Hi ALL ! The disks my computer came with... Dell Installers (seems to be drivers for the graphics card and other stuff) Dark red- Operting System (XP sp1A) Blue- Application- for reinstalling dell tools and system software Should i format the HD then reinstall Windows XP? My goal is to get it back to factory settings. Please help. Thanks
boot off the xp disk, don't do the upgrade but do the custom install. delete all partitions, make new single partition, format that partition then continue the xp installation. https://www.dell.com/support/home/ca/en/cabsdt1/product-support/product/inspiron-1100/drivers
Stop ! Don't format anything. Save any data you need. Install if you can a portable version of driver backup. Run drivers backup save your drivers externally to two different devices.You can then redploy after new version of xp is installed Check to make sure your computer doesn't already have a recovery partition or a partition you can see in computer management that you didn't create,that is most likely your recovery partition.Hp used to be f10 tho it could be f2 or f1 or f11 you'll need to find out. If no partition other than c exists (recovery may not have a device letter) then assume you have none & it's ok to quick format & use the dastardly commie red disc
scorp, "My goal is to get it back to factory settings. " so does not appear need data saved. laptop too old for hidden recovery partition. http://www.notebookreview.com/notebookreview/dell-inspiron-1100-review/
On the homepage of afterdawn is a portable version of driver magician..Any drives you still need after running the drivers disc you have can be deployed from the backup.Drivers you don't need can be un-selected
