[worthing.jason]

These directions will walk you through getting a copy of the dell image for your system, making a bootable flash drive, moving the image to a bootable flash drive, and making it where it will reimage your computer automatically, in similar manner to how the Dell Ubuntu image on the Dell FTP site...

Click here to read the entire tutorial

[worthing.jason]

dontasciime,
I have no idea what the policies are for the UK. I can tell you Canada cannot get them, because they legally cannot ship something that has been opened first, but the UK would be a crapshoot. I dont think I have heard of anyone overseas having any luck, but if you want to try a bit more, and succeed, please let us know.

Worthing.jason

Originally Posted by dontasciime

Are most of the users who received these disc's in the US or UK ?

I am having a nightmare trying to get Dell ship me the SRCD's they say that part number is not available to them. They are supposed to be phoning me today 12pm-2pm however I received a call at 11.05am that was probably them ( a missed call withheld number) as typically they seem a bit dumb.

So am I wasting my time trying for these cds in the UK ?

Thanks

[aneblanc]

Hi Jason,

I am wondering if your tutorial is still valid today. I got 3 CDs with my Mini 9:

Recovery Media for Windows XP Home edition SP3
Drivers and Utilities
Application

I downloaded the CW1351A0 file from Drivers & Downloads

and installed it on a USB stick.

Then I was looking for the ghost.exe and the gst or ghs files on my disks but could not find any.

Do I have another option to reinstall the original?

Thanks

Originally Posted by worthing.jason

These directions will walk you through getting a copy of the dell image for your system, making a bootable flash drive, moving the image to a bootable flash drive, and making it where it will reimage your computer automatically, in similar manner to how the Dell Ubuntu image on the Dell FTP site works. For this procedure, you will need the following

Another computer, with a CD drive, from which to work
Your Dell System Restoration Disks (SRCDs)(Details will be given on how to get this)
1 - 2+ GB USB Flash Drive
around 30-60 minutes

The first thing you need is your SRCDs. To get this, call/chat in to Dell support and request them (experience says you get better results chatting here, as it is harder for them to imply they misunderstood you). They are available for the first year after purchase of your system, and cost you nothing. They contain the Dell Image for your system on bootable CDs. When doing this, when they say they are sending them to you, confirm the part number. If the part number is not 59221, then they are sending you the wrong part. Go to a supervisor if you must, but get 59221 sent to you.

The flash drive you need has to be at least 1.5 GB. I used a 4 GB as that is all I had, but as long as it hits that minimum, it will work.

First, download the Dell - Diagnostics Utility from support.dell.com.
Here is the URL:
Drivers & Downloads
Having done that, run it. It will give you options of installing to CD, USB drive, etc. Have it install to your 2+ GB flash drive. This will make it bootable, and get some basic dos files onto it.

Next you will need to copy files from your CDs. You will need the ghost.exe file, and any gst or ghs files from all of the CDs. After doing this, there are a few changes you will have to make on your flash drive.

First open the autoexec.bat file. Here are the changes to make:
Change

prompt=Diag $p$g  $h

to

prompt=$p$g

Then locate the line that says:

:run

Replace everything under it with:

echo Continuing from here will IRREVOCABLY ERASE all data on your drive, and re-install Windows on it, as it shipped from Dell.
echo If that is what you want to do, press enter.  If you do not want to erase EVERYTHING and reinstall windows, hit the power button NOW!.
pause
ghost.exe -clone,mode=load,src=c:\stm.gst,dst=2 -fx -sure -auto -ws- -wd- -disabledrive=B -afile=c:\ghost.err
reboot 1

And that is it! To use the USB key, start with the computer off, and the drive connected to your computer. Turn it on, and tap the 0 key until you get the boot menu, and tell it to boot off of the USB drive

If you press enter, then it will wipe the drive and reinstall. Now I must mention that after imaging, the computer will take 30-60 minutes where it will lock out the keyboard and mouse, and reinstall the programs as they came on your computer. This is normal. Once the warning box for that is gone, it will progress to the windows setup screens that you originally had when you opened the box, where you set up the security and user name, etc on the computer.

I hope this is of some help to those of you who, through no fault of your own, end up having to reinstall windows on your mini, do not want to send it to Depot,and do not have a CD/DVD drive for it, but have another computer you can borrow to get it done. Also I should mention that all steps listed here other than copying the files from the CD to the flash drive can be done on the mini, so you could do everything else, and copy the files when you can on someone elses computer.

If anyone has any further suggestions on this, please feel free to mention them, I will update this tutorial as needed.

Worthing.jason

Note:
If anyone is having trouble getting Dell to send them the SRCDs, see page 3 of this thread for a session ID and chat session where they were requested, that should help.

[worthing.jason]

aneblanc,

As far as I know, the tutorial is still valid. However, the Discs that come with your computer are NOT the ones that you would use for this. You would need to get SRCDs, which are part # 59221. Dell will not send these to you without you explicitly requesting them (and may not even then). If you have not done so already, it may be educational to read over what others have had to go through to get them, from the comments on this thread before requesting them..

Another option, that I just learned about recently, is that Dell now makes a copy of this USB themselves (whether they borrowed this idea, or came up with another is your guess). The quote from their training materials that talks about this is:

"Ship out a Windows XP reinstallation USB key to the customer. For information on how to install from Windows XP using the USB key click here."

This is in their 'Training Pages'.

All of these options require that your system be less than a year old. If it is more than that, your only option would be to get a CD Drive, and use it to install from the discs they gave you.

Worthing.jason

Originally Posted by aneblanc

Hi Jason,

I am wondering if your tutorial is still valid today. I got 3 CDs with my Mini 9:

Recovery Media for Windows XP Home edition SP3
Drivers and Utilities
Application

I downloaded the CW1351A0 file from Drivers & Downloads

and installed it on a USB stick.

Then I was looking for the ghost.exe and the gst or ghs files on my disks but could not find any.

Do I have another option to reinstall the original?

Thanks

[aneblanc]

Thanks Jason for your quick reply

I did read the follow-ups on your original post.

I purchased my Mini 9 in the spring 09 so it is more than a year ago.

I did try to install the CDs that I got with the netbook. However I could not get an internet connexion. XP seemed to be correctly installed but the devices (yellow ?) where not and I had no internet connexion.

I tried another route yesterday and installed Jolicloud with a USB but same sort of problem there the wireless does not work though I get wired internet access. I did also try to install Ubuntu and could not install the wireless device either.

I am wondering if this SRCD 59221 is not online somewhere to download and if that would work. I will investigate...

Well, I just did, what do you think of this: Dell Srcd 59221 Torrents - yourBittorrent ?

Cheers

Thierry

Originally Posted by worthing.jason

aneblanc,

As far as I know, the tutorial is still valid. However, the Discs that come with your computer are NOT the ones that you would use for this. You would need to get SRCDs, which are part # 59221. Dell will not send these to you without you explicitly requesting them (and may not even then). If you have not done so already, it may be educational to read over what others have had to go through to get them, from the comments on this thread before requesting them..

Another option, that I just learned about recently, is that Dell now makes a copy of this USB themselves (whether they borrowed this idea, or came up with another is your guess). The quote from their training materials that talks about this is:

"Ship out a Windows XP reinstallation USB key to the customer. For information on how to install from Windows XP using the USB key click here."

This is in their 'Training Pages'.

All of these options require that your system be less than a year old. If it is more than that, your only option would be to get a CD Drive, and use it to install from the discs they gave you.

Worthing.jason

---------- Post added at 10:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:37 AM ----------

It's a pay site that I am not going to use

Originally Posted by aneblanc

Well, I just did, what do you think of this: Dell Srcd 59221 Torrents - yourBittorrent ?

Cheers

Thierry

---------- Post added at 10:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:20 AM ----------

Could someone provide the Dell Software Restoration CD for the Mini 9 to download?

Thanks

Thierry (Nova Scotia)

[worthing.jason]

The problem with this (I checked when mine came in) is that the service tag of the system that the SRCDs are for is embedded in the CDs. Anyone who posts theirs will be personally identifiable. For this reason, and the fact that it would involve software piracy (Even if the other person owns a copy, uploading your copy violates the EULA), I STRONGLY discourage anyone from uploading their SRCDs

That said, if you installed XP from the disc, the next step is to install the drivers, to get everything working correctly. You will need to download them from another system, but here are the drivers you need, listed in the order they should be installed in:
Drivers can be found at:
Drivers & Downloads

Installation Order:
1) Chipset -> Intel - Driver
2) Chipset -> JMicron - Driver
3) Video -> Intel - Driver
4) Network -> Realtek
5) Audio -> Realtek - Driver
6) Input Device Drivers-> Synaptics - Driver
7) Network -> Atheros or Broadcom, depending on your wireless card. (if unsure, try both, installing an extra will not hurt

The rest depend on if you have the hardware.
if you have a Webcam:
Input Device Drivers-> Creative Labs - Driver

if you have a Cell Phone Network Card (3G)
Communication -> Dell - Driver and Dell - Application

if you have a dial up modem:
Communication -> Conexant - Driver

With those installed, you should be up and running. Hope that was helpful.

Worthing.jason

Originally Posted by aneblanc

Could someone provide the Dell Software Restoration CD for the Mini 9 to download?

Thanks

Thierry (Nova Scotia)

[aneblanc]

Thanks I will try that.

After fiddling with the netbook for a couple of hours I get sick of it and have to wait another few days before I have another go at it. It is frustrating...

But thanks anyway, it's good advice.

Thierry

Originally Posted by worthing.jason

That said, if you installed XP from the disc, the next step is to install the drivers, to get everything working correctly. You will need to download them from another system, but here are the drivers you need, listed in the order they should be installed in:
Drivers can be found at:
Drivers & Downloads

Installation Order:
1) Chipset -> Intel - Driver
2) Chipset -> JMicron - Driver
3) Video -> Intel - Driver
4) Network -> Realtek
5) Audio -> Realtek - Driver
6) Input Device Drivers-> Synaptics - Driver
7) Network -> Atheros or Broadcom, depending on your wireless card. (if unsure, try both, installing an extra will not hurt

The rest depend on if you have the hardware.
if you have a Webcam:
Input Device Drivers-> Creative Labs - Driver

if you have a Cell Phone Network Card (3G)
Communication -> Dell - Driver and Dell - Application

if you have a dial up modem:
Communication -> Conexant - Driver

With those installed, you should be up and running. Hope that was helpful.

Worthing.jason