Restoring Factory Software

Question

Hi,   I am restoring the Inspiron 1150 for a college student friend. I have a lot of experience with computers and usually I can simply insert the 'Recovery CD' and do the automatic restore. I tried a few CDs that came with the system, but so far I have not found one that installs the OS and all of the 3rd party software. Is there one CD to that all of that?   Thanks, David

PETER345 · Answer

Dell does not ship recovery CDs (although some have claimed they did for a brief period of time in the past). They either ship nothing, a Windows OS CD or provide a PC restore partition on the HD.

If your machine has the restore partition, you can press control-F11 at boot and restore the machine.

If the machine is under warranty and you didn't get the OS discs, ask dell for them and they will send them.

Otherwise, borrow a Windows XP OEM disc from someone (make sure the Home or Pro match) and use that.

Peter

sparkenh · Answer

datamstr,

There is no one(1) CD that can be used to restore OS and factory software. They won't fit in one CD. Everything would probably fit in 1 DVD but there is no such thing either. As far as I know, the only way to restore Dell PC to as-shipped condition is to use Dell PC Restore by Symantec Utility.

Message Edited by sparkenh on 09-15-2006 10:55 AM

datamstr · Answer

Thanks guys for all of your help!

So far I have installed the WIN XP Home edition from the Dell CD and I found the drivers CD to be helpful for the Video, Audio, and LAN devices. There is no "Wireless" connection yet, I am thinking that is probably just another driver install. I am able to get out on the Internet now, so I guess I am doing the restore properly so far.

Thanks,

David

Mary G · Answer

Chipset drivers and Notebook System software need to be installed first. Drivers are available at Dell Downloads using the Technical Support link above. You need to know what hardware is installed since the list will contain all possible choices. http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/devices.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&SystemID=INS_PNT_P4_1150&os=WW1&osl=EN

datamstr · Answer

Thanks Mary!   I installed the chipset, audio, and Intel Mobilty Drivers. I see the list for the wireless drivers, but how do I detect which hardware I have?   TIA, David

Windows General

Restoring Factory Software

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