Trying to restore Dell Inspiron desktop

[dfuze]

I'm trying to help restore my wife's grandmother's PC back to factory default. It seems her teen grandson somehow got it f*d up big time w/ virus infections to the point I can't run McAfee or install AVG. The pc is a Dell Inspiron 570. It doesn't have a restore CD, but does have the restore partition. From instructions I've found online, it would seem I need to hit F8 during boot and from the advanced boot options choose Repair. When I do this, it then goes blank and then finishes loading to the desktop rather than letting me get to the next set of options for restoring. Looks like the virus has really gotten a hold of it.

Any help getting it restored is greatly appreciated.

 

[pete1229]

I once used the following download to recover a friends Vista system which had the same issues you are dealing with. Its all designed to work with systems that are purchased from Dell, HP etc. from whom you usually don't get original system disks. Good luck and keep us posted.

http://cybernetnews.com/windows-7-recovery-disc/

 

[dfuze]

Thanks for the link.

Downloading and will give it a shot.

 

[Level_1]

Hit F8 when you see the dell logo and it should bring you to the system recovery partition.


If that don't work, you can also try to use a partition editor and change the boot flag to boot from recovery partition.

 

[dfuze]

No luck over the weekend.
I did hit F8 and tried to load the recovery partition from there but I'm guessing the virus messed with it and instead it takes me right to booting up to the desktop.
I've also tried using the Dell datasafe stuff on there, trying to A) have it make a recovery DVD and B) have it restore to factory default on it's own using the recovery partition. No luck on either account. I forget the exact error now, but when it tries to start it says some file is missing, I think the virus may have deleted it as part of it's install.

If that don't work, you can also try to use a partition editor and change the boot flag to boot from recovery partition.

I can try that tonight, but I'm not very optomistic about it working.

I think at this point I may be stuck needing Dell to mail me a recovery DVD.

 

[BoomerD]

Your recovery partition MAY have been damaged, so this may not help. (and yes, I see you've tried F8 already, but sometimes, insanity is doing the same thing over and over...and expecting different results...it gets really crazy when it works. )

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/insp560mt/en/sg/sg_en.pdf

Starting Dell Factory Image Restore
Turn on the computer. 1.
When the 2. Dell &#8482; logo appears, press <F8> several times to access the Advanced Boot Options window.
NOTE: If you wait too long and the operating system logo appears, continue to wait until you see the Microsoft&#174; Windows&#174; desktop; then, shut down your computer and try again.
Select 3. Repair Your Computer.
The System Recovery Options window appears.
Select a keyboard layout and click 4. Next.
To access the recovery options, log on as 5. a local user. To access the command prompt, type administrator in the User name field, then click OK.
6. Dell Factory Image Restore. The Dell Factory Image Restore welcome screen appears.
NOTE: Depending upon your configuration, you may need to select Dell Factory Tools, then Dell Factory Image Restore.
Click 7. Next. The Confirm Data Deletion screen appears.
NOTE: If you do not want to proceed with Dell Factory Image Restore, click Cancel.
Select the check box to confirm that you 8. want to continue reformatting the hard drive and restoring the system software to the factory condition, then click Next.
The restore process begins and may take five or more minutes to complete. A message appears when the operating system and factory-installed applications have been restored to factory condition.
Click 9. Finish to restart the computer

As is often the case, you may need to hit F8 repeatedly during the boot process...and it's not unheard of to have to reboot a couple of times in the attempt.<shrug>

Of course, if the boot partition IS damaged, then your only options are to either order a recovery disk from Dell, or install your own OS on the computer and download the necessary drivers from Dell. (and install your own applications instead all the bloatware that Dell often installs.)

 

[T-Burg]

Had to replace the hard drive and after the 1st recovery disk, the second did nothing. I shut down and on restart hit F12 to get boot options.

Under the "Enter Setup" option go to the "Boot" tab - select "1st Boot Priority" and change from "Hard Drive" to "CD/DVD?CD-RW Drive". F10 to save setting.

Now the computer will look at the disk drive as its primary boot source. It seems that the computer doesn't recognize the 2nd disk because its primary boot device is the hard drive, which is only partially formatted and confused after Disk 1. It doesn't automatically jump to Disk 2 on the DVD drive.

I left my laptop set up with disk drive as primary. If nothing is in it it jumps to hard drive next (if you set hard drive to be 2nd choice on boot).