Laptop Factory-State/Reformat Tips

[thefultonhow]

If your laptop gets really messed up and you would like to start from scratch, each manufacturer has a different procedure for reverting to the fresh-from-the-factory state or doing a clean install. The following list is not complete, but is as accurate as I can make it from my personal experience.

Dell -- Older Dells came with CDs for the OEM version of Windows, drivers, and some of the installed applications. Starting in mid-2004, Dell has been shipping their laptops with a utility called Dell PC Restore by Symantec. This utility is on a partition on the hard drive and can be triggered by pressing Ctrl+F11 at the Dell BIOS startup screen for XP laptops, and by pressing F8 after the BIOS screen (like you would to get into Safe Mode) and choosing the system recovery option on Vista machines.

Toshiba -- Older Toshiba laptops came with a restore DVD with the original factory configuration on it. Newer ones come with a recovery partition that can be triggered by pressing and holding the 0 (zero) key as soon as you press the power button, and the releasing it when you see the Toshiba logo.

HP/Compaq -- Older laptops from these manufacturers shipped both the original factory image on a four-CD set and an XP OEM reinstall CD. However, I have found the restore CDs to be buggy, and in my experience they often don't work (they often freeze at the same point each time). Newer ones use a recovery partition that can be triggered using F10 or F11, depending on the model.

IBM/Lenovo -- All of their recent laptops can be restored by pressing the blue Access IBM or ThinkVantage button at the top of the keyboard at the IBM BIOS boot screen. This will launch you into a multipurpose utility; you'll have to choose the restore option. This is a lengthy (2-3 hour) process; leave plenty of time for it. The recovery utility is on the hard drive; you can receive backup CDs for free if you request them within the first thirty days or if your hard drive dies while under the IBM warranty, or you can burn discs yourself using a utility. AFAIK, here's no way to get a regular Windows CD from them.

Sony -- Sony is another manufacturer that puts a restore utility on a hard drive partition. You can access it by pressing F10. Sony's recovery CDs (if you accidentally erase the recovery partition) are very expensive (although you can burn a backup yourself), and doing a clean install is often not an option becuase they don't provide drivers for all their proprietary hardware.

Gateway/eMachines -- Newer Gateways (and I would assume eMachines too) include a recovery partition/utility that is triggered by pressing F11. You can make a backup of it. I have seen their driver support to be somewhat spotty, although not as bad as Sony's.

Acer -- They have a utility called eRecovery that you can use to restore the system. It can be triggered from within Windows or by pressing Alt+F10. They provide a Windows utility to burn CDs.

Averatec -- They provide restore CDs, but I'm not sure of their nature.

Micron -- I've never seen the restore process on these laptops, and I couldn't find much information on their site, so I don't know what it entails.

If anybody has any further information, feel free to add it.

[Statica]

Good post. Stickying.

Please note; this is a thread to post tips on the subject. If you have an issue or need further details please start a new thread.

[thefultonhow]

Incidentally, some of this info applies to desktop systems as well. For example, Dell and IBM use the same techniques for restoring to the factory state on their desktops as they do on their laptops.

[Jaggannath]

Nice thread and nice thought TFH.... will be very useful

[glc]

The earlier Dells with PC Restore also have a utility to burn your own restore CD, but they have even discontinued that now. Spend the 10 bucks when you buy the laptop.

Whatever laptop (or desktop, for that matter) you get, if it doesn't ship with media, before you make any changes to the factory configuration, read all documentation and see if it has a utility to burn your own - and if it does, do it IMMEDIATELY. If you inadvertantly (or on purpose) blow away or lock out the recovery partition or crash the whole hard drive and you don't have media, you are up the creek without a paddle and at the mercy of the manufacturer.

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by thefultonhow Averatec -- They provide restore CDs, but I'm not sure of their nature. I'm also not sure hether they include an OEM Windows CD.

These do not come with a Windows installation CD but rely on recovery disks, I recently supplied one and when I get back to PR I will try and get some details on carrying out a recovery and post them here.



good thread Fulton.

[Marke522]

If you have an OEM XP disc that was used for your desktop, could you just use that for the notebook, being sure to use the notebook key? Are keys smart enough to know that the key entered does not belong to that disc?

That would give you a clean install, with no preloaded software, and you could also format the partition, giving you more space. I imagine it would most likely void a warrenty if you remove the restore partition, but if the notebook warrenty is expired, then why not?

I don't own a notebook, and I don't know anything about them, but I have a friend who's getting one soon, and this information is very helpful.

Thanks.

[thefultonhow]

You should be able to do that. Some OEMs have special copies of the OS that are keyed to their computers, but I'm not sure how that would affect using a straight OEM disc. The worst that might happen is you might have to call MS to get it activated.

[Marke522]

Yeah, I mean a straight OEM disc, like one purchased from Newegg for the purpose of a new build.

Thanks for the reply.

[glc]

I just set up a new Thinkpad for a customer and there is a utility to burn your own set of recovery CD's - it uses 6 or 7 CD's and takes a while to do it.

[Marke522]

Cool, thanks for the post. My friend still hasn't made his purchase yet.

BTW, love the new sig.

[NastyNative]

how important is it to reset a labtop to factury default, can u just simply install the OS

[thefultonhow]

Yes, you can. In some cases you don't get a CD though, and in all cases you will have to download and install drivers. Manufacturers vary in quality of driver support -- Sony is awful, but others are somewhat better. Also, you will lose stuff like your DVD burning program a lot of the time.

[rcvalencia09]

Just to update Dell is starting to ship CDs with its systems again. By the way you do not need to pay for the Restore CDs. If you do not have the Restore CDs. This is what you're going to do.

1. Call Dell Tech Support.
2. Explain to them that you want to reinstall OS manually and delete preloaded apps; They will verify what CDs you receive together with the System. They will be sending the following if missing. OS CD(XP/Vista only), Drivers CD(if system is still shipping in dell.com), Optical Drive Media(Sonic,Cyberlink,Roxio), Expansion Card Drivers CD(Desktop only).
3. Just ask them nicely and they will be giving it.

Believe me I work for Dell Tech Support and this is the process.

Note: They might also ask you to ran a Diagnostics for your HDD just to make sure its fine. It will be better to ran Diags before calling them.

IMPORTANT: DELL IMAGE RESTORE (VISTA)
For Dell System that came with Vista. This is how it works:
1. Keep tapping F8 on Boot to access the Windows Advanced Boot Menu
2. Look for the option that says 'Repair Your Computer' and hit Enter
3. Follow the prompts then click on Dell Factory Image Restore then follow the prompts again.

If you do not see the option Repair Your Computer, the MBR might be corrupted or you've deleted the partition.

You can try this:
http://support.dell.com/support/topi...C1F&l=en&s=gen

[Kuch]

Doing a clean install on a Sony Vaio is an option nowadays. Drivers for each model of Vaio are on their support site for download. You can also get all the Sony software packages too if you wish.

[thefultonhow]

Somebody needs to verify this -- back when I had my Sony, there were drivers and apps available on the download page, but not all of them were there. I needed to get a lot of them off the recovery CDs, which were $63.

[whazzzdat]

I don't like restore partitions because hard drives fail and the restore partitions eat up hard drive space.

Here http://recovery-cds.com is a website that sells complied recovery disks for most computers.
Only 1 disk needed per computer model. Cost is $22.95 including shipping in the US.

Or here http://recovery-cdisk.com you can download recovery disks for most computers for a price.

[glc]

Hard drives are so cheap these days, I'm not at all worried about the 5gb or so a recovery partition takes up. You could image that to a DVD with Acronis if you had to.

[rjfvillarosa]

I set-up a new Sony Vaio laptop that I supplied to a customer yesterday, as the machine didn't come with disks and knowing the customer like I do, I decided to make the recovery disks for him.
The process was simple and straight forward. The full recovery set comprises of three DVD's and took a little over an hour to complete using the 'verify disks' option.

[thefultonhow]

Updated the first post with new procedures. Dell, HP/Compaq, and Toshiba had all changed their processes in the past 3 years.

[Marke522]

I had an HP awhile back and made some restore DVD's, tried to use them with no luck. Ended up using the OEM XP disc. Lost all the free bundled software, but most of it was going to be removed anyway.

Might have actually made the job easier.

[sgtspector]

I've been pressing the ctrl and f11 combo fro an hour already and no luck. My wife's laptop (Dell E1705) came with an os disk. Is it possible there is no recovery partition on the hdd? Maybe another key combo?

Never mind. I found another post that described hitting the keys too soon. That was my problem.