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I am trying to install fresh windows. I have no recovery disk with me. I would like to restore the laptop back to its factory settings, I was just wondering how to restore it because it reads "primary hard drive disk failure" when started up. , i have backed up all my data on an external harddrive so its all good.
Check to see if your hard drive is spinning up at boot time. As for the recovery console. you can probably just format your disk drive and install Windows XP again. You can then start searching the Net for appropriate drivers for your system. It's a bit more trouble, but should work. you should be able to press a key combination, F2, or F8, or something like that, which will allow you to format your computer automatically and start afresh.
Ctrl + F11 only works if the restore partition still exists in functioning condition on the hard drive. With this driver recovery system all you need to do is wait until the Laptop can not find the device driver it is looking for and put this CD DVD in. Seeing as most D600s are off-lease machines on their fourth or fifth year by now, I'd say the chances of the aforementioned partition existing, not to mention working, are slim. Once windows has installed you put this disk into the drive as soon as windows gives you a found new hardware dialog box.As HerrKaputt mentioned, you will probably have to re-install XP on your own. If you already have an XP installation, OEM or retail, you can use it to install the OS and activate it using the key on the bottom of the D600. You may have to call Microsoft to get it activated.
The Dell pc shipped from 2005 have a partition whre you can restore(Dell System Restore) to computer to factor default settings. When you first power up the computer,start tapping F12 and it should take you to a boot menu. Select the CD drive and hit enter. Then,watch the screen for "press any key to boot to CD" and hit a key.