Re: Homebuilt Laptop Question

On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 00:40:17 +0000, M C Del Papa thoughtfully wrote:

> Hey everybody!
>
> I just got my first non-homebuilt computer, a laptop from Dell (an
> Inspiron 600m). Needless to say, I got a virus and was maniacal for about
> a day and a half trying to clean it off without a fresh reinstall (I am
> anti-anti-virus). I have run homebuilt desktops exclusively where I
> partitioned down my HDD and imaged the OS. Whenever I got buggy programs
> or a malware, I would format c: and reload the image. WHAM!
>
> So now I am contemplating rebuilding my DELL laptop from scratch. That's
> right, a complete new load of XP and all the drivers. However, I am
> nervous about a couple of things:
>
> 1. DELL has a couple of hidden partitions installed that I desparately
> want to DELETE. A 50 MB front end partition for diagnositics, and a 3.5 GB
> partition on the back end with an image of the factory load. Will deleting
> these partitions confuse the BIOS? I have heard rumours about PC's
> refusing to boot without these partitions present. 2. Are there any other
> pitfalls I need to be aware of?
>

Well if you're using a Dell OEM XP the license is probably on one of those
partitions. I've seen one case where the Windows partition was actually
compressed by the software on the hidden partition. Then there's the
potential that Dell is using proprietary drivers for your hardware that
could make a fresh install more trouble than it's worth. 3.5 gb isn't
that much waste of space, less than a DVD's space.

I think the 3.5gb partition contains the restore data of the original
Dell software including XP, drivers, etc. Check the Dell support
site for the key sequence for starting the restore process and details
about your laptop. Something like hitting Ctrl-F11 on reboot or
something. Then the restore should format the hard drive and restore the
software to what it was when shipped from the factory.

> I have a lot of experience building my own PC including the
software
> loads. However, DELL laptops are new territory!
>
> Thanks!
>
> MC

.

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