Question:
thought I'd start a thread for those wanting to make a recovery CD for those new Dell Laptops without the ISO file or the option to burn a restore CD to stop the other Dell threads getting clogged
discuss
Answers:
I dont think you can without the Dell OS Recovery CD tool kit thing (found in Dell Accessories, in All Programs)
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If you just want the discs you could try this:
BLAG
Okay, 5 Dell discs on their way.
Phoned Technical Support this morning on 0870 90 80 800.
Option 2 (Portable System)
Option 2 (Inspiron)
Spoke to a lovely lady who may well have been from the call centre in India judging by the accent.
She needed the Sevice Tag number from the sticker on the underside of the lappy and also asked for telephone number and e-mail address.
She then asked how she could help:
I explained in a slightly muddled sort of way that I understood these laptops came with the ability to burn a restore disc but I'm told this isn't there anymore and I'd noticed on a forum that I visit (not named) that someone else had the same problem and they had phoned Dell and Dell had said that they would send out some discs so if that was possible could I have some discs.
How I've written above is how I said it, I didn't pause, I just waffled and when I mentioned the discs the lady said 'So you just want the discs?'. I said Yes and it seemed to me that she was slightly relieved because it was an easy call to deal with. She read out what discs were included but to be honest I didn't catch everything but it includes drivers, DVD software and I believe an OS disc - possibly the very disc I've just paid £5.88 for.
Anyways she took some contact details and said I may be sent a customer satisfaction survey and would I fill it in. I said of course, and also complimented her on the service. She then said it would take around five days and she would phone to see if they had arrived OK.
So basically it's not really a blag, just phone up and explain like I did and hopefully the discs will wing their way to you.
Don't forget to be polite and if you're successful make sure you fill in and return the customer satisfaction survey, it's not easy working in a call centre and positive feedback can do wonders for the person concerned.
HTH
Bubbaİ
PS. Still haven't used mine, it's on charge!
Answers:
I did exactly the same thing Bubba.
I got my laptop three weeks ago and was looking for a way to do the disk. I discovered that they no longer send them out automatically, as the drive is partitioned now and you follow some procedure or other to re-install if anything goes wrong. The recovery cd thingy has been removed from these laptops. I wasn't happy with that and phoned them up.
I got Ireland, and a very nice lady said she would send them out straight away. She actually phoned a couple of days later to see if they had arrived!
After hearing some horrific tales about the CS, I was pleasantly surprised!
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I did the same as Bubba on a previous occasion...
Told Dell that I had tried removing unwanted software and then tried to burn a recovery disc, but thought that the disc was corrupted. I had phoned Dell on the number on the invoice, got through to Sales rep in Ireland who passed me onto Technical support in India, then was passed onto a different Technical support department in India before being passed back to Customer Services in Ireland where I spoke to a nice chap with a South African accent who promptly arranged for the Windows XP disc plus all the driver discs to be sent out to me . Got a call from the courier company later that day and the discs arrived by courier the next morning.
In the end, though, I continued using the Windows XP disc I had burned (which I thought hadn't burned properly) and it worked fine! - it reinstalls Windows XP without any of the additional rubbish. Needn't have spent 25 minutes on the phone being passed from Ireland to India and back to Ireland after all
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Hi. This thread worries me slightly. I'm not a tecky and have bought a Dell Inspiron 1300 recently. I really like it and it was cheap!
What disks do I need and what should I have backed up? Thinking about it, i suppose the operating system is a good one .
How do I go about doing this? Is there a Dell utility to help?
Sorry to be thick, we have an IT guy at work who does all this stuff for us. We just say "Mike I have lost a file can you restore it please?" and it happens! (As if by magic!)
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Oh this thread may help!
I want to format the HDD to get rid of all the junk Dell have put on it. I also want to use XP Pro or Win2000 Pro (so don't have to backup the XP home they have on their). Is it just the drivers that we need to back up? or do we need to back anything else up?
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You only need to back up all the hardware drivers on there unless you got the disks for them, anything else is optional.
I would recommend you install a good driver back up program to extract the drivers. I used to use program like winret which saves the drivers into seprate folders for each device so you good choose which ones you wanted to back up. However seems they have updated it so now only get a list of drivers backed up ( no idea which drivers for which hardware) but guess you can find another simillar program.
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you can get all the drivers you need off the service and support part of the dell web site
just download and burn to CD and then insert it when it asks for any drivers after the re-install
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you can get all the drivers you need off the service and support part of the dell web site
just download and burn to CD and then insert it when it asks for any drivers after the re-install
You can download the drivers, but you can't download the Sonic/Roxio DVD playing & burning software. After formatting & re-installing XP I had to contact Dell and they sent me the full set of CDs even though it was only the DVD software I asked for. I am also happy with their CS so far even if I don't like jobs moving offshore I can't fault the service I have had from Dell.
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there is some stuff here about how the deel reover partition works and how to get at it
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As I said on the original thread, you get:
cyberlink powerDVD 5.5 software
sonic digitalmedia v.7 LE and MyDVD 6.11 LE software
My lappy never came with all of these installed anyway.
It came with MyDVD LE version 6
Roxio Creator LE
Dell Media Experience and CinePlayer
is £49.99 (full version) on Roxio website
PowerDVD is an old version with 6 being current at a price of $49
If you do format and install the new disks, you will lose Roxio Creator but gain the other two. Any comment on comparison of the different products?
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When I spoke to Dell recently (India) they told me it was impossible to send out XP Pro/Home or any back up discs. So did you all speak to technical support or customer services as I'm not clear on that?
And they definitely sent the discs after purchase, not at time of purchase?
cheers, happy Easter
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Went via the techy folks at support. Originally went via sales, eventually got through to support.
Direct number I was given by support was:
0870 90 80 800
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Me too, although I spoke to Ireland.
Good luck
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i just called dell on the # Chuffy has listed, got through to Ireland. Was advised that 3 to 4 disks will be sent incl, OS, Drivers, DVD software and something else ... forgot what he said! He also said it should be here tomorrow or Friday at the latest!
Now, how do I format the whole HDD without a floppy disk!!! Cos if I understand correctly, a floppy drive has an inbuilt driver and is recognised straight away, does the same apply for the DVD drive on this? Seeing as you have to install the driver for it?
Anyone up to doing a 'dummies guide to reformating your HDD' for me
Thanks in advance all!