# How to reformat Dell Dimension 8400?



## UpskirtHayley

I bought a dell dimension 8400 about 2 and a half years ago.

It does not come with OS disk nor recovery disk. It has this paper-CD aka a paper that is shape like a CD that tells instruction of how to reformat ect... but I lost that paper.

I want to make it as in it's default factory state.... jus like when I first bought it.  

I have disabled the system restore...... will I still be able to make the computer back to its factory state?


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## dznutz

if your recovery partition is still there then you can.

supposedly you press control and f11:

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache...ion&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us&client=firefox-a


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## UpskirtHayley

oh ok.. so pretend I had virus..... and when I  reformat.... will the virus comes back as well? no right? since I disable the system restore already.....


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## porterjw

If the recovery partition contains Windows installation files, then yes. It will format everything (including the virus) and reinstall fresh.

If the recovery partition contains Windows repair files, then no. It will repair Windows to a 'like-new' state, but your old information will still be there. 

This is a separate Dell utility, not a part of Windows, and not linked to Windows System Restore, so whether or not WSR is enabled doesn't matter in this case.


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## footballdude2k3

gotta love that dell customer support


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## addy999

Well yea if your recovery partition is still there then then  virus can come back...


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## porterjw

footballdude2k3 said:


> gotta love that dell customer support



 Is that a shot at the lack of recovery CDs? If so, most pre-built manufacturers do not include them by default anymore, opting instead for the recovery partitions. However, more often than not, if you call and request the CD's be sent to you while your system is still under warranty, they will do so.


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## footballdude2k3

imsati said:


> Is that a shot at the lack of recovery CDs? If so, most pre-built manufacturers do not include them by default anymore, opting instead for the recovery partitions. However, more often than not, if you call and request the CD's be sent to you while your system is still under warranty, they will do so.



it kind of was, i heard that they make you pay for the recovery cd now, thats the part that i was making reference to


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## porterjw

addy999 said:


> Well yea if your recovery partition is still there then then  virus can come back...



That should have been worded a bit differently to avoid possible confusion to the OP. Refer to Post #4 in this Thread.


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## porterjw

footballdude2k3 said:


> it kind of was, i heard that they make you pay for the recovery cd now, thats the part that i was making reference to



If your system is out of warranty, then yes, you will need to pay for it. They are a business, after all.

If your system is in warranty, and you request a copy of Windows, then they will sell you one. Again, they are a business.

However, if you call and tell them you need a Restoration CD tied to your system, they will send gratis. The last time I needed a Dell Driver CD for a Client, I used their Service Tag, went to the Dell Live Chat and told them exactly what I needed. This was 7:00 PM EST. The next day at 2:30 PM EST, I received not only the Driver CD for that Service Tag, but also two CD's of all it's bundled software, as well as the Windows Restoration CD. 17 hour turn-around time for a complete set of software (shipped overnight free of charge)...pretty damn good.


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## memory

All you got to do is call Dell and tell them you need the cd's and they will send to you at no charge.  I know 2 people that done this and they received the cd's the next day.


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## UpskirtHayley

wow I finally did it!

First I hit the F11 on startup but it dont work. I thought no need to press ctrl.... guess it is necessary   for that. So I ctrl F11 and bam! right to the dell recovery window.

I follow the on screen ect.... I was expecting to take about 4 hour or so for it to be done but it only take less than 10min! before the format I was having 80gb HDD and 50% are used.

Why I expect it to be longer is cause 4,5 years ago I reformat my HP celeron 466mhz using the HP recovery disc and it took like 2-4 hours! and its only a 10gb HDD! I guess my dell computer is faster is cause of the speed of the processor? anyway its too good to be true that my dell reformat is amazingly fast! is it normal?

The dell recovery erase everything right? then it restore everything to its original factory state right? jus making sure.... since the reformation took too fast to be true.

luckly no need to call dell. thanks for the help.


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## porterjw

Glad you got it up and running


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## oscaryu1

> Why I expect it to be longer is cause 4,5 years ago I reformat my HP celeron 466mhz using the HP recovery disc and it took like 2-4 hours! and its only a 10gb HDD! I guess my dell computer is faster is cause of the speed of the processor? anyway its too good to be true that my dell reformat is amazingly fast! is it normal?



A reformatting and partitioning of the HDD should be quick. The installation of the O/S should be much slower. Usually more than 30 minutes.


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## mep916

footballdude2k3 said:


> gotta love that dell customer support



I had to create the recovery disks for my Sony Vaio. There's a built-in application on most of these OEM machines that allow you to create the disks. It's no big deal.


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