The second I got my Inspiron E1705, I wiped the hard drive with the XP install disc to free it of the forty or so programs Dell had found it necessary to include with my system. Multiple issues arose around locating the proper drivers for my system, but after six failed attempts to actually gather assistance from Dell Customer Support, I gave up and figured it out on my own.

Another issue that occurred came about when I was reinstalling the OS. Generally, Windows will give you the option to format the partition you want to install the OS on. In this case, it did not. I tried three times and was never able to format the partition. I installed the new OS on top of the old one after Windows said it would delete the previous installation. It did not. When the system would boot, it would give me the option to select one of two choices (both Windows XP Media Edition) before boot in 30 seconds or it would default to the first install.


So, I chose the 'correct' install and let it boot normally. Once inside Windows, go to My Computer> Advanced> Startup & recovery Settings. In the System Startup section at the top of the window, there is a drop down menu. If you have more than one entry in this menu, you have more than one OS. To remove the second, fraudulent install, click the EDIT button in that same window. A text file will pop up with all OS entries listed. Delete the bad install from the text file, save and exit. Reboot and the second option should be gone.