[Richyb0y5225]

ok basically wat i want to do is to restore my computer back to the way it was when it was first bought nothing on the hardrive completly clean i ahve all the disks to install all the stuff i jsut dont hav e a system start up disk so plz help me

[Elvandil]

Make/model/OS?

Do you have a recovery partition? If not, there is no way to reinstall unless you go buy Windows.

[Richyb0y5225]

the computer is a dell dimesnsion 4100 and i have no idea if it has a partition

[Richyb0y5225]

wat would u do if it had a partition

[pedroguy]

Try going to My Computer.
If you have 2 local disks shown,very probably the one with the smallest amount of storage used will be your recovery partition.

[pedroguy]

And knowing that,follow the instructions in your user's manual to do a restore.

[Richyb0y5225]

ok thx but i only have 1 local disk shown and i cant find my owners manual does dell ahve htem on their site/

[pedroguy]

Probably.Log onto dell,go to tech support for your model.If available,it would probably be in the download section,or specific section for manuals.

[pedroguy]

I have just been hacking around the Dell site.I cannot find a user's manual.I have found Google references to a lot of folks who seem to have had the same problem.No manual.Could not find a clear resolution to that.
Sorry.

[DoubleHelix]

I think that model pre-dates the existence of the recovery partition. Without the disks, you're out of luck.

[Richyb0y5225]

well thx alo tfor the help guys ill probably jsut look into buying a new computer or unless dell can shipme the cds i need

[Richyb0y5225]

one quick question tho what cds do i ened exactly to acheive my goal?

[DoubleHelix]

You need the restore disks. They would have the operating system and any software you purchased with or was included with the purchase of the system.

[DavisMcCarn]

With a Dell, it is simply a matter of booting the Windows CD, telling it to install windows on the existing partition, and when it asks you, tell it to format the partition. After Windows is installed, insert the Drivers and Utilities CD which will guide you through installing those.
If you want them, you can also use the Applications CD to restore the programs that came with the unit; but, you don't have to...

If you go to http://support.dell.com , click on Technical Support, and type in your Service Tag number, everything IS available; service manual, reinstall manual, users manual, downloads, etcetera.

[Richyb0y5225]

wait so if i install windows it will clean out my hardrive