That bloody Dell laptop now £292 (as low as £279!!)-EDITED FIRST POST

bargainluvva

Kilty wrote:

So they are sending out a set of discs for free?

What did you tell them?

I told them I was having problems creating a recovery disc (which I was, getting stuck on 87% etc) and I wasn't technical and was worried if my system got wiped out I would be in a mess. The man I spoke to wasn't sure what I wanted and nor was I but in the end he said he could send me the Windows installation disc? I said ok then. Not sure what I will get exactly but will feed back when it/they arrive.

Oh and money wasn't mentioned so assume they are free, well they had better be!

Bubba_Shaboo

bargainluvva wrote:

Oh and money wasn't mentioned so assume they are free, well they had better be!

They aren't if you spec them when you buy the laptop, I've paid £5.88 for my

Genuine Windows® XP Home SP2 Backup Media [add £5.88]

Wish I'd known you could just blag it :mad:

Bubba©

Derek_Duval

Bubba_Shaboo wrote:

They aren't if you spec them when you buy the laptop, I've paid £5.88 for my

Genuine Windows® XP Home SP2 Backup Media [add £5.88]

Wish I'd known you could just blag it :mad:

Bubba©

Yes I paid £5.88 each for my install disc, & driver disc. But after all the hassle I've just had with a virus (norton detected but couldn't cure), I had to do a reinstall & was greatful I had them, well worth the money. I think a clean install from xp disc is much better than using the recovery discs.

Bubba_Shaboo

Derek_Duval wrote:

Yes I paid £5.88 each for my install disc, & driver disc. But after all the hassle I've just had with a virus (norton detected but couldn't cure), I had to do a reinstall & was greatful I had them, well worth the money. I think a clean install from xp disc is much better than using the recovery discs.

So is the Genuine Windows® XP Home SP2 Backup Media [add £5.88] disc actually a proper Microsoft Windows XP disc or just a Dell restore disc?

I didn't bother with the driver disc as it said they could all be downloaded from the Dell support site, but after having had a look there it seems there's loads of different ones so it'll probably take me a while to sort them out.

Cheers,

Bubba©

smsmasters

EDIT: nevermind

Chuffy

You can create a restore from the hidden partition which will restore laptop to original state when purchased. Creating a disk will remove the partition, thus creating more space on hard drive. A few of us have problems creating the disks so a phonecall to nice bloke in dell tech support and restore disks and copy of O/S on their way - for free.
I will update when they arrive as to exactly what they are. Expecting tomorrow.

Derek_Duval

Bubba_Shaboo wrote:

So is the Genuine Windows® XP Home SP2 Backup Media [add £5.88] disc actually a proper Microsoft Windows XP disc or just a Dell restore disc?

I didn't bother with the driver disc as it said they could all be downloaded from the Dell support site, but after having had a look there it seems there's loads of different ones so it'll probably take me a while to sort them out.

Cheers,

Bubba©

Yes it's a genuine XP install disc. It can even work on other machines, but you need a product code to activate it.
I thought £5.88 wasn't too bad to save the hassle of downloading, all the drivers are there on one disc, no hassle. Also you can't access the internet until you've installed some of the drivers (wifi card, network card), so you need to make sure you've got these handy before you reinstall.

Northtim

I already have a windows xp install disk from a Mesh desktop pc I got about 6 months ago. Laptop now purchased for wife, didn't order another disk for £5.88 - I assume I can use the one I already have with the Windows code from the sticker on the laptop if needed?

Anyone know if I am right on this?

foxyloxy

Northtim wrote:

I already have a windows xp install disk from a Mesh desktop pc I got about 6 months ago. Laptop now purchased for wife, didn't order another disk for £5.88 - I assume I can use the one I already have with the Windows code from the sticker on the laptop if needed?

Anyone know if I am right on this?

There is a Start menu item under "Dell Accessories" titled "Dell Restore CD" - and in theory (and I know folks have had problems with the burn failing half way through) you insert a cd-r and it will burn a Windows XP install disk - this worked perfectly for me.

I then deleted the original c: partition and installed XP onto it using this cd - there was no need for drivers for the wireless card to work and allow internet connection.

Curiously there was no need to enter the Windows code to complete this install - not sure how that worked but very neat.

aliasojo

Northtim wrote:

I already have a windows xp install disk from a Mesh desktop pc I got about 6 months ago. Laptop now purchased for wife, didn't order another disk for £5.88 - I assume I can use the one I already have with the Windows code from the sticker on the laptop if needed?

Anyone know if I am right on this?

You can use a different copy of Windows as long it is the same version as your licence key is for i.e. HOME.

Regardless of where the copy of Windows comes from, you do have to use the Dell licence key for the machine you are installing the XP onto.