Computer help forum: Anyone try to do Dell PC Recovery?

Thanks for the reply, Bill. Unfortunately, I've attempted to do this about 30 times with no luck. In fact, the blue bar no longer appears when the computer starts up, just the Dell screen with the logo in the lower right hand corner. Sometimes I get a keyboard failure message with the option to go to the setup screen or continue booting. I'm tempted to just delete the partition holding the recovery files and format the drive, then reinstall XP from disk. I'll gain 15 gigs in the process and lose the headache.

Dell computers shipped after Nov 2004 had the recovery partition and didn't always ship with the XP CD's.

But Dells shipped before Nov 2004 didn't always ship with a recovery partition. If you have the original Dell OEM XP disks, then it is likely you have no recovery partition, and should repair install, or re-install from the disk anyway.

Mark

The computer will be a year old next month. It definitely has the partition. Could the motherboard be failing already? Would a program such as Motherboard Monitor tell me this?

I've tried disconnecting everything but the keyboard and mouse. Another strange thing is that after I started trying to do this, the keyboard began to not work at times. I'll go into setup and the up/down keys work there, but when I boot up and have to put my password in, there's no response from the keyboard. I have to take it out of the round plug (sorry, don't know what it's called) and plug it into the USB. I've tried using the keyboard that came with the computer, but it only has the round plug, so it wouldn't work the few times I tried.

I found if I went into setup and clicked on "restore", it then works. This is not PC Restore, though. I believe it restores some settings to what they were when it was new, but doesn't change what's on the computer now.

Sorry this sounds so convoluted.

This morning I tried Cntl/F11 again, and once again when the computer stopped booting I got the ''keyboard failure'' message. Then when I went back to booting the keyboard wouldn't respond, nor the mouse. I had to plug both of them into USB ports. Is it that the correct drivers are not loading for the PS/2 ports because I'm stopping the boot process? The reason I use the PS/2 ports is because my last Dell came with these adapters on the USB plugs of the keyboard and mouse. This computer came only with PS/2 plugs on them. What is the preferred method of connecting, PS/2 or USB?

I've been using a Logitech keyboard that has never given me a problem. Never even opened the Dell keyboard until these problems started, but the response is the same with it. I don't think the keyboard is the issue. The PC Recovery tool just doesn't seem to be working. The screen won't come up.

I'm glad you mentioned about hot swapping, as I have been plugging the keyboard and mouse in and out of the PS/2 and USB ports, since this problem started. Powering down before plugging into the PS/2 would advisable, then?

Thanks for the time you've been taking, Bill.

Had a similar problem on an older PC. Bought a wireless Logitech since it comes with a USB install disk. That solved the problem. And by the way, USB ports are not interchangeable. One will be the primary port. This fact can cause problems on a laptop with add-ons. Remnants of MSDOS linger on.....

Make sure you download all the drivers you need off of the dell site before you restore your pc unless you have a backup pc. Good Luck

Mine is due to Malware that has infected my computer and has taken over the DOS and hijacked the internet explorer programs, even Mozilla is effected. You might have a malware problem as well. Mine to is the same Dell as yours.

Although I don't think this information has anything to do with the keyboard failure message that Lunaray described, I though I'd post this for those running into this thread in the future --

I wrote about what I learned about the Dell PC Restore and fixing it at: http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6121-0.html?forumID=45&threadID=135318&messageID=1537221

I did try to make a bootable CD to run the MBR fix as per the instructions at:
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_other&message.id=239868

...and it didn't work. I had to make the CD bootable using a CD burning application that can make bootable Cd's, like Nero or whatever. (I used CDBurnerXP, or DeepBurner may work.)

Using the PC Restore is a fairly fast and relatively easy way to reinstall an OS. but after doing it a couple of times, I too elected to reinstall WinXP from scratch to get rid of all that pre-installed stuff that Dell thought I should have!

Tried it.Does not work.When I press the ctrl and f11 key it alway follow throught with the reboot.Is there another solution.I have a dell XPS400.

I'm not sure how you deleted your Restore Partition but if you didn't do it before re-installing windows then in the Windows XP install setup screen(s) you should have seen the listing of the:

Dell Utility Partition (FAT file system -- 30 to 60 mb)
--(it may say ''Unknown'' before it)

C: partition (NTFS Windows XP currently installed)

Dell Restore Partion (FAT32 -- it would likely say ''Unknown'' before it)

For example (I don't remember exactly):

Unknown Partition (FAT16) ------- xxxx MB (xxxx MB free)
C: Partition (NTSF) ------- xxxx MB (xxxx MB free)
Unknown Partition (FAT32) ------- xxxx MB (xxxx MB free)

refer to: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp
and scroll down to: ''5. Choose an installation partition''

(Did you see something different after deleting the Restore Partition ahead of time?)

Anyway, after you delete the existing partition(s) you have to create a new partition out of what is left before you format and install. You may not have done that which resulted in the 21gig discrepancy.

As for the Windows XP ''dual-boot'' problem, after reading what Dan Goodell had to say I think the Utility Partition may be the culprit. http://www.goodells.net/dellutility/index.htm

...again, it may have something to do with not creating the partition before formatting. (if you did partition and just didn't say so then nevermind!)

As for the extra 8mb's, I'd include them.

BTW: I personally wondered what the difference was between the ''Quick Format'' and the regular one. I found out that the regular one scans the disk while (or before) formatting, where the quick format doesn't.

I got some other info from: http://www.djdenham.com/Install%20Procedures.htm#Install

another note: I found out that if you want to create an extended partition (i.e. a ''D:'' for storage) during Windows XP setup you have to create a partition for it but not format it until Windows is installed and then format it through Windows. I learned that the hard way!

I'm kind of an in-between intermediate\advanced user so you may want to wait to see what others have to say.
No matter what, good luck!

I scrolled down through the screenshots at Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: Upgrading to Windows XP ... and at that step where you delete the partition (5. Choose an installation partition), there appears to be the option to quit setup -- ''F3=Quit''.

When you explained it again, that 8mg's you mentioned seems strange. Could've that been the original Master Boot Record and Windows left it alone after you didn't include it in the format? (explaining the strange ''dual-boot''?)

If you do it again, after deleting the partition(s), create a new partition out of what's there before the format and install.

there's also this thread in the Dell forum that provides a link to a utility that wipes the HD clean, which I admit is a little extreme.

If you can currently boot into Windows (the first one listed, I guess) then you can see how the drive is currently set up by going to Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > Administrative Tools > Computer Management and under ''Storage'' click on ''Disk Management''. That may provide some clue for the missing 21 gb's.

To be honest, at this point I'm interested in what any experts may have to say about this! Hopefully there'll be a little more input.

lunaray

What you are seeing may be correct on drive and partitioning sizes, if Dell is following in the footsteps of HP/Compaq. Meaning they are using an application similar to Ghost which performs a sector by sector image of the HD. That image is restored, partitions included, when you do a destrictive Restore. Windows repair just restores XPs kernal operation files.

Seeing a listing of two O/Ss is not. This indicates that XP was installed twice on two different partitions or the same partition which cannot be as you deleted both partitions.

Question .... How did you delete the partitions?
See Toni's post on formating a drive. Retired also has a post on the procedure that I have failed to bookmark.

Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_drive
the section ''Marketing'' capacity versus true capacity.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/format.htm The last section....
''Fortunately, this is no longer an issue today. Since modern drives are always low-level formatted at the factory, it would be extremely weird to state their sizes in terms of unformatted capacity, and manufacturers have stopped doing this. In fact, there usually isn't any easy way to find out the unformatted capacity of new drives! So to take another example from our friends at Seagate, the ST-315330A, the ''15330'' refers to the drive's approximate formatted capacity, 15,364 MB (15.4 GB).''

Binary vs. Decimal Capacity Measurements

Also the 21 gig may be a hidden partition for Dells Diagnostic software, Sectors that have been marked bad, BIOS/O/S limitation, all factors that I ignore porvided the O/S works correctly and the drive has passed a fitness test.

SO to re-install or not...
If you can live with what you have .... NO
If you can't, then yes

Bill

lunaray

Starting with the 8 MB, I'll call this normal as I've seen it on every drive I have installed.

The file that Dell provides is a recovery disk. I can only relate it to the HP/Compaq recovery disks I have used. The recovery disk provided by HP/Compaq offer two options, Windows Repair or Destructive Restore.

Windows Repair does just that, repairs Windows. The Destructive Restore returns the system to the factory state. This includes partitions and applications, anything you have added in applications, settings, files are destroyed. So after the install you will see partitions. One for XP, applications and files. the other contains the recovery files.

You indicate you have two drives. It is possible that the installed of Xp was placed on the slave drive. Go here

''''This is a sample of the above Boot.ini file with a previous installation of Windows 2000 on a separate partition.
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=''Windows XP Professional'' /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT=''Windows 2000 Professional'' /fastdetect''''

You need to look at your BOOT.ini file at the bold and underlined items. This will tell you on which drive and partition XP is installed on.

Correct drive size... possible... their are a lot of factors that may prevent a system from seeing all of a drive. If it is not the system the internal structure, meaning partition table, may be incorrect. I've had a few drives do this. Using a disk wipe application (writes 1&0s to a drive) cures this issue if it is not the system.

At this point if all this is gettng too deep un-attach your slave drive, wipe the drive and re-install XP. After install attach your slave; pull your files off wipe and format the drive.....(Wipe the slave with the primary drive un-attached, format in Windows)

After drive wipe and re-install your drives are not showing the correct size then it is your system that is not able to see all of the drive, not something to sweat over, just part of owning a computer.

Bill

FAT or NTFS does not matter. The utility I provided writes 1s & 0s to the drive destroying all data on the drive.

The Dells recovery disk will partition and format the drive. Provided Dells recovery disk operates the same as E-machine or Compaq/Hp. The Dell's recovery disks I have not seen.

E machine uses 1 or 2 disks and Ghost. Ghost creates an image of the drive sector by sector and performs a destructive restore only.

Compaq/Hp uses 6 to 7 disks allowing repair of Windows or a destructive restore.

Size of the drives listed to reality....

Too many factors to say what is going on. Use Disk Wipe, if you get the same results then something is preventing the BIOS from seeing all of the drive. As HDs are temporary storage and if my system works properly I just ignore the discrepency.

Bill