Re: Dell 3000 series PC restore problem
24 Dec 2008 10:16PM
If you purchased the computer after July, 2004, there is a good chance you have PC Restore. There are a number of things that can disable it, but you may be able to get it working with some work.
First, the CTRL_F11 combination only works during the first part of the boot process. For Windows XP you should see a Dell screen with a white POST progress bar in the lower part of the screen for about the first three to five seconds, followed by a blue bar at the top of the screen, and if you look quickly, you may see the phrase "Loading Descriptor for PBR-2...Done" just before Windows begins to load. You need to press CTRL_F11 as the white POST progress bar is reaching the right end and release both keys at the same time before you see the notification about loading the descriptor for PBR-2. Some folks used to tell me that you could only do this once and then you would need to restart to try again, but I've also been told you can press this combination more than once to make certain the PC Restore screen pops up. The key thing is that both CTRL and F11 must be released simultaneously; it's ok if you don't get both pressed at the same time.
If that doesn't work out for you, the only thing left is to use a Windows XP installation CD to perform the installation manually.
Dimension 2400, 2.2 GHz, 640 MB, eVGA nVidia FX5200 128 MB
Inspiron 5160, 2.8 GHz, 512 MB, FX5200 Go 64 MB