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    Access the 1520's restore partition

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Player13, Jul 31, 2007.

  1. Player13

    Player13 Notebook Geek

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    Does anyone here know how to boot from the restore partition on the 1520?

    The DVD that came with the laptop only has Vista. It doesn't restore the computer to the state it was in when you took it out of the box.

    Figures, I've had the thing for less than 24 hours and already want to put it back to factory defaults.

    Thanks!
     
    Player13, Jul 31, 2007
    #1
  2. biohzrd

    biohzrd Notebook Enthusiast

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    Did you ever end up figuring out how to do this? I am attempting to return my 1420 to factory defaults before I return it. Anyone?
     
    biohzrd, Sep 5, 2007
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  3. chelet

    chelet Notebook Deity

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    Google found this
     
    chelet, Sep 5, 2007
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  4. biohzrd

    biohzrd Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yeah I have tried that, and even re-attempted it a few more times.
    at the BIOS menu (only place the Dell logo appears), I pressed and held <CTRL>+<F11> (CTRL+F11) throughout the whole BIOS screen...just booted into windows.

    I tried just pressing it for a second and letting go...booted windows
    I tried pressing it and letting go a few times during the BIOS...booted windows

    Even tried <Fn>+<F11> (Fn+F11)and that did not work.

    Has anyone done this or can try it out for me on their 1420/1520/1720 (and just cancel it if it DOES pop-up)?

    Thanks!
     
    biohzrd, Sep 5, 2007
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  5. chelet

    chelet Notebook Deity

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    This link says to use Control-F11 at the splash screen instead.
    If you can't get that to work either, here's a link for how to restore using the Vista DVD.
     
    chelet, Sep 5, 2007
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  6. biohzrd

    biohzrd Notebook Enthusiast

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    OK, for others' future info this is how you get the Recovery Partition and PCRestore in a Dell laptop/desktop to work:

    On bootup, during the Dell BIOS start tapping F8. Tap it until it boots into a black screen with white letters and select Restore or something similar. There will be another screen, select the text all the way on the bottom saying something about full system restore. This will take you into a windows environment, where the bottom option is to return to Dell Factory Defaults. It takes about 10 minutes to reformat your C drive and reinstall everything from the image on D back onto C.

    Hope this helps someone!

    P.S. CTRL+F11 does NOTHING, nor does Fn+F11
     
    biohzrd, Sep 5, 2007
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  7. skree358

    skree358 Notebook Consultant

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    Ctrl+F11 is only for systems with XP. For Vista, you have to press F8 only.
     
    skree358, Sep 5, 2007
    #7