Dell Inspiron Laptop - Pretty much dead

binge · Emo Kiddy Joined: 03 Jul 2004 Karma :

After some help really. The laptop I am on is practically fucked. It boots up okay, and everything functions correctly. But sometimes, The start menu is in the style of Windows 98, Instead of XP, which is its current OS.

I dont have the restore disks any more, And have just tried the ones I got with Roxannes new laptop, And it comes up saying

"This is not a Samsung System"

I think I need to reinstall windows really. Where is the best place to download Windows XP home edition. Anybody got any reliable torrents?

Its not my main PC, so no intentions of replacing the laptop, even though it is a couple of years old. Its just handy to have if I'm sat watching TV or whatever.

Ben

Burnside · Spanner Monkey Joined: 29 Sep 2007 Karma :

Is the laptop fairly new, ie 3yrs or less? It should have a restore facility on a hidden partition that will return it to the factory settings. Press ctrl + f12 on bootup to get into the menu. its straightforward to restore it but **it will delete everything you have ever saved, documents, IE favorites etc **

Backup as much as you can, esp website bookmarks! It will then restore the laptop back to exactly the same as it came out the factory.

If you just want to change the windows98 theme, right click on the desktop, select 'Properties' then change the theme on the first drop down menu to 'Windows XP'.
____________________
I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left.

binge · Emo Kiddy Joined: 03 Jul 2004 Karma :

Thanks.

The win98 theme isnt a setting. Its just an error in the boot up. Sometimes it boots up as normal, XP style. And sometimes its all Win98, After a reboot its back to normal though.

Its just facked. Needs re-booting. It was my sisters, She's filled it with shit, Spent every day on online games, Its got about 40 different versions of Java on it, And it struggles to open BCF.

I am back on my main PC now. Just tinkering with the lappy. Would be nice to restore it back to factory settings. Dont mind loosing anything.

binge · Emo Kiddy Joined: 03 Jul 2004 Karma :

Okay well I hit ctrl+F12 on boot up and I got this menu...

"Use the up- and down- arrows keys to move the pointer to the desired boot device. Press [Enter] to attempt the boot or ESC to cancel.

Internal HDD
CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive
Onboard NIC

BIOS Setup
Diagnostics

Tried all 5. Nothing helpful really happens. Laughing

Obviously I cant just format it because I need a disk to re-install the OS.

Ben

Burnside · Spanner Monkey Joined: 29 Sep 2007 Karma :

ok it might be ctrl + f11 Smile

____________________
I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left.

binge · Emo Kiddy Joined: 03 Jul 2004 Karma :

Just done it, Its doing something now.

Symantic recovery disk.

Burnside · Spanner Monkey Joined: 29 Sep 2007 Karma :

thats the one Thumbs Up

____________________
I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left.

binge · Emo Kiddy Joined: 03 Jul 2004 Karma :

Legend, Laptop is totally restored now. Its like a brand new set up. Smile

Last year I shoved another GB of RAM in it too because it was slow. So Its running 1.5GB of RAM, Over an empty 60GB HDD (Small I know), Its rapid. Cool

Thanks again!

Ben

Fortuna · World Chat Champion Joined: 29 Oct 2004 Karma :

I know you've sorted it but if you tell me the version I might be able to get the install discs for future use.