fixing laptop

zxcv784

Hi,

My gf has a dell insprion 6400 laptop and a few months back when she entered her windows user password it would log-in then automatically log her out again (suspected virus/malware) - she cannot access the desktop.

I tried to fix it a while back but couldn't and as a working laptop was vital for her and it being 3 years old anyway she has bought a new laptop.

Anyway, I wanted to try and fix the laptop to try and sell on for her.

All the data on the laptop has been backed-up.

I thought i could just insert the windows xp cd so I could format the computer to just restore the laptop to the condition as she bought it, but she has lost the windows xp cd....

Is there anyway I can remove everything on the laptop, without accessing the desktop?

I have looked on ebay and have found things like recovery/repair discs (around £3) to fix log-in problems and format the hard-drives (can't post links) - are these any good?

does formatting a laptop remove the windows xp software on it? (i have never formatted a comp before)

any help would be greatly appreciated coz I don't really have a clue where to start!

mandij30

zxcv784 wrote: »

Hi,

My gf has a dell insprion 6400 laptop and a few months back when she entered her windows user password it would log-in then automatically log her out again (suspected virus/malware) - she cannot access the desktop.

I tried to fix it a while back but couldn't and as a working laptop was vital for her and it being 3 years old anyway she has bought a new laptop.

Anyway, I wanted to try and fix the laptop to try and sell on for her.

All the data on the laptop has been backed-up.

I thought i could just insert the windows xp cd so I could format the computer to just restore the laptop to the condition as she bought it, but she has lost the windows xp cd....

Is there anyway I can remove everything on the laptop, without accessing the desktop?

I have looked on ebay and have found things like recovery/repair discs (around £3) to fix log-in problems and format the hard-drives (can't post links) - are these any good?

does formatting a laptop remove the windows xp software on it? (i have never formatted a comp before)

any help would be greatly appreciated coz I don't really have a clue where to start!

Have you tried booting it up in safe mode ???

beardiedog

Do you know if there is a recovery partition on the hard drive? If so you can restore to factory fresh by pressing the relevant Function key on boot up.

zxcv784

mandij30 wrote: »

Have you tried booting it up in safe mode ???

yes i tried botting up in safe mode and the same log-in problem occurs...

hakko

Try pressing F8 on start up (keep tapping it so you hit the right time). Then choose last known good configuration. If that doesn't sort it, then...

Does the Dell laptop have a XP licence/product key on it? If so, you may be able to borrow someone's CD of the same XP version and use the key from your laptop.


Alternatively you can delete the user accounts via Control Panel logged in as Administrator, that should remove her files, if she kept them on the desktop/my documents folder. Double check they are gone by seeing if the named folders in "c:\documents and settings" are deleted - if not, delete yourself.

zxcv784

beardiedog wrote: »

Do you know if there is a recovery partition on the hard drive? If so you can restore to factory fresh by pressing the relevant Function key on boot up.

sorry i don't know what a recovery partition is? i take it is a part of the hard drive?

I will try and boot the comp up later and see what options there are on boot up...

zxcv784

hakko wrote: »

Does the Dell laptop have a XP licence/product key on it? If so, you may be able to borrow someone's CD of the same XP version and use the key from your laptop.

yes it does, not sure if i'll be able to get my hands on a xp cd...

I'll have a go later following yours and beardiedog's suggestions...

beardiedog

zxcv784 wrote: »

sorry i don't know what a recovery partition is? i take it is a part of the hard drive?

I will try and boot the comp up later and see what options there are on boot up...

Many companies, rather than go to the expense of giving you a copy of the OS on CD/DVD, put the OS and accompanying applications and drivers on a separate hidden partition on the hard drive. If you run into problems then you can call up the recovery utility on the hidden partition by pressing a function key, e.g. F11, and either repair the installation or restore it to its factory settings.

zxcv784

beardiedog, i was getting worried when f11 didn't work so did a bit more searching and for the dell laptops you have to press control and F11 and have successfully restored the laptop to factory settings.

I've had a look at the hard drives and it says Local Disk (C has a total size of 38.7GB (free space of 34.6GB) - File system NTFS, and it says Backup (D has a total size of 12.5GB with (free space of 12.4GB) - File system NTFS.

I can't remember what size the hard drive is "meant" to be, when i try and open the D drive it come up with an "open with" menu listing notepad and pain etc....

does this mean it has a 40gb hard drive?

beardiedog

That's great, glad you managed to sort it. I knew it was F11 something or other.

Not sure, but I would guess it's probably at least a 60GB drive: 38.7GB on C, 12.5GB on D (data partition) and the rest will be the hidden partition.

zxcv784

as I want to sell the laptop I want to be positive I am advertising the hard drive at the correct capacity, to try and find the installed hard drive size and pressed f2 when the comp was loading to enter setup to view the blue screen, however the usual "drives" option which u can usually scroll down to using the arrow keys was not there....

Is there some other way I can view the insatlled hard drive space?

I've tried going into control panel > system but that just provides info on processor type, speed and RAM.....

Why when i double click on the D drive letter does it not open normally like the C drive? (i get an open with menu with a list of programs) I can however open the backup D drive if i right click and select explore....

help on this would be greatly appreciated