Help....Ctrl + F11 not working on dell optiplex 330 but I see fat partition....

[redgtxdi]

So I'm putting a dell back to scratch for someone at work but Ctrl f11 ain't workin. I put in winxp install disc and got to where I can see 2 partitions (1 is a fat32 30mb partition).

Any other way to access it?

(I just don't wanna do a full reinstall as I'm tired as #!£€#% tonite)

TIA

 

[Matt1970]

In a last ditch effort I have sometimes had to take a drive out and hook it to another computer, delete all but the recovery partition and then set the recovery partition as active.

 

[Bubbaleone]

Is there any possibility that Ctrl+F11 isn't working because the factory restore image is actually Vista (F8) rather than XP? As far as I know, if it is originally an XP machine and Ctrl+F11 isn't working, then it may be that someone before you had already wiped the Dell/Symantec restore utility. Meaning you're looking at having to do a fresh install. It may be worth checking out how to access the Dell Backup and Recovery Manager to do a Dell/Vista factory restore.

 

[redgtxdi]

So it looks like that 30mb fat partition was just for diagnostics and there is no restore partition on this one so gonna have to wipe and redo.

Oh well.

P.S. someone set a bios PW on this thing too so I'm gonna tell this person at work, "here's your dell, don't ever ask me to add or take away hardware for you. Somebody locked it and homey don't play that!"

 

[Steltek]

P.S. someone set a bios PW on this thing too so I'm gonna tell this person at work, "here's your dell, don't ever ask me to add or take away hardware for you. Somebody locked it and homey don't play that!"

I had an idiot do that on his machine a few weeks ago. Of course, he couldn't remember the password (which he apparently set in a moment of self-deluded "technological savvy-ness" - I guess he was absolutely flush with excitement when he figured out which way to plug in the power cord in to the power supply), and I couldn't get it unlocked even with the Dell BIOS utility I have. So, I did exactly what you did - handed it back to him and told him to call Dell.

He ended up having to replace the motherboard at his cost when Dell couldn't (or, probably more likely to make some money, wouldn't) even unlock it.