Please help! Looking to format/reinstall on R3

Hello... I'm not too knowledgeable about format/reinstall stuff, but it seems like I will have to do this to restore my close-to-3-year-old Alienware laptop to its former self. Basically, my laptop BSODed during an update. After rebooting, I could not do anything to restore the computer to its original state. I tried restore points, reinstalling software and even using my Alienware Windows Restore CD to fix it.

To explain my dilemma even further, many of my applications don't work anymore. It seems that my video card won't run its software, as I get an error for the ATi Catalyst program every time I load my computer. On top of that, I can't use IE or Firefox without the browser crashing immediately if it experiences anything with Adobe Flash. I'm currently only able to use Chrome. I also can't use MS Powerpoint, Skype, Windows Media Player, CyberDvD, and several other programs. My laptop also starts to slow down tremendously when I have more than 1 video playing (either from two browser windows or from VLC and a browser window).

Is there anything I can do? I would be most grateful for any help...

PS: The update that my laptop BSODed on was the MS Office 32-bit patch

 

Hi there

As you have decided, sometimes when windows goes all messed up it's easier to start again - only a clean install is not easy for someone that has never done it!

Have you tried to boot from the win CD and selecting the repair (verify?) option? Might just work if you haven't.

Other than that the machine does have a hidden factory partition that contains a factory image to put the machine back to new - just a lot of updates required after. I've only used it once a long time ago so can't help with accessing it but I'm sure if one of the AW reps reads this you will get a link to the dell documentation for this

Good luck

 

You should have AlienRespawn on your laptop and can use it to restore the system to factory settings. Please see the article below on how to use it - video lessons are included.

AlienRespawn Backup and Recovery, what is it and how to use it? | Dell US

 

I would recommend doing a fresh and clean install of Windows. Just find a windows 7 CD (don't need Product Key as yours is on a sticker on the bottom of your laptop) somewhere and you'll be good to go.

It was awesome booting my rig up for the first time seeing all of AW customized stuff and software. But I did notice a lot of minor bugs were fixed after I did a clean install of windows. I did lose a lot of AW's customized features but they're all retrievable with some research and time. So in trade, it cleared up any glitches I noticed during normal everyday stuff. I like my rig more after the clean install. Reformatting your drive won't be difficult as long as you follow a how-to video on youtube. Also, everyone on the forums will be able to help you. Computers in general should be reformatted at least 1 once a year.

 

Try following this guide.