edited by pereke on 12-17-2005 04:19 AM

dg1261 · Answer

when I run ptedit I get 4 partitions, the 4th is the DB ... I found in your other threads on this forum that in this case I need to swap the third and the fourth line in ptedit.   Done the above successfully.  Now I get:   good: int13 extensions supported alert: boot code does not match dell mbr good: pbr descriptor 1 is type DE good: pbr descriptor 2 is type 07 good: pbr descriptor 3 is type DB good: pbr1 is fat16, label is DellUtility good: pbr3 is fat32, label is DellRestore alert: backup partition table not in sync   mbrsaver /r dellmbr.bin gives me 'Problem restoring MBR sector'   Yes, swapping the third and fourth lines (descriptors) with ptedit was precisely what you wanted to do, and the new dsrfix report shows just two alerts--exactly what I would expect.  Now you need to run 'dsrfix /f' and let dsrfix repair the boot code and backup partition table.   You don't need to run mbrsaver.  FTR, that msg is telling you it can't restore from dellmbr.bin because you don't have a dellmbr.bin file.  The original dsrfix/mbrsaver download included a dellmbr.bin file, but that was removed because of copyright issues--Dell's lawyers didn't take too kindly to my work.  So I modified dsrfix to work without the dellmbr.bin file.   Dan Goodell

Windows General

No Restore CD made before formatting C

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