Help with factory setting with Dell PC

Wishing

I purchased a dell pc about 4 years ago, it has been playing up and now I need to take it back to factory setting. I gone into set up with pressing f2 and in there it say to get back to factory giving a command to do so. When it is taken back to factory will windows XP professional media centre have to be reloaded again also will i have to load a dice that has applications on it again.


I am not very computer savvy and would appreciate some help please.
:beer:

ChiefGrasscutter

As I understand it, a Dell factory restore will take the PC right back to the very first time you switched it on when you bought it.
Any software including windows which was bought/included/bundled with the PC when you bought it from Dell will self install back also. This is all stored on the hidden recovery partition on the disk.

In essence the computer/disks are being wiped clean and started again.
The major points to note are that
You will loose all your own personal data on the PC by this operation. Please understand this clearly. You MUST copy all your own data and that of anyone else who uses the PC (files, pictures,documents,emails, browser bookmarks.. etc... etc) onto some other from of external storage such as a DVD or other external hard drive (preferably several copies to be on the safe side) before you do the factory restore.
Any modifications/customizations to windows or the other Dell pre-loaded applications that you have done will be lost and they will return to the default settings - you will then have to re-set them to what you want.
Any programs you have subsequently installed on the PC yourself from disks/downloads whatever etc will be lost and you will need to re-install them. Likewise for things like printers. So you should ensure that you have the licence key (where needed) and install file/disk for each of these programs - otherwise you will not be able to re-install them.
All the windows/MS updates etc done since the PC was first switched on will need to be done again.

I personally have not done a Dell factory restore operation - so await comments from other posters that have done one for any items to be wary of or to correct my initial list. I suspect the whole operation - restore and re-installing the existing software plus doing all the updates could end up quite a lengthy procedure.

Wishing

Thank you for advice, I will give it a go tomorrow.

macman

It's a straightforward procedure on Dells, but as ChiefGrasscutter says, you must first back up all of you personal data. You will have to reinstall all your aftermarket software (including your antivirus program) and most importantly run Windows Updates manually several times in order to get back up to date (Vista SP2 probably if 4 years old), which will probably take longer than the Restore process itself.

Wishing

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

As I understand it, a Dell factory restore will take the PC right back to the very first time you switched it on when you bought it.
Any software including windows which was bought/included/bundled with the PC when you bought it from Dell will self install back also. This is all stored on the hidden recovery partition on the disk.[FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]Is these the disks that came with the computer, I am not computer savvy and would be grateful if you would clarify this for me please.

Does this mean that windows xp professional media centre will be on the system. As the disc that came with dell say all the application are preloaded.[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
In essence the computer/disks are being wiped clean and started again.

What computer disk..are they one that came with computer and will I have to install them apart from Dell self install on the hidden hidden recovery partition on the disk. Is this not automatic when I go back to factory settings. [FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
The major points to note are that
You will loose all your own personal data on the PC by this operation. Please understand this clearly. You MUST copy all your own data and that of anyone else who uses the PC (files, pictures,documents,emails, browser bookmarks.. etc... etc) onto some other from of external storage such as a DVD or other external hard drive (preferably several copies to be on the safe side) before you do the factory restore.

That bit I understand I have store all my personal stuff on an external hard drive.

Any modifications/customizations to windows or the other Dell pre-loaded applications that you have done will be lost and they will return to the default settings - you will then have to re-set them to what you want.

When I purchased the computer I got a number to phone and a dell rep went thought the application and as far as I can remember he told me to change a couple of things on the application.

Any programs you have subsequently installed on the PC yourself from disks/downloads whatever etc will be lost and you will need to re-install them. Likewise for things like printers. So you should ensure that you have the licence key (where needed) and install file/disk for each of these programs - otherwise you will not be able to re-install them.

I have the printer disck but I do not think it came with a licence key it was HP Printer will have a look later, as with microsoft 2003 cannot trace licence key but I purchsed windows 2010 and I will load that on if I get thePC working again.

All the windows/MS updates etc done since the PC was first switched on will need to be done again.

I think I can cope with that one if it is just downloading them from website.

I added some extra ram sticks will they be OK. Also I noted when I went into the setup menu there were a lot of factory setting. I have change a few things over the years perhaps that is why I am having problems with it now.

I will give it a go later today and hopefully it will be OK.

Thanks for help though :beer:

macman

All the pre-loaded applications will be on the disk image within the recovery partition-you don't need to reinstall the OS, because that is what is held on the recovery partition. But if you have installed any software after purchase, you will need to reinstall that.
'Computer disk' in this instance means the hard drive, not a CD or DVD.
A printer does not need a licence key, just download the latest drivers for your model from the HP site.
Make sure you have the licence key for your AV program if required.
You can add the extra RAM at any stage you like, it's not affected by the restore process.

Wishing

macman wrote: »

All the pre-loaded applications will be on the disk image within the recovery partition-you don't need to reinstall the OS, because that is what is held on the recovery partition. But if you have installed any software after purchase, you will need to reinstall that.

'Computer disk' in this instance means the hard drive, not a CD or DVD.

Thanks for the great help, as that was the bit which I found confusing now that I know it is the hard drive it make more sense to me as I am not familar with computer speak.

A printer does not need a licence key, just download the latest drivers for your model from the HP site.

Make sure you have the licence key for your AV program if required.
You can add the extra RAM at any stage you like, it's not affected by the restore process.

I used kaspersky and I have the key for that. the ram was install a while back and it seem OK then.

Will let you know how I get on if I can survive the process LOL

Thanks again.:beer: