Does anyone know bravejordy on theanswerbank

[doddsredoubt]

bravejordy this is doddsredoubt who has the same Dell Dimension Desktop as you,could you tell me howw you got your desktop computer to work again with your discs.
I sent Dell a letter waited a week nothing,sent a recorded delivery letter waited a week nothing,sent two emails nothing,eventually went via web site to India where a lovely Indian gentleman went through my hard drive which was fine cost£29,two new discs £31-80.
I can't seem to make these CD's work for me.

Thankyou for any help.

[bravejordy]

Hi, I'm sorry to hear that you got no joy from writing to Dell and that you ended up having to fork out £60+ for assistance and a couple of discs. It's a pity you couldn't let me know first. What CDs did the Indian guy send you? Was one of them the Windows XP Operating System? When I installed the Windows XP OS disc on mine, the easy-to-follow onscreen instructions were self-explanatory and my computer was up and running again in no time. As long as you got the Windows XP disc I can't understand why you're having a problem. If you like, I can always contact the Ab Editor to see if he'll forward my email address to you so that we'll be able to correspond privately and I'll send you those spare set of discs that Dell sent me. Like I said, you're more than welcome to them. :)

[doddsredoubt]

It's a red disc(operating system) ReinstallationDVD Windows XP Media Centre Version 2005 with update Rollup 2.
Drivers and Utilities DVD for Installing Dimension Computer Software.
Thanks for coming back so quick.

[ChuckFickens]

Have set the computer to boot up from the CD drive?

IF you have it should be a simple case of putting the CD in the drive, switching the computer off and then on again, then following the instructions.

[bravejordy]

The discs I got are all blue so I'm wondering if they sent you the correct ones. Bear with me while I dig them out and I'll post full details in the next half hour. :)

[doddsredoubt]

Thanks ChuckFickens,will try tomorrow,will also wait for bravejordy comments as well.

Thanks once again much appreciated.

[doddsredoubt]

bravejordy,going to bed now will put computer on tomorrow morning for your reply.

Thanks once again for your help much appreciated.

[bravejordy]

The CDs I got are as follows:-

1. Reinstallation CD Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2

2. Dell Dimension 3100/E310 ResourceCD

3. CD for Reinstalling Sonic MyDVD 5.3 Deluxe and RecordNow 7.1 Deluxe Software

4. CD for Reinstalling CyberLink PowerDVD software


Hope this helps :)

[doddsredoubt]

Thankyou bravejordy,as ChuckFickens states did you have to reboot,then put disc in Computer.
I have been on my computer since 2001,when my first desktop was a IBM,my wife used to work for them a long time ago so I got a little bit of discount.
I am still learning how to do things on the computer,but when things go wrong I am stuck.

Thankyou for your help much appreciated.

[bravejordy]

Hi, yes, Chuck is spot on in his instructions.

Here's a couple more things which may help you.


Windows XP Home Edition:-





To be honest, I'm not too familiar with Windows XP Media Centre but I copied the following from another website:-


Windows XP Media Centre:-

First what you want to do is set your bios to boot from CD first. Or sometimes depending if you got the PC from Dell or HP, etc. When you start the computer look at the options they give you, for example Dell will say on the top right corner to press F2 for set up, or F12 or F11 to enter boot menu.

If that's the case then you don't have to set the bios up, just go into that option and select cd rom or dvd drive. If not, then you will have to make sure the bios is set up to boot from cd first.

When that is done, start the computer with the cd in it and it will tell you to press a key to boot from cd, just hit enter and it will start to boot from the cd and you will see the windows installation. Follow the instructions they give.

It will get to a point where you have an option to delete the partition, make sure you do and format the hard drive for a fresh clean install.

Just let it do its thing just keep an eye on it. Once it copies the install files, it will reboot, take the cd out and just let it continue to boot up. You should be at the windows setup where you will need to enter some information. Once that's done just do all the updates and install an anti-virus if you have one BEFORE you do anything else.

================================


Please keep us posted how things go.

[doddsredoubt]

Thankyou bravejordy,I have to go out now,but I will attempt to do this tonight fingers crossed?????
I miss my desktop as I have more on the hard drive than the laptop.

Thankyou for your help much appreciated.

[bravejordy]

Just a word of caution: If you want to save the stuff that's already on your hard drive, following these steps to reinstall Windows XP may completely wipe your hard drive, meaning you'll lose all your data. When I had reason to reinstall Windows it was because my hard drive had failed and I'd lost my data anyway. I bought a replacement hard drive and reinstalled Windows on the new drive. Fortunately I'd had the good sense to regularly back-up my personal files to data CDs but it was still a long process to get my computer back to the way it used to be.

That said, I'm pretty sure there is a way to reinstall Windows and save the stuff on your hard drive but you'd need someone with a bit more knowledge to tell you how to do it.

Either way, good luck :)

[doddsredoubt]

bravejordy,thankyou I have a friend who's son lives a couple of doors away from me,and he said he would help me if I had the Dell Discs to start it off,so I will tell him what you said,but the Dell man said my hard drive was OK he checked that for me.
It is just a software problem according to Dell.

Thankyou for your help again much appreciated.