How to reformat Inspiron 9400 notebook?

Hello all,

How do I reformat my Dell Inspiron 9400 notebook. What do I do? Thanks.

 

put your windows disc in the drive and reboot

 

Hello, and thanks for the quick reply. Will I lose my pictures and music downloads? Thanks again!

 

Gotta expand on that a little:

1. Backup data.
2. Get a Windows install disc, or use your recovery partition.
3. Reformat.
4. Profit!!!

 

You could use my guide for partitioning in the XP guide. link in signature.

Take care of your recovery partition if you want tokeep it, though.

 

a reformat wipes all data from the HD

 

Is it the "operating system" or the "Windows anytime upgrade" disk that I need?

 

Dell gave you many disks when you recieved your system. Among them are the Dell Resource CD and the Operating System DVD. You will need both to restore your system this way. Install the Operating System first, then use the Dell Resource CD to install the various drivers for the different parts of your computer.

If you have not deleted the Dell PC Restore partition, you can use that to restore your system without the disks. See the Dell support site- Click Here-for more on using Dell PC Restore.

In the first case, your documents and all applications will be deleted, so you'll need to backup your documents, and gather the disks Dell provided that contain the applications that you ordered with your system.

In the second case, your documents will still be deleted, but you will only need to reinstall applications that you had installed after you recieved your notebook, as the Dell PC Restore image includes the applications that were ordered with your system.

 

What is making you reformat the computer? What problem are you facing? A lot of problems can solved in other ways without reformatting and reinstalling.

 

When I listen to music it has static, when I watch dvds it freezes. Dell sent me out a replacement and it does the same thing. I contact them they get me to download some software. Still the same way...