a little help needed for recovery disk. i9300's

so today i got a windows xp prof. service pack2 disk from a friend, i tried to install on my i9300, and it says error occured in D:\I386\asms sxs.dll file, i believe its the winxp disk's problem. but, i didnt burn the "system recovery disk" yet, and now the old winxp home ed. is deleted, and the new system crushed during installing, is there anyway i can still restore/recovery my system? i checked dell.com and didnt find infos on mailing recovery CD...so...any help would be appreciated, thank you

 

If your system came with XP home, you should use a xp home recovery disc, not an xp pro that you do not own. If the old operating system is deleted, and the new operating system is corrupted, then I don't think there is a way to burn a system recovery disc. However, the partition with the factory backup image should be still intact. I'm not sure what to do from there though.

 

ya that is the problem now, winxp home ed deleted, winxp prof corrupted.
i talked with DELL and they are going to mail me the recovery disks, hopefully that will solve my problem.

 

Dell's recovery discs will solve the problem. Unless your friend has a Dell Recovery Windows XP Pro disc or he has a multi license copy of XP Pro (which it sounds like he downloaded it), then the setup was going to ask you for a serial number or go online to check if your copy of XP Pro is legit. So, unless it was one of the two, Microsoft would not have supported your copy of Windows and thus not allowing you update your notebook with Windows updates.

Boot from YOUR Dell OS Recovery CD, format and install Windows and that should fix everything.

 

Not to hijack this thread but, I notice that the posting dates are recent. They aint at the Dell Forum.

How does one obtain Recovery Discs for an I3800? I have emailed and called Dell for the past several days. All I get is a run-around.

This 3800 will not start up. Power is okay as I can hear the CD drive begin its spin up. Then all dies.

I suspect this machine has a serious SASSER virus but, can't boot up to try any fixes. Dell is of no help and the lady who owns the machine needs it.

Thanks in advance for the assist.

 

If it won't turn on at all, you may have other issues. The sasser virus is likely to infect Windows. Can you boot into DOS? What did Dell say when you ask for the discs?

 

Dell steered me around to several phone numbers. I already know the machine is out of date but, couldn't get any of the Dell reps to understand a simple email message asking to purchase the discs. Last night, I wrote a scathing email. This morning I get yet another reply directing me to yet another 800 number. The problem is Dell's telephone call routing. It makes little sense, unless one is buying a new system.

The laptop just won't start. This am, I reset all the boards and tried again with XP Pro in the CD. Almost had a start. Got a screen message advising something wasn't seated properly in the modular bay.(?). Reseated the hard drive and still no start. The few starts I do get almost always happen when I move the heat sink out of the way. Go figure.

I am hoping that if I can get enough spin on the CD, maybe a boot disc will take and launch. Other than that..I am about lost.
bh

 

How about an external drive hooked up via usb and take the optical drive out if it is modular? Can you hear the hard drive spin? Could see if there is a bios update on Dell's website.