Restoring a Dell

A buddy brought me a Dell laptop that is totally hosed with Spyware &
viruses. Running Norton & Ad-aware didn't fix the problems. Norton said
there were 6500 infected files! Ad-aware reported over 10,000 "critical
objects" I think it's time to do a format & reinstall of XP Pro. He is
looking for the CD that Dell supplied when he bought the computer. He wants
me to do the install, my question, how do you use the restore disk from
Dell? I've done lots of installs, but nothing like this.

Thanks

Hi,

Reinstall on a Dell is easy.

1. 1st you need the "resource disk"...Important!
the prompts will come up, boot to cd rom, open a dos session
then.........Run the "debug sequence" from the dos promt to wipe the
hardrive clean ( they say it is like writing to zeros.)

2. Pop out the resource CD, put in the XP cd, do a control-alt-delete, pc
will reistartl & follow the onscreen intructions from there.

3. After windows is installed, need the CD for all the drivers.

My understanding is that Dell offers lifetime support, I have called them on
my old laptop, which i never use, & they walked me thru it, that has win98,
& you need to fdisk.

But with XP, easier.

Louie

"Patch" <> wrote in message
news:...
> A buddy brought me a Dell laptop that is totally hosed with Spyware &
> viruses. Running Norton & Ad-aware didn't fix the problems. Norton said
> there were 6500 infected files! Ad-aware reported over 10,000 "critical
> objects" I think it's time to do a format & reinstall of XP Pro. He is
> looking for the CD that Dell supplied when he bought the computer. He
wants
> me to do the install, my question, how do you use the restore disk from
> Dell? I've done lots of installs, but nothing like this.
>
> Thanks
>
>

How old is the system? If it is newer than July, 2004, there's a
restore partition on the hard drive. BACKUP YOUR DATA (you WILL lose it
all), boot the system and press CTRL-F11. Follow the prompts.


Patch wrote:
> A buddy brought me a Dell laptop that is totally hosed with Spyware &
> viruses. Running Norton & Ad-aware didn't fix the problems. Norton said
> there were 6500 infected files! Ad-aware reported over 10,000 "critical
> objects" I think it's time to do a format & reinstall of XP Pro. He is
> looking for the CD that Dell supplied when he bought the computer. He wants
> me to do the install, my question, how do you use the restore disk from
> Dell? I've done lots of installs, but nothing like this.
>
> Thanks
>
>

Patch,
If your buddy cannot find the Resource CD and any additional CD's that
contains some of the hardware on his laptop. Then you should go to Dell's
website under Support, and download the driver files for his model of
laptop. What you may try also, before you reformat his laptop. Make a backup
of the "drivers" folder on his laptop, it should be located at:
C:\Dell\drivers

First run your AV software on it, then burn it to a CD.

--

Rich/rerat

(RRR News) <message rule>
<<Previous Text Snipped to Save Bandwidth When Appropriate>>



"Edward J. Neth" <> wrote in message
news:amrWd.6295$ ...
How old is the system? If it is newer than July, 2004, there's a
restore partition on the hard drive. BACKUP YOUR DATA (you WILL lose it
all), boot the system and press CTRL-F11. Follow the prompts.


Patch wrote:
> A buddy brought me a Dell laptop that is totally hosed with Spyware &
> viruses. Running Norton & Ad-aware didn't fix the problems. Norton said
> there were 6500 infected files! Ad-aware reported over 10,000 "critical
> objects" I think it's time to do a format & reinstall of XP Pro. He is
> looking for the CD that Dell supplied when he bought the computer. He
> wants
> me to do the install, my question, how do you use the restore disk from
> Dell? I've done lots of installs, but nothing like this.
>
> Thanks
>
>

Restore partition is only available on Inspiron laptops and Dimension
desktops. They haven't started putting them on Lattitude laptops or
Optiplex systems yet.


In article <amrWd.6295$>, ejn63
@netscape.net says...
> How old is the system? If it is newer than July, 2004, there's a
> restore partition on the hard drive. BACKUP YOUR DATA (you WILL lose it
> all), boot the system and press CTRL-F11. Follow the prompts.
>
>
> Patch wrote:
> > A buddy brought me a Dell laptop that is totally hosed with Spyware &
> > viruses. Running Norton & Ad-aware didn't fix the problems. Norton said
> > there were 6500 infected files! Ad-aware reported over 10,000 "critical
> > objects" I think it's time to do a format & reinstall of XP Pro. He is
> > looking for the CD that Dell supplied when he bought the computer. He wants
> > me to do the install, my question, how do you use the restore disk from
> > Dell? I've done lots of installs, but nothing like this.

In article <>,
says...
> A buddy brought me a Dell laptop that is totally hosed with Spyware &
> viruses. Running Norton & Ad-aware didn't fix the problems. Norton said
> there were 6500 infected files! Ad-aware reported over 10,000 "critical
> objects" I think it's time to do a format & reinstall of XP Pro. He is
> looking for the CD that Dell supplied when he bought the computer. He wants
> me to do the install, my question, how do you use the restore disk from
> Dell? I've done lots of installs, but nothing like this.

If the laptop shipped with XP on it, contact Dell support and they'll
ship you a new XP CD. They will NOT, however, give you a new CD key.

If the system shipped with XP on it, the Dell XP CD will not need a key
(they key is built into the BIOS) if you reformat the drive during the
install. If you're installing it in a seperate folder and leaving the
old OS on the sytem (so that you can backup files) it will ask you for
the CD key which should be on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop.

The OP has to reformat the C: drive partition and reinstall. Installing XP in a
different folder will definitely not cure the computer of whatever ails it.

.... Ben Myers

On Mon, 7 Mar 2005 02:42:38 -0600, Dave Navarro <> wrote:

>In article <>,
>says...
>> A buddy brought me a Dell laptop that is totally hosed with Spyware &
>> viruses. Running Norton & Ad-aware didn't fix the problems. Norton said
>> there were 6500 infected files! Ad-aware reported over 10,000 "critical
>> objects" I think it's time to do a format & reinstall of XP Pro. He is
>> looking for the CD that Dell supplied when he bought the computer. He wants
>> me to do the install, my question, how do you use the restore disk from
>> Dell? I've done lots of installs, but nothing like this.
>
>If the laptop shipped with XP on it, contact Dell support and they'll
>ship you a new XP CD. They will NOT, however, give you a new CD key.
>
>If the system shipped with XP on it, the Dell XP CD will not need a key
>(they key is built into the BIOS) if you reformat the drive during the
>install. If you're installing it in a seperate folder and leaving the
>old OS on the sytem (so that you can backup files) it will ask you for
>the CD key which should be on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop.

See first of all , new dell system come with what is called a system
restore. so if u have bought system after june 2004, it will have pc
restore on it. To restore ur system and all software in it, all u have
to do is as soon as computer starts booting up, when u see DELL logo
screen,all you have to do is hold down CTRL key and simultaneously
tap on F11 key on the keyboard. It should take you to PC restore. If
it doesnt, then wait till dell logo screen goes off, then tried thos
keys and keeping on tapping on them until u come to that screen. There
you will have click on restore, VOILA!!!! within 10 minutes u have a
DELL computer like the way you got it for the first time with all the
softwraes.


And take it from me, it works, Because I myself am a dell
tech working for them. ;-)