How to do a system recovery on my XPS 1330?

Hey everyone. I was just wondering if any of you guys knew how to do a system recovery on a Dell XPS 1330. Thanks.

-Jesse-

 

Are you talking about Windows System Recovery? Do you have XP or Vista?

 

Hi,
My name is Rick and I am a member of Dells online community team.
If you are talking about doing a Windows system restore, the steps can be found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084 - XP
In Vista to get to the system restore all you have to do is type "system restore" in the search bar (where run used to be) and it will appear in the under the programs label and will guide you through the restore process.

Now, Dell systems come with a PC restore partition that will reimage the system to how it was when it left the factory. This will cause you to lose any data that has not been backed up.
To access this feature just start the system and push "ctrl+F11" when the system is at the Dell splash screen. From there it will guide you step by step. If it looks like the system is being idle, please do not shut it off, it can take some time and shutting the machine down during this process can cause problems, also make sure you have the system hooked up to AC power so that your battery doesn’t die during the process causing the system to shutdown during the reinstallation.

If you have any further questions just let me know.
Rick

 

Not to discredit you in any way Dell C.A. but can you describe what exactly your association is with Dell? Are you employed by them and, if so, exactly what department should someone want to contact Dell to confirm your authenticity?

The reason I ask is because you may have missed that the author has a XPS M1330 which is not available in XP OS. Further, I would have believed you would be well aware that Ctrl-F11 is not utilized by Dell any further. I believe it is the F8 or Ctrl-F8 on startup (blue Dell logo).

Again, I having looked through your past posts, I believe you are genuinely trying to help, however, I think it needs to be clarified whether you actually have any association with Dell. Posters are entitled to feel comfortable in the authenticity of anyone trying to assist and, in addition, I think reliable information is vital when it comes to advising someone on system repair or recovery.

To the author, can I ask if you have previously done a clean install? If you have then System Restore is not available through your computer, but rather, it may be through your Vista disk, depending on the edition you have.

Can you provide this information...then we will attack the problem here.

 

As I stated, I am part of Dells online community team. I am employed by Dell, and work in the corporate headquarters in Round Rock TX. Last I checked F8 will take you to a screen that will allow you to choose from different partitions including the PC Restore partition as well as a diagnostic partition. While the system may not have shipped with XP that is not to say that it was not installed after the fact, something that I never like to rule out as I see people installing different operating systems all the time once they receive a machine. Especially enthusiasts, who usually buy APES machines. They are not satisfied with a factory image and prefer to install their own OS.

If you like to verify my employment just shoot me an Email at [email protected] and I will gladly reply from within Dells IP range or go here to Dells Blog: http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2006/07/25/979.aspx.
Rick

 

I appreciate your help, but Ctrl-F11 has not worked for some time in other systems as well.

My system is below and I can assure you it is F8 and not F11. I have, in fact, passed correspondence to Dell as the manual shipped is incorrect.

And thank you for the verification...read and appreciate all of your help.

 

This is how it is done now...

Every major computer manufacturer places the original install operating system cabinet files, drivers and software in a hidden partition on the Hard Disk. Those files are intended to restore the operating system to factory like condition. Because of this, the hidden partition is usually referred to as the Recovery Partition. We call it PC Restore.

PC RESTORE WITH DELL INSTALLED VISTA -
* Power the PC off
* Disconnect all devices except for the following:
keyboard
mouse
monitor
speakers
* Power the PC on
* On restart, right after the BIOS splash screen, you should see a 1/2" blue bar at the top of the screen. When you first see it, tap the F8 key on the keyboard
NOTE: If the Windows Advanced Options menu does not appear, restart the PC and try again
* Press the Down Arrow key to select Repair Your Computer
* Press the Enter key
* The System Recovery Options window appears
* Select your language
* Click Next
* Log in as a user with administrative rights and click OK
* Click Dell Factory Image Restore
* The Dell Factory Image Restore window appears
* Click Next
* Check Yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to factory condition
* Click Next
* The factory software image is now written to your hard drive
* Click Finish to restart the computer

Message Edited by DELL-ChrisM on 06-25-2007 09:56 AM

 

flamenko,

you are right f8, and your steps are right on.

f11 did not do it for the m1330 specifically.

thanks

 

I have upgraded my Vostro 1400 from Vista Home Basic to Vista Ultimate. I could not find some of the bundled services that at one point I was thinking of restoring the factory image, however, it could not find the image from F8 restore mode. The partition is still there. Is there a way to recover the image?

 

No...you upgraded with an OEM and not Dell upgrade if my guess is right. In doing so, did you eliminate MediaDirect and reformat? Most do without knowing.

Actually..if you want to learn how to use the program, BCDEdit may help as well as a program called FixMBR (or MBRFix) I believe. They may help.

Did you do a complete system backup from Ultimate? This would help. You can then restore that backup from the installation disk.

 

I just install Vista Ultimate without formating or overwriting the original OS (old files backed up to windows.old). Obviously, I did not reformat the HD either. I have MediaDirect working properly after the upgrade (just need to re-install the Windows part). I just wonder if I can still restore the Vista Home Basic image to revert the upgrade. As I said, the image partition is intact by it is not seen by the restore mode under F8 boot.

 

Thats odd because it should be as long as Vista was installed over the old version and didnt harm the other partitions, specifically the boot and restore partitions.

 

Thanks guys.

 

My Recovery D partition shows up bright red with 484mb free, I am hoping that is okay if I ever need to use it, do any of you know?
Thank, d

 

My Precision M6300 came without recovery partion