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@Cooldep wrote:

I have kicked this around before but I'm starting a new question. I went looking around in my PC E-510/5150. I looked in Setup (F12) and though I did a clean install in April after i purchased PC I noticed that while I was going to try again a clean install now it shows that I think I have partitions still. This is what it said on part of XP PRO installation at beginning. Top of Blue Page XP PRO Setup :

"To create a partition in unpartitioned space press C.

To delete partition press D.

76294 MB Disk 0 at ID 0 on bus 0 on atpi: [MBR]

-:Partition 1 [Fat32] 55MB (47MB free)

C: Partition 2 [NTFS] 71477 MB (60464 MB Free)

E: partition 3 [Fat32] 4754 MB (1117 MB free)

                   Unpartitioned Space 8MB"

 

When I tried to install XP on the C: partition it said that I all ready had OS on this partition and 2 OS's can cause problem which I new it would. Double Boot. So I'm wondering if first clean install did not delete my partitions??? Also, why didn't the newest try at clean install yesterday not ask me to Format HD? To loose all info on C; ? I hope I'm making myself clear, I apologize if I'm not.

Thank you for any help in performing a Clean Install & keeping the Partitions intact if possible. I wanted to keep that MBR plus do a clean install.

~~Paul

 

You're getting that error message as you are not BOOTING to the XP CD, you're sticking it in while XP is running, which is not correct. 

 

Your last "clean" install clearly did not dlete the old partitions.  DId you hit "D" to delete each partition until none were left?

 

Why are you trying to keep the MBR, since you've already disabled Dell PC Restore by Symantec?

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@Cooldep wrote:

Rickmtg wrote,

Your last "clean" install clearly did not delete the old partitions.  DId you hit "D" to delete each partition until none were left?

 

Why are you trying to keep the MBR, since you've already disabled Dell PC Restore by Symantec?

 

 

Great, I was kinda hoping for you to Reply. First I don't remember XP asking me to delete the partitions the first time & only clean install I did. Ideally I would have liked to put XP on the C: partition after wiping it clean and then keeping Dell PC Restore. I thought MBR was PC Restore. Okay, So now I guess I want to do a clean install the correct way. I change the order of my PC booting from the CD instead of the HD first after backing up what I wanted. Should I go to your site for directions on Clean install Rickmtg ?

 

That's because you didn't boot to the XP CD. 

 

The minute you reinstalled XP you modified the MBR, which prevents Dell PC Restore by Symantec from working unless you take steps to restore the functionality. 

 

To clean install XP, boot to the XP CD, delete all partitions, make a new one(s), format it, install XP, install CHIPSET driver and other drivers, update XP with Microsoft Update. 

 

If you want to keep the Dell PC Restore partition, you can format the C partition instead of deleting it, reinstall XP on it, then later try and recover the functionality.

Rickmtg wrote,

Cooldep,

Instructions for a clean install are here and in the included links.

The procedure for recovering the PC Restore capability after the MBR has been modified is given here.

Thank you Denny for the reply. The links should be a great help....
I appreaciate it,,
~~Paul

I have a few questions.

I just get an inspiron , i'm thinking about reinstalling windows so i have a PC clean of the preinstalled (and mostly useless) stuff. I also want want to repartition the disk, and delete the "restore" partition which takes some place on the hard drive. (well, thinking about it, it's only 3 gigas, still, why don't dell make a dvd of it ???)

The trouble is, some of the provided software (power DVD for one) is usefull. And i'm aware that sooner or later i'll end up having to reinstall windows...
Any idea on how to reinstall windows and be able to reinstall power dvd ?

why aren't we given a cd with the software so we can install the software we need and not the whole lot ?

I have dell's OS Cd. is it a normal windows cd, or a dell-modified windows ?

Message Edited by Tsunade on 09-13-200607:17 AM

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@Tsunade wrote:
I have a few questions.

I just get an inspiron , i'm thinking about reinstalling windows so i have a PC clean of the preinstalled (and mostly useless) stuff. I also want want to repartition the disk, and delete the "restore" partition which takes some place on the hard drive. (well, thinking about it, it's only 3 gigas, still, why don't dell make a dvd of it ???)

The trouble is, some of the provided software (power DVD for one) is usefull. And i'm aware that sooner or later i'll end up having to reinstall windows...
Any idea on how to reinstall windows and be able to reinstall power dvd ?

why aren't we given a cd with the software so we can install the software we need and not the whole lot ?

I have dell's OS Cd. is it a normal windows cd, or a dell-modified windows ?

In the future, by using the Advanced Forum Search on the bottom of this page, you can quite easily find the answer to this often asked question.

Call Dell for the CDs.

OEM Windows, no difference except locked to bios.

tanks.

I'll try to see if dell can send me power dvd cd, else, I'll just use the old version I have ;)