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The-Funster

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Dell laptop won't recover to factory settings.

I have a Dell lnspiron 1545 laptop that refuses to restore to factory settings after the HDD developed bad sectors. (The errors were repaired during testing and subsequent tests show no faults.)

If I boot from the recovery DVDs I’ve created or initiate the recovery from the Dell Datasafe Backup utility I get an error stating that Winload.exe is missing or corrupt and an error code of 0xc000000d.

If I press f8 during at boot time to access the advanced startup options and select “Repair Your Computer”, it simply loads Windows to the desktop.

 (Not trying to be obstructive here but for those who would advise the ctrl + f11 option, it doesn’t work on later Dell systems as the f8 “Repair Your Computer” option is designed to replace this option.)

If anyone knows of a workaround that doesn’t require the purchase of replacement install media I would be grateful.  

(Quick response needed.)


The Funster.
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Run5k
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It sounds like it might not like your actual discs.  Is it possible to burn that recovery media again at a slower speed?
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nobus
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Tap F12 on boot and run dell diag on hard drive....might be a hard drive issue.



Ded9
It is posable your cd drive is not reading the Backup cds.

If you have access to a external USB cd/dvd drive try booting from that drive and see if it reads any better.
possible the burned recovery cd's are bad, or the drive is dying
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The-Funster

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Thanks for all your suggestions.

I've tried reburning the media on different DVDs and I've tried creating a USB recovery drive but with the same results I'm afraid. I can only assume that as the exact same error occurs, regardless of how I attempt the recovery, that the recovery data itself is corrupt. (I feel that the Datasafe Backup software is less functional than claimed if it can't check the integrity of the original files and perhaps even offer some form of error correction such as .par files.)

The drive comes up clean after several retests so I am going to do a clean install of the OS and forget the recovery media.

Thanks for all your help.

The Funster.
Thanks for your observations nobus. This wasn't the workaround I was looking for but I think it's the most likely cause of the problem.

The Funster.
agreed - sometimes one has to take a "short cut"