Want to do a full factory restore from the image on the restore partition of my company Dell XPS M1330 which came with Vista installed from factory . None of the <Ctrl> F8 or <ctrl>F11, or F11 or F8 combinations seem to provide the option to carry out a factory image restore. I am experiencing a HD problem as many times the Blue screen dump happens before the laptop is able to start. I had at one time upgraded it to Windows 7, but now want to return the laptop back to the company pool with the original factory settings. Will this also correct any bad sector on HD that may be causing the dump on start-up Thanks Aamer

Just insert the Windows setup disk, or goto the restore partition. Whan the operating system says I already see a windows installed, shall I repair that, answer no and say install new operating system. After that you have to install several )(if not many) updates, but the machine will be clean.
When you read something like you have a rootlet or something like that, try to use Fdisk and clear all partitions. Be careful it could be you have a restore partition you need to reinstall everything, so try to save that partition first before using Fdisk. Any way, if you are not familiar with Admin work you should not use Fdisk at all.

Hey Pam,

The factory image on the 1545 is accessed by starting the computer and press the F8 key. Choose the option that reads Repair Your Computer and follow the prompts. If this does not work you will need to manually reinstall Windows. Below is a link that will provide information on manually installing Windows.

How to Restore or Reinstall Windows on your Dell Computer
http://dell.to/Yq0yzy
Dell Factory Image Restore The Dell Factory Image Restore tool replaces PC Restore. Access it from the F8 boot menu.
This utility formats the operating system hard drive partition prior to restoring the factory image. This means data on that partition is deleted and cannot be recovered.
If the customer creates a second partition with a third-party utility, Dell Factory Image Restore is not affected as long as the image partition is not removed.

If you need any further assistance you can email me from my email address listed below.

Thank You,
Dell-Jesse L
Dell Social Media and Communities
email [email protected]

try cntrl + F11 at start up

WHAT CAN CAUSE PC RESTORE TO FAIL?
If the hidden DSR (Dell System Restore) partition is removed

If the MBR (Master Boot Record) is modified in any way (such as if you load the Vista Upgrade over XP)

If you change the MBR but the pointers to the DSR partition are left, the DSR will boot, detect that the MBR has changes, and flash a screen that informs you that the MBR has changed and that image restore will not run

If you create additional partitions, changing the MBR, Dell PC Restore will be disabled to prevent it from overwriting these partitions that may contain critical data during a restore operation

If you add a second SATA drive and migrate to a RAID array using the Intel applications accelerator in windows, running PC Restore will put the image back on C:\, but the system will not boot since the boot sector is looking for the ATA driver (factory image) and the bios is looking for the RAID driver (migrated configuration)

If any of these occur, you cannot set the system back to Factory condition. You must manually load the operating system, drivers, and all application software.

Try resetting BIOS defaults, it is amazing what that can fix

http://findtechhelp12.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-to-reinstall-os-in-dell-computer.html

Use the link that has all the steps that will fix the issue easily

If you have the Dell recovery CD then you can boot up with this CD and re-install Windows. This will restore the Dell back to the factory default.
If you do not have this CD then you can order on from Dell.

Please restart the laptop and hit the following key during the dell screen boot up phase depending on the os that is installed on your laptop. For vista systems it is F8. XP systems Ctrl-F11 to run the pc restore.

*Note this solution will only work if you have not removed your original restore partition by installing another os over it.

Let me know if you need any further help.

Try either F8 or F11 keys
or CTRL and F11 together at start up

if you bought this from dell, use the restore disks that came with it starting with disk one. you wont be able to save your files bt at least you will have a usable computer. i have an XPS studio 16 and had to do the same thing.

Reboot? You mean restart? Click Start, click the arrow beside the Lock button and choose Restart. It's the same.

If you mean System Recovery (wiping out everything but the OS and making the PC new), then there must be a software like Recovery Manager. Search Start Menu.

As it is a Dell, you must have a recovery partition on the drive. It will be just as new.

Or use the set of CDs that you created when it was new, or one which you got with the PC. If you didn't get and you didn't even make it, ask Dell to send a set for your model.

If nothing works, then use a Vista installation disk that you can buy in a retail store. Note that you won't get the pre-installed software that you got from Dell when you removed the PC from the box.