Does anyone have or know where I can find the Dell System Restore Disk? I already tried the dell site, and unfortunately they don't have that for download...Note: This is only the disk to do the partitions for the Windows installation, not the windows installation software itself.

Thanks.

I still haven't found a restore / recovery disk yet for the Dell Dimension 4500 series...I am not even sure if I need the restore disk or not but I think so because no matter what boot disk I try using a usb thumb drive, I cannot get the computer to boot from the usb (I set the bios to boot from them first too). and I know the usb boot disk that I am trying do work, because I have tested it on other machines. So what gives? Do I need the dell restore disk? Btw, the system had windows xp home and I get the blue screen, and then a quick reboot before the desktop is displayed.

Thanks in advance for your help!

-Brian

Ok, Here's the situation that I am in now...

This Dell Dimension pc has crashed, as above, and I have tried a couple of different ways to remedy the crash, by doing the following:

1. Booting from an xp installation disk (not the original cd) and that cd, when booting did NOT even read the disk, just went directly to boot to the hard drive, and it only crashes and reboots. I have triple checked in the bios to make sure that it was booting from the cd as first boot device.

2. I tried replacing the data cable on the cd thinking that might be the cause, but no, that didn't work either. The CD Drive does show in the bios. So I know it's not the hardware.

Note: I've tried numerous usb attempts...Booting windows xp, booting to Gparted (to try and clean the system) but no dice at all. Believe it or not, the only dice I was able to get, was using a 1.44 floppy disk with the only bootable media I have which is windows NT 3. I can't install from that disk because it asks for the cd eventually, and it can be read. does anyone know of a way to partition the boot drive using a usb drive that is a SURE FIRE way to Success in this situation? I know the Gparted and Windows on usb work in my netbook, and laptop, I don't know why it doesn't work in the Dell Dimension 4500.. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Thanks again!
Sorry for the long message.

Is your machine actually able to boot from USB?

Have you tried calling Dell to see if they'll supply you with one?

Originally Posted by Mime

Is your machine actually able to boot from USB?

This machine is not mine, I am working on it for someone so I am not quite sure if it's usb bootable other than that the bios DOES show my usb device as a hard drive, and I can select it as the first drive, normally how it would boot. Come to think of it, I wonder if the USB Legacy option will make it work? Going to try that now, I'll be back...

Have you tried calling Dell to see if they'll supply you with one?

Since it's not mine, I don't want to make an issue out of it...If it comes to having to call dell, I will just tell the owner to do it.

Fair enough.

Sorry, I don't have anything better to suggest u_u.

Keep us updated.

Why not simply download a ISO image for the OS and use the product key.

Originally Posted by chrishirst

Why not simply download a ISO image for the OS and use the product key.

Here's the deal, I've got a couple of windows xp bootable cd's that do NOT work in the DELL computer, but they do work in my netbook, and laptop. So I think it's a dell recovery cd that I need to re-partition the hard drive.

PS: I can only boot from the floppy 3.5" disk...I have tried with an old Windows NT 3.0 floppy, but when the setup needs the cd, it doesn't read it...Doesn't even, recognize the cd.

Bios detects the hdd (C: DRIVE) and the cd and dvd drives.

What's the solution to installing windows xp like it once had?

Thanks in advance!
-Brian

Windows XP boot CDs do not need CD drivers IF the drive you are trying to set up from is a DVD you will have problems.

IF you are using SATA drives you will need XP SP3 install discs.

Everything you need for partitioning and formatting is on the CDs, the recovery CD is simply for the bundled junk software that comes along.

Originally Posted by chrishirst

Windows XP boot CDs do not need CD drivers IF the drive you are trying to set up from is a DVD you will have problems.

IF you are using SATA drives you will need XP SP3 install discs.

Everything you need for partitioning and formatting is on the CDs, the recovery CD is simply for the bundled junk software that comes along.

IDE Drives...ONLY IDE DRIVES. Shouldn't ide's boot from cd / dvd? It's a dell dimension 4500

Yep XP will boot and install from IDE drives, however I regularly have problems installing XP from IDE DVD drives, it gets part way into the setup then drops out with "Unable to find files".

Running it from a CD, (even a USB one if the hardware will handle it) is not a problem.

Originally Posted by chrishirst

Yep XP will boot and install from IDE drives, however I regularly have problems installing XP from IDE DVD drives, it gets part way into the setup then drops out with "Unable to find files".

Running it from a CD, (even a USB one if the hardware will handle it) is not a problem.

Than I wonder how come I can't boot from either a usb thumb drive -OR- the cd -OR- dvd drive that are installed in the computer...I have even double checked the bootable cd's and usb thumb drives in my laptop and netbook and they both work in my computers...

What do you think I should try? I mean, I am so convinced that I need to use a 3.5" floppy boot disk (dos 6.2) to do fdisk and delete the partition then re-create a fresh install partition to re-install windows...I don't know how the heck I would do that if I only have access to 1 floppy drive that is in the dell computer and NO dos boot disk at my disposal...However, I do have a couple of blank 3.5" disks left, just no way to get dos on them.

Thanks for putting up with this long - Boring - message.
-Brian

Is the BIOS set to boot from CD/DVD or USB drive as first device?


do you get the "Press any key to boot from CD ..." message

Originally Posted by chrishirst

Is the BIOS set to boot from CD/DVD or USB drive as first device?


do you get the "Press any key to boot from CD ..." message

I did change the bios first boot device appropriately to the device I wanted to boot from first, and no I don't get the press any key to boot from cd...message. When I do that with the same cd or usb drive on my laptop or netbook It works like that, but not with the dell dimension pc.

Could be a problem with the drive hardware in that case, I've come across it a few times where the drive functions normally but won't read the CD boot sector.

Here's an update on this issue:

I have tried using one of my old ide cd-rom drives (32x speed) and it booted using the same computer / ide cable / power supply so...After doing some thinking...This is what I was able to jog back into my current thought process...I wanted to see if downloading a dos driver for the cd-rom and dvd rom drives would work...At this point I have one for the cd-rom drive which I haven't yet tried, but going to after this message.

Note: I have booted from a win98 cd in my cd-rom drive, then unplugged that and have plugged in the original nec nr-9100a cd rom drive and the pioneer dvr-105 dvd rw drive...My problem is the system bios is version A03 firmware and I am not too sure which firmware driver I should download for the pioneer dvd as I don't want a bad firmware. Could someone help me find the right firmware for the Pioneer DVR-105 with a system bios of A03?

Thanks and sorry for the long message ;(

Update: NEC CD-ROM Driver results: Cannot run in Dos mode blah I guess there's no way around this issue, unless of course I need a dell dimension 4500 restore disk which the only one I could find was a torrent 4500s and I have put that in and still no cd-rom or dvd rom functionality, only the drive letters appear, and in device manager, there are no problems with any hardware whatsoever...I am really confused!