-=PCTechTalk=- Re: Dell Reinstall CD (with a correction)

GMan and Don

Thanks to you both, I have successfully changed my boot sequence! I now have
"CD-ROM Drive" first and "Onboard SATA Hard Drive" second. In truth, it was
fiddly, but not difficult. Getting in to the BIOS  was easy. As Don pointed 
out, Dell tell you (very quickly in startup) F2 for BIOS setup and F12 for 
boot

I thought about "Performing a Repair Installation" (what pompous language 
they use) when looking for a cure for my Wobbly Fonts - Outlook Express 
problem, which GMan then so ably solved. Now that I can start from my CD-ROM 
drive, I would like to carry out a Repair, in the hope of curing several 
small niggling problems, including the infuriating popping up of Windows 
Installer. I see this is the subject of another recent thread. In my case, 
it pops up only when I type in Start > Search

But to get back to Repair, where I have struck a problem, following the 
Guide by Doug Knox 
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx?pf=true
 After accepting the Licensing Agreement, I am told:
"Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the 
box, and then press R to repair Windows XP".

Windows XP is not mentioned, much less selected, in the box that I see. It 
contains:

"C:    Partition 1 <F Drive <F>> [NTFS]

 D:    Partition 2 <G Drive <G>  [NTFS]

Unknown disk

(There is no disk in this Drive) "

The first line, referring to C Drive (where my Windows installation is) is 
highlighted and (perhaps not surprisingly) pressing "R" has no effect

GMan, I think that your original doubts about my Dell disk were partly 
well-founded, after all. While it will install Windows, it seems that it 
will not work, for the purposes of repair. I have read, somewhere, that an 
OEM disk cannot be used for repair and, for what it may be worth, the 
first-mentioned sibling folder of i386 was "$OEM$"

It looks as though I will, after all, need to create an SP2 slipstreamed CD 
and, unless you tell me to the contrary, I will try to locate your 
instructions about how to do this

Regards
David



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don Wilcox" <dwilcox3@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 8:53 AM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: Dell Reinstall CD (with a correction)


Gman and David,

I probably should have been following this thread better, but you delved
into areas I did not want or didn't understand well enough to get involved
in so just scanned it frequently.

I tested only the boot drive sequence and other changes may work as Gman
described.  It may also happen that earlier or later dated BIOS may behave
somewhat differently than I describe.

The plus sign moves one direction.  The minus the other.  Once an item is at
the top or bottom that button will not roll it over... in other words one
press of the key will bring the item up from 4 to 3, then to 2 and then 1.
Repeated presses will do nothing.  I would have thought it would roll it to
4 then 3 then 2 etc over and over again.  Instead you press the other key to
move it the opposite direction.  I have seen various BIOS settings on
various computers that operate in both manners.

I am fixing to load the computer into the car to take on vacation with me.
When I get there tonight I will play in the setup a bit and report my
findings.  I will also be doing a clean install of XP Home on the Home hard
drive.

I will log in to my archive account at gmail.com and review all of this
thread.  Right now (at 4:00am) I seem to think you will be doing or trying
to do or thinking about doing a new install on your Dell.

In the past Dell has provided an OS installation disk, a Driver/Resource
disk, a modem installation disk and a CD-burner software install disk along
with any other 3rd party software installation disks.  From what I have seen
(or think I have seen) Dell has finally gone the Recovery CD route instead.
That is good, in that it is easier for novices but it is bad in that it also
recovers all the garbage (ISP provider software, useless trial versions and
other assorted stuff that nobody wants) that Dell gets paid to put on your
computer.  It is possible that they may also (or instead of) put a recovery
partition on your harddrive and provide a utility to burn your own Recovery
CD or DVD.  HP/Compaq does this.

Once before I have posted a thread to do a clean install using the disks
from Dell.  If I can't find the thread I will write a new one if needed.

Gman... as to your lack of experience with Dells, it is likely due to
customers buying extended Dell warranties and then replacing them after the
warranty expires instead of trying to keep them running.  My experience with
Dell tells me that a 4 year year in home warranty should be required
standard equipment on Dells.  All of my Dells have needed the extended
warranty and I'm glad I bought it.  My 4.5 year old Dell has had literally
everything inside (except the CD-ROM drive) replaced over a total of 6
technician visits.  My warranty ended a week after the last visit and the
cooling fan on the new power supply crapped out 3 months later.

Don


















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