Re: Unable to restore from recovery partition

On Sep 13, 10:43 am, Ben Myers <ben_myers_spam_me_...@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

...

I get a nice warm cuddly feeling from a Dell "Reinstallation CD", which is
nothing more than a standard everyday Microsoft Windows install CD except for a
file or two that identifies it as a Dell.  Anyone and everyone should spend a
few extra bucks to buy the Reinstallation CD, either when placing an on-line
order or after buying a Dell in one of the many mass market outlets.
...

I have one of those for Windows XP Home.

The instructions in the manual say to insert the CD and reboot.

The PC (an old DELL Inspiron 2650) does not boot from the CD.
But if I boot in safemode, I can explore the CD. If I try to
install however, I get a pop up that tells me to insert the CD
and reboot. Deja Vue all over again.

I tried coying the reinstallation CD to a USB flash drive and
then tried installing it from there. I got a message saying that
the current OS is more recent than the reinstallation CD an
it refused to install. I uninstalled SP2 and tried again, same
message. I tried to uninstall SP1 and the uninstall failed, now
I can only boot in safemode.

I used F2 to try to change the boot device sequence, but when
scrolling, the menu skips over the CD-ROM and will not let me
designate it as a boot device.

I read that I could download XP setup floppies, then boot off
the floppy drive, enter repair console and then designate the
CD-Rom as a boot device.

I have successfully booted from the floppies, but do not understand
HOW to use the repair console to edit the boot device sequence.

It looks like the set command might do it, but I am locked out of the
set command unless something else (a snap in???) is installed.

Maybe bootcfg would do it, but I haven't found the proper syntax.

A hardware solution was also suggested-removing the battery from
the motherboard to reset the bios to default. I almost got the case
open, but something near where the wifi would plug in seems to
be caught and I don't think I can get to the motherboard without
breaking something.

So, am I almost there? What do I do next?

The laptop was a gift from a friend, I have all of the original
paperwork etc.

I suppose that locking the boot device sequence to disallow
the removable media devices is some sort of security measure.
That is particularly annoying as the previous owner/user had
never even set passwords.

If I finally give up on trying to restore XP home, I may install
Win 2kPro, there is nothing on the hard drive that I actually
want or need and I downloaded and erased all of my friend's
data.

--

FF
.

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