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    Urgent Help! Reformatting Inspiron..

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by crazychu, Nov 13, 2007.

  1. crazychu

    crazychu Notebook Consultant

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    How do i format my computer to begin flemenko's dell clean install guide?
    can someone give me a step by step process on all the things i need to do before i begin his first step in the guide?

    i put in the dell OS cd, and i'm confused on which one to do, a upgrade install or custom install, the custom install says that it will completely format my computer, but i dont know which partition to install on!
     
    crazychu, Nov 13, 2007
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  2. chelet

    chelet Notebook Deity

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    You don't need to format before following Flamenko's guide. You destroy and recreate the partitions when you use the Media Direct disc.

    Here's another guide that describes using the Media Direct disc in a bit more detail.
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=183147
     
    chelet, Nov 13, 2007
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  3. crazychu

    crazychu Notebook Consultant

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    his instructions are..

    1. Place MediaDirect 3.3 in drive.
    2. Restart/Hit F12 at initial screen/One time boot/Boot Dvd

    i put the media direct in the drive
    and it says "install" or exit. now what does he mean by "restart/hit F12 at initial screen/one time boot/boot dvd?
     
    crazychu, Nov 13, 2007
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  4. chelet

    chelet Notebook Deity

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    It sounds to me like you already booted to Windows.
    Put the Media Direct disc in the drive.
    Cancel out of anything that appears onscreen.
    Reboot and hit F12 when you first see the Dell screen.
    That should give you a boot menu with the option to boot off the DVD.
    If it boots to Windows without giving you the option, you didn't hit F12 at the right time.

    Check Ash Hi Fi Zone's guide (linked to in my previous post)
    It's for a Vista/Linux/MediaDirect combination, but the beginning is the same as reinstalling Vista.
     
    chelet, Nov 13, 2007
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