Restoring Packard Bell netbook to factory settings

[Dawn Lane]

Good morning al

Hoping someone may be able to help. I have PB netbook that I want to reset to factory settings. \unfortunately the Recovery Management system appears corrupt - I should be able to select the option to restore to factory settings but I get the error 'hard drive not configured to factory default.'

The netbook didn't have a recovery cd (because of the onboard seetings) and it also doesn't come with an internal CD-rom. My external CD-rom isn't playing CDs!

I have searched on internet and the options I am getting (alt+F10) don't work.

I have emailed PB customer support, but who knows when they will get back to me.

Does anyone have any ideas or able to help at a reasonable cost?

Dawn

 

[Posilan]

Hi Dawn,

What operating system did it have?

Steve

 

[Dawn Lane]

Windows 7 64bit

 

[Posilan]

The easiest way would be to use a USB pen drive then (needs to be at least 4GB) and borrow a friends OEM CD.

There are some detailed instructions here:

http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-install-windows-7vista-from-usb-drive-detailed-100-working-guide/

Steve

 

[Dawn Lane]

Thanks - I do have a windows 7 disc which I am copying to usb at present (through CD attached to MAC) and will try that. Would have been good to get back all that was on they hard drive (Packard Bell stuff) when I first took it out of the box but think the only way I'll be able to do that is by returning it to PB and goodness knows how I can get hold of them, and how much will cost. Will try your suggestion first. Dawn

 

[Graemem]

I think HP usually put in a recovery partition on Laptops, not sure about netbooks. If there is one you should be able to boot it from the boot menu (If i remember correctly). Though the one on my laptop was useless.

 

[NetwiseHosting]

Hi Dawn,

I haven't dabbled with Windows 7 for a while but you once you have the operating system install files on your USB stick, during the re-install process you should have the option to repair the current installed version which would mean you would keep all your files etc. I hope that makes sense and I am sure others could expand on this in more detail where needed.
All the best,

Matthew