Here goes:
I wanted to restore my comp back to its original factory settings on my Dell Dimension 8400 Desktop, bought in December 2004. It had Windows XP Home Edition with a bunch of programs preloaded into it when it was ordered. Well after deleting a whole bunch of junk (aka anything that made the comp productive) i realized "oh hey, just where the hell is the Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack?" it's the cd pack i need to do a fresh install and restore the damn thing, and i had just lost it. Nice job.
Instead of just lamenting over that, I tried to do a fresh, clean, install of Windows XP Pro (the upgrade) on my comp from Windows XP Home edition. So I go through the steps and junk in installing it, but the part comes where you need to restart the computer in order to prepare for the windows installation. this is where you boot from the cd or w/e and you're supposed to actually start installing the damn thing. so this menu comes up with the options saying "press enter to continue installation" or "press F3 to quit and reboot" so i press enter, and instantaneously arrives an error telling me that "Setup does not detect any hard disk" and some stuff like that. I've redone the process so many times trying to get past it, i think i've memorized the CD Key for Windows XP.
So I called up Microsoft (big mistake) and told em the story. After waiting 20 minutes on hold, they led me through a buncha junk that really just took me nowhere. This Indian dude told me he'd call up Dell to check it, but i never got a call back about it, and Microsoft Customer Service just blows so screw that.
So instead of waiting, i decided to just do the upgrade and before this i deleted nearly everything on my comp. It's currently useless and i'm trying to do anything I can to restore my comp back to its "factory settings" with all the stuff i ordered that was preloaded with it.
Can someone help me find a way to either restore my comp back to its factory settings or help me make Windows Setup detect my flipping hard disk?
-robby
I wanted to restore my comp back to its original factory settings on my Dell Dimension 8400 Desktop, bought in December 2004. It had Windows XP Home Edition with a bunch of programs preloaded into it when it was ordered. Well after deleting a whole bunch of junk (aka anything that made the comp productive) i realized "oh hey, just where the hell is the Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack?" it's the cd pack i need to do a fresh install and restore the damn thing, and i had just lost it. Nice job.
Instead of just lamenting over that, I tried to do a fresh, clean, install of Windows XP Pro (the upgrade) on my comp from Windows XP Home edition. So I go through the steps and junk in installing it, but the part comes where you need to restart the computer in order to prepare for the windows installation. this is where you boot from the cd or w/e and you're supposed to actually start installing the damn thing. so this menu comes up with the options saying "press enter to continue installation" or "press F3 to quit and reboot" so i press enter, and instantaneously arrives an error telling me that "Setup does not detect any hard disk" and some stuff like that. I've redone the process so many times trying to get past it, i think i've memorized the CD Key for Windows XP.
So I called up Microsoft (big mistake) and told em the story. After waiting 20 minutes on hold, they led me through a buncha junk that really just took me nowhere. This Indian dude told me he'd call up Dell to check it, but i never got a call back about it, and Microsoft Customer Service just blows so screw that.
So instead of waiting, i decided to just do the upgrade and before this i deleted nearly everything on my comp. It's currently useless and i'm trying to do anything I can to restore my comp back to its "factory settings" with all the stuff i ordered that was preloaded with it.
Can someone help me find a way to either restore my comp back to its factory settings or help me make Windows Setup detect my flipping hard disk?
-robby
