Dell Inspirion 6000 - need restore!!

Question

I received my Dell new, in 2005 with XP Media Center pre-installed. We did not receive any restore disks. We did not back it up or create a restore point.  In or about 2008 I would get blue screen errors and my husband and I worked on it, checking for new drivers etc. Although we did update a few, the blue screen errors kept happening. I tried restoring to an earlier point without success. So he used his upgrade CD to Windows XP professional. It worked for about 2 years then, started blue screen errors again. But I plugged along... Frustrated with the errors, my husband decided to put windows 7 professional as a full install so he wiped the drive first. However, he didn't check to see if it was compatible... which we now know, its not. My Graphics card and Sound do not work. The windows update for serv pack 1 win 7 will not download. We have no restore point or picture, no restore backups or cd's We don't even have XP full installs. Just the upgrade. I looked to see if my inspirion was compatible or was there any 'fixes' for this and there aren't that I can find. 1. Is is possible to downgrade with this upgrade CD? 2. Can I somehow get restore CD's for the XP media center? If So, how?? 3. Are there fixes for this that I am just not finding? Thanks for any suggestions or help.

ejn63 · Answer

Backup discs: support.dell.com/.../backupcd_form

Philip_Yip · Answer

Request request reinstall DVDs as ejn requested, if you are in the U.S. it should be easy enough for you to do. Once you have them follow my guide below a clean install of XP for best results.

If you are not in the U.S. you may need to phone Dell Technical Support to get them.

I have posted on Dell IdeaStorm for the media to be downloadable so one may merely burn the .iso image to DVD and get a reinstall disc that way. It is under review (however feel free to promote the idea, link below also).

JoniBaloni · Answer

Ah... I sent in a request at the link provided by ejn. Thanks for all the help. To downgrade from 7 I have to have the full XP install isn't that right?

JoniBaloni · Answer

We already did a full install of Win 7 so that wiped the previous XP.  I got the computer with XP Media Center installed, and upgraded to just XP.  Then, he did a full install of Win 7 because of all the blue screen errors and well, my husband didn't know he could reset it back to factory, then. I need to restore my computer back to the factory settings and can't seem to do it without the CD's, because the only operating system it sees now is 7. I want to get rid of 7 as it doesn't function with my inspirion 6000. I have no sound and some of my graphics are sluggish or don't run at all. Who do I contact to get restore disks??

ejn63 · Answer

The Dell Windows disc will do a full install - BUT - you will also need to download all the drivers and install them in the correct order.

JoniBaloni · Answer

I received an email from Dell support telling me that my information doesn't match their records and they need more information saying I typed the service tag in incorrectly. *LOL* riiiiiiiiiiiiight.  But it was correct and I took pictures of all the tags pasted on the underside of the case and sent the PICTURES to prove I was right. :P

JoniBaloni · Answer

Yes, right. On the link you provided before, there seems to be a list of drivers to install. I take it on faith that Dell was smart enough to put them in order for us?

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