How-To Geek Forums / Windows XP
dell dimension e510
(33 posts)
When you got it, the hard drive was not all wiped out. It had the OS installed (in your case probably Vista) and it had a recovery partition. If you "wipe out" the whole hard drive, you will have nothing - just a blank disk. Is that what you want? A completely inoperable PC.
well not wipe up. what i meen is i need to get rid of the spyware i have. i ran multiple programs and followed dells troubleshooting but nothing works. there is a way to reset your computer to factory settings and the computer will be just like when you first started it up.
side note- this cna be done i did it with one of my computers before but things change and i cant figure out how to reset my computer
OK, got you. The following is a generic procedure which is about the same for all makes. It might vary slightly for your Dell because that is from Gateway/Emachines:
1. Copy all your own files and folders to an external storage (Disc, USB stick even SD card - 1 GByte capacity should be ample - even 512 MB)
2. Shut the PC off
3. Turn the PC back on and keep hitting the F8 key repeatedly until the Advanced Boot Option Screen appears
4. Click "Repair Your Computer" – if you are not already on it, use the up and down arrows to maneuver to it and then press ENTER
5. Next you have to pick your country (I assume US) and click OK
6. On the "System Recovery Options Screen" click "Restore Application" (last option)
7. Follow the on-screen instructions
8. When prompted, click on "Full Factory Recovery"
9. Click "Next"
10. Click "Yes"
11. Go and have a cup of coffee - don't touch anything - for a while it seems like nothing is happening
12. After many minutes, recovery will complete and you click "Finish
alright, im good all the way up to the f8 part. when i press f8 the advanced boot option screen appears but these are the choices that show
safe mode
safe mode with networking
safe mode with command prompt
enable boot logging
enable VGA mode
last known good configuration
directory services restore mode
debugging mode
disable automatic restart on system failure
start windows normally
reboot
and return to Os choices menu
I'm back,on my Compaq XP machine,my list shows the same as jk's.Highlight the last option,(Return to OS Choices Menu).Click enter.You will see 2 choices,highlight and enter "Windows Recovery Console".This option will take you back to the state it was from the factory.Make sure you save all the stuff you want to keep,e-mail addresses,pic's,music,etc. to cd-dvd,external HDD,whatever you may have.You will lose everything,I've used this procedure once and it worked out great,I had all my data backed up and saved to a cd.
when i return to OS choices menu and click enter, the page says..
please select the operating system to start:
Windows XP Media Center Edition
use the up and down arrows to move the highlight to your choice.
press ENTER to choose.
for troubleshoting and advanced startup options for windows, press f8
i click enter on windows xp and my computer just starts up normally
See the Dell support page Restoring Your Computer's Software to the Factory Settings
It lists the keys to press when booting to restore to the factory configuration.
Edit:
To save time going to that page and clicking a couple buttons, here is a copy of what it says:
Getting Started:
A. Backup all data stored on the system.
B. Except for the monitor, keyboard, and mouse, remove all external peripherals.
C. Using PC Restore in Windows XP or Media Center
1. Turn on the computer.
2. When the Dell splash screen appears during the computer startup process, press and hold <Ctrl> and then press <F11>. Then, release both keys at the same time.
3. In the Dell PC Restore by Symantec window, click Restore. Alternatively, press <Tab> to highlight Restore, and then press <Enter>.
4. When a warning message appears stating that all data will be lost, click Confirm, or press <Tab> to highlight Confirm and then press <Enter>.
The Progress window will appear. Once the restore process starts, Dell PC Restore by Symantec usually takes about 8 to 10 minutes to finish.
When the restore process is complete, the following message will appear:
The system recovery process was successful.
5. Click Finish or press <Tab> to highlight Finish and then press <Enter> to restart the computer.
The software is now installed as it was when the computer was first received.
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