UNSOLVED
formatting my dimension E310 cant delete partion
I'm trying to format my dimension E310, and I can't delete the partion on drive C to be able to reinstall a fresh copy of windows XP is there a program that I need to download to be able to change it so I can delete it and start new. Plus I noticed there is a another partion that isn't a letter, Can I delete this also or what is it for. I was told there is a partion on newer dells computers to reset back to orginal factory settings?
Thank you
SleekLlama
35 Posts
189
0
Posted September 3rd, 2006 01:00
your computer probably has that special Restore Option. You will lose all of your data so you will have to back it up on disks or something. when you're computer boots up hold down ctrl and F11. then you just click restore pc to blah blah blah. it's as simple as that. you don't even need a disk.
volcano11
2 Intern
•
27973 Posts
189
0
Posted September 2nd, 2006 14:00
The probable reason that you cannot delete the partition is that you are booting into Windows XP. Since Windows is running on that partition, you can't delete it. You need to boot from the CD. Dell computers have two hidden partitions. One is the diagnositcs partition and the other is the restore partition. When you delete the Windwos partition, the master boot record will be gone and the restore partition will become useless. See the following for directions on reinstalling Windows:
http://www.djdenham.com/Install%20Procedures.htm
Steve