I have a 2005 Dell Inspiron laptop. It came with the Windows XP operating system cd and another cd that says Drivers and Utilities, for reinstalling Dell Inspiron and XPS system software, contents: Device drivers & Diagnostics and utilities, part number Y2986. If I ever have to replace my hard drive I already know how to reload the operating system cd, but will this Drivers and Utilities cd reload all the factory drivers for me? Are the drivers already physically on this cd or does it connect me to the Dell web site to get the drivers for me automatically? Or will I still have to go to the Dell support web site and download the drivers one at a time like I did once before on another computer?

I’ve read and printed off several other responses but I cannot get PC to work. what of the following SPECIFIC Dell disks do i need to insert into the disc drive in order to get to the C: prompt (in order for me to type in "chkdsk /p" or whatever prompt I’ll need) OR for the PC to pick up on the inserted disc in order for me to pic "cleanup" or "repair"—>> here are all the disks I have: 1) drivers/utilities (diagnostics and utilities)/online documentation/phone tools/modem on hold 2) Application (ro resinstalling roxio easy cd creator) 3) drivers/utilities (device drivers/diagnostics and utilities/computer documentation 4) application (antivirus, support, multimedia and internet software) 5) operating system (reinstallation CD/microsoft windows XP home edition/service pack 1)
-When trying to read disc #1 from above, on the screen popped up: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows\system32\c\……… over and over again with different endings.
-recently replaced HD
update after using luck disc #5: it said something like "okay, now you can press ‘r’ at the blank screen and start the repair" well, lucky me, i tried this and got THIS error message: "a disk read error occurred; press ctrl+alt+del to restart" when I do this, the screen turns blank for a second or two and then – in a brief flash – reads "NT detect failed" — i look over at the PC now and it’s just cycling in between the dell boot up logo, a blank screen for a few seconds, the "NT detect failed" message, then the dell logo/start-up thing….. it won’t stop cycling.

Last question: do computers simply hate my guts?

i have a computer that is pretty virus-ridden and really can’t be saved. i’ve managed to back up everything before it stopped accepting usb drives and writable discs, which is good. i have a bunch of discs that dell sent me a while ago in order to do this. i have… (1) dell dimension resource cd, with device drivers, diagnostics and utilities, and computer documentations (2) reinstallation cd – windows xp professional service pack 2 (3) installation disc for roxio easy cd creator (4) disc for reinstalling dell tools system software – antivirus, support, multimedia, internet software. // now, which should i use first, and what exactly do i do? i know i should probably just call dell, but i hate phone support. i’d rather do it on my own.

or, alternately, where on the web can i find instructions to do this?

ye im not good at rebooting so i got these 4 disk when i bought my pc. I think its 1 from these 2, here what they say:

Disk 1: Dell- Device Drivers- ALready installed on your computer use thsi media to reinstall the software..

[then under it says]: For Reinstalling Dell Inspiron 531/531s Desktop Computer Software for Microsoft Windows XP.

DISK 2: Drivers and Utilities- Already installed on your computer.

[also says] DVD for Reinstalling Dell Inspiron 531s Computer software.

Content: Device drivers, Diagnostics and utilities.

Thats what the Disks say, Which 1 is the disk that will reboot[ reformat] my PC like its new.

Also what do i do? i think i restart PC and put disk in while restarting and when the Menu thing comes, press F12 [ My boot menu] and let it read or what?

Thanks

This is all new to me. Which cd is first and which one is last. The cd’s I have are for my computer that DELL sent me are: reinstalling Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.0 Software, reinstallation Windows XP, reinstalling Dell Inspiron Computer Software (contents: device drivers, diagnostics and utilities), reinstalling dell tools system software (antivirus software, support software, multimedia software, internet software), Roxio Creator (my dvd combo) installer, Microsoft Works Suite, reinstalling Dell MediaDirect, Netgear (for wireless router), Printer cd that I got when I got my printer. I NEED HELP PLEASE……
Do I install all of the cd’s that I have after I install the new hardrive?????