I Can´t Factory Reset Mi Mini Cq10 120La With Backontrack

[rufolate]

Hello

 

Can Anyone tell me how to do a Factory reset of my system with Back on Track, I have been looking for this option everywhere but with no success, because on BoT you can only go back to a certain point (In my case I can only go back 2 months ago).

 

My Mini CQ10 120LA i s very slow and I need to format, reset, etc to the very first day I bought my notebook.

 

I have tried a lot of things, and I have given up, can anyone help me???

My OS is Windows XP

 

Thank you to anyone in advanced

[Brendon]

Hello,

 

You can't do a 'factory reset' with BoT.

 

To go back to the way the hard drive was before you started using it, you need a saved image which was made before you started to use and alter the drive. However you made the image, you can only go back later to the state when the image was made.

 

Unless you made an image of the drive when you got it, or the manufacturer provided a hidden 'recovery partition' or disc with the computer, I'm afraid you're out of luck.

 

If this is the case your alternative is to do it all manually.

-Uninstall all the software you've added

-clean the registry to remove dross left behind from the uninstalled stuff

-delete temporary files and unwanted drek from the hard drive

-defragment the hard drive using the utilities provided with your Operating System

 

This is not as easy as restoring from an image, but it's about the best you can do short of formatting the drive and re-installing everything from the start.

 

Brendon

[rufolate]

Brendon:

Thanks for your fast response, I do not have an image of the HDD, so I guess I will have to do the uninstalling individually. But at least I´m not wasting time looking for an answer

 

BTW when you say "formatting the drive and re-installing everything from the start" you mean for me to get all the Drivers (Audio, Network, Display, Web cam), and a Windows XP installation disk???

 

Thank you very much my friend

[Brendon]

Hi,

 

Yes, the ultimate cleanout is to 'nuke the drive from orbit' or Format C:

 

Doing that means that your drive is very clean, but you are faced with having to reinstall your Operating System, all the updates for it, and all your drivers for motherboard and all your other hardware, plus you have to reinstall any useful software which the computer OEM might have bundled with the computer. Believe me, that's a long and tedious process that is very handy to avoid. It's also the reason that it's extremely useful to have a 'factory restore image'.

 

I would suggest the best option is to uninstall any software you don't want. Then do the Clean, Delete, and Defrag that I mentioned. Then do any Operating System updates which are needed.

Once that is done and you have your machine lean and clean, make an image of it in the nice clean state. This way, when it suffers Windows Bloat in six months time and starts to run slowly again, you can restore your lean and clean image once more and it will take minutes instead of hours. Just remember to copy off any useful or precious stuff before you restore, since a decent image restore will wipe the previous stuff clean.

 

You haven't said what version of BoT you're using, so make sure you've worked out if it can make a full disaster recovery image and how to do it, before you start. Also to recover a system from an image like this you'll probably need to have a BoT booting disc to boot from, so be sure to make one of those.

 

I don't know of Roxio software which will clean the registry, or one which will hook out all the temp files. I use the free program CCleaner from Piriform http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner to get rid of my temp files, and the free Regseeker from Hoverdesk http://www.hoverdesk.net/ to clean my registry. I've found these programs do a good job without breaking things, although I avoid the Autoclean button in Regseeker and just hit the OK one. [Autoclean can be a bit rough]

 

Hope this helps. Come back to me if you have questions.

 

Regards,

Brendon

[sknis]

I assume you did all of these things (link from HP)

 

Did you read this about system recovery? Note that will probably wipe out everything on your computer.

 

BOT3 is the freeware that came with your computer.

 

HP has a lot of good information on that computer (here) if I found the right one.

[rufolate]

Berdon:

Thank you my friend for taking the time to explain in detail what you said. I really appreciated your help, I was loosing hair by the hour trying to find out a good solution.

I will do as you said and uninstall old programs, registries, defrag, make an image, etc. If the problem persist after doing this, I will take my chances on formatting the disk.

 

Best Regards

[Brendon]

Rufolate,

 

If the problem does persist, or if you have questions along the way, please come back here for advice.

 

Brendon