Not able to do factory image restore on dell Inspiron 1525

[Ya-This-@ne]

I have been using dell Inspiron 1525 but then now the Windows Vista Home Edition has crashed after installing a windows update, so now I am willing to try out using the Dell factory image but then when I am hitting F8 while booting then I am not able to find out any "Restore Dell factory image" entry, I have not came across any instance of the same. I have tried using dvd that I had got with the laptop but then while window is loading and soon as it reaches the progress bar it again crashed with a bsod, I don’t know what to do is there anything I can try out??

[O!ma]

I have been using dell Inspiron 1525 but then now the Windows Vista Home Edition has crashed after installing a windows update, so now I am willing to try out using the Dell factory image but then when I am hitting F8 while booting then I am not able to find out any "Restore Dell factory image" entry, I have not came across any instance of the same. I have tried using dvd that I had got with the laptop but then while window is loading and soon as it reaches the progress bar it again crashed with a bsod, I don’t know what to do is there anything I can try out??

As far as I am aware when we press F8 then we get a menu to choose an option that reads "Repair your Computer" and we just have to follow the same menu for restoring the system. It helps in formatting operating system rather than restoring the factory image, this basically means that the data on the partition will be deleted and after that it won’t get recovered but then if you will make a second partition using some other utility then the Dell Factory Image Restore won’t get affected until you do not remove the image partition.

[Ya-This-@ne]

Hey thanks for your interest but then I just wanted to share that I have tried that out and it did not helped, I have checked it out and No entry of F8 menu as well as the "Repair your computer" menu is leading me towards restore factory image feature, I have found that the this feature has been enabled only in specific countries, so I doubt that I am having the same case but then I am not that sure about it. Have you heard of the same or has an idea about it??

[Vishwa12]

In that case you can just try out the below solution and see if it is helping:

• First make sure that you are disconnecting modem or network cable from the computer and then turn it on and When you come across the Dell splash screen then press <Ctrl> + <F11> at the same time and release in the same way.
• When you get a “Symantec| Dell Recovery Environment End User License Agreement “ then Click on and after that you will get bellow two option

1> Recover My Computer option-This is for restoring your computer to a specific backup point .so when you will click on the same you will get a “Select Recovery Point window” after that you will have to select a recovery point when things were working fine and then click on Recover My Computer. Once you are done with the same you will just have to follow the coming instruction for completing the recovery process.
2>Recover My Computer to Original Dell Configuration – This is for Restoring your computer to the original Dell configuration. So when you will “Click on Recover My Computer to Original Dell Configuration” The Recovery Wizard window will come up an you just have to Click on Yes and then <Enter>
After that you will get a Ghost32 window and the restoring process will begin as well, it can take up to 10 minutes to complete. so when the process end then reboot the machine and then things should be ok

[Ya-This-@ne]

I have tried doing that but then I am not getting the screen after I am pressing <Ctrl> + <F11> at the same time and release in the same way, I am quite sure that I have performed the trick well but the it is just not working out for me, I am really running out of ideas now and I don’t know what to do, is there any other workaround that I can try out to get access to the factory image recovery feature?? Any frther help regarding this will be highly appreciated.

[Cheeen-Hal]

I am having the same issue with “Dell XPS M1730” below is the specification of the same:
If anyone finds out any other solution for accessing factory image recovery feature then please share it here, it will be very helpful, thanks in advance.

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9300 @ 2.50GHz
• 4GB (2x 2GB) Patriot Signature PC2-5400 @ 667MHz
• DUAL 512MB Nvidia 8800M GTX cards in SLi + 128MB Ageia PhysX
• 640GB SATA II
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64bit)

[KKiran]

I have checked out for the same and I don’t think that the above solution will work as the Inspiron 1525 comes with Windows Vista preinstalled, this is what I mean to say.

• Windows XP- Ctrl + F11 is used for booting to DSR factory image
• Windows Vista- F8 is used for booting to ImageX format factory image

So if in your case if the ImageX format factory image is not available then there are chances that you might have bought it via an Express Upgrade promotion and so.

[Ya-This-@ne]

Now I have tried using Ubuntu live cd and I am able to see the partition having D>:\dell\image\factory.wim as well as a Tools folder where there is a pcrestore.exe files and imagex.exe but then I don’t know why it is not coming up when I am pressing f8, I have tried using a bootable usb pen drive as well by making it a bootable dos version and when I booted in to the system and added ntfspro.exe into that usb for reading ntfs partition and when I ran “PCRestore.exe” command by going in to D:\Tools then I got an error message saying program cannot be run in dos mode. I am really feeling helpless now, is there any effective solution that I can try out??