This little PC worked reliably until 2 days ago when the hard disk failed. I de-installed the original 320Gb WD Scorpio "Blue" 2.5" drive, and replaced it with a 1Tb drive of the same make. I literally need to do a "clean install". There's no longer any trace of Dell on the new disk.
Tried to use the "Reinstallation DVD - Windows Vista Home Premium 32BIT SP1" disk that was opened for the first time since 2008. I expected that after hitting F12, I could direct it to boot from the Optical Disk Drive - then follow instructions. NOPE - not that easy.
I got an acknowledgement that both the HD and DVD drives were recognized - but with "no boot installed". I proved that the DVD was accessible by successfully loading a CD-resident only Ubuntu OS.
Long story short - after going round & round trying everything I could think of - I believe I have sufficiently mucked things up to the point where I need to go back to "square one" - with a total factory reset - so it will recognize my SATA and OptiArc devices.
Question: Is there a "factory reset" disk of some sort available? If so - how do I get it? Downloadable somewhere?
Bottom Line: How can I simply re-install the original Vista OS, drivers & etc - so I can start fresh on this new 1TB hard drive?
The only reason I'm sticking with Vista & everything is because ... it's there and paid for. I could probably upgrade to a newer OS (and that's a possible option) - but I thought I'd try this on the cheap first.
Thanks for any help in advance!