No More Resource CD's from Dell (Drivers and Utilities)

G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I just purchased a Dimension 8400 and when I was getting to format and
reinstall the OS on the hard drive, I noticed that the system did not
come with a Resource CD anymore. I have the OS cd, but not the one with
drivers for the chipset, the network card, video, etc.

I called Dell and they said that their new policy is to not sent this out.

I realize that I can download nearly all of the drivers from the
website, but what about the included software that they sent. Like
MusicMatch jukebox, the McAfee security center, Paint Shop Pro trial,
etc? Does anybody know of a way to get these back if you chose to do
so. I realize that most of them I won't use, but it is nice knowing
that I have them there if I want to try them.

I like to keep my systems real clean, so I don't want to use the
symantec PC restore from the hidden partition, I would rather start
completely from scratch and only add what I want.

I am currently on hold with Tech Support trying to get a resource cd
shipped to me.
 

David

Distinguished
Apr 1, 2004
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Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

You CAN download all the drivers as you said. Not sure
about the other software though. The other software would not
be on the resource cd anyway. Sounds like trials or free software
anyway
so no loss. PS it is much quicker to install drivers that are
downloaded
than from the resource cd anyways. Just rename the downloaded drivers
so you know what they are( ie from R8919.exe to NIC_R8919.exe ).
After I started downloading my drivers I have never used the drive cd
anymore.
I keep a backup of all the drivers for my various pcs with separate
folders
for each model (ie 2400..1150..etc)
Hope this helps.
Dave
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Patrick L. Parks wrote:
> I just purchased a Dimension 8400 and when I was getting to format and
> reinstall the OS on the hard drive, I noticed that the system did not
> come with a Resource CD anymore. I have the OS cd, but not the one with
> drivers for the chipset, the network card, video, etc.
>
> I called Dell and they said that their new policy is to not sent this out.
>
> I realize that I can download nearly all of the drivers from the
> website, but what about the included software that they sent. Like
> MusicMatch jukebox, the McAfee security center, Paint Shop Pro trial,
> etc? Does anybody know of a way to get these back if you chose to do
> so. I realize that most of them I won't use, but it is nice knowing
> that I have them there if I want to try them.
>
> I like to keep my systems real clean, so I don't want to use the
> symantec PC restore from the hidden partition, I would rather start
> completely from scratch and only add what I want.
>
> I am currently on hold with Tech Support trying to get a resource cd
> shipped to me.


Thanks David,

That is what I decided to do. The software that I am losing doesn't
mean much to me anyway.

I actually tried the Dell system restore. Press CTRL-F11 at dell logo
on start and you can set hard drive back to way that it was. The
software image is stored in hidden 3GB partition on hard drive. Then I
just installed the couple of things that I didn't want and that was very
fast. I'll probably play like this for awhile and test some stuff out
and then I might just go ahead and reinstall from scratch and get this
machine the exact way that I want it.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Patrick,
Did you get a Dell Tools CD, not Resource CD? Those trial programs, and probably hardware drivers, should be on it. Some third party applications are available from other Dell models Download web pages, but they may earlier versions that came with your PC. You can download MM version#10 off the web:

http://www.musicmatch.com/

Those who plan to purchase a new Dell, and are considering to reformatting the hard drive. They should copy to a CD the following folder:

C:\Dell\drivers

This should contain, all your drivers and some third party programs that came with you PC. After reformatting your HDD, you can use the CD to reinstall your drivers and applications, that are there. Install the programs from your CD-ROM.

--

Have a good day,
Rich/rerat

(RRR News) <message rule>
<<Previous Text Snipped to Save Bandwidth When Appropriate>>


"Patrick L. Parks" <TryThis@WontWork.com> wrote in message news:cq2dnTc11ritu2bcRVn-3Q@comcast.com...
Patrick L. Parks wrote:
> I just purchased a Dimension 8400 and when I was getting to format and
> reinstall the OS on the hard drive, I noticed that the system did not
> come with a Resource CD anymore. I have the OS cd, but not the one with
> drivers for the chipset, the network card, video, etc.
>
> I called Dell and they said that their new policy is to not sent this out.
>
> I realize that I can download nearly all of the drivers from the
> website, but what about the included software that they sent. Like
> MusicMatch jukebox, the McAfee security center, Paint Shop Pro trial,
> etc? Does anybody know of a way to get these back if you chose to do
> so. I realize that most of them I won't use, but it is nice knowing
> that I have them there if I want to try them.
>
> I like to keep my systems real clean, so I don't want to use the
> symantec PC restore from the hidden partition, I would rather start
> completely from scratch and only add what I want.
>
> I am currently on hold with Tech Support trying to get a resource cd
> shipped to me.


Thanks David,

That is what I decided to do. The software that I am losing doesn't
mean much to me anyway.

I actually tried the Dell system restore. Press CTRL-F11 at dell logo
on start and you can set hard drive back to way that it was. The
software image is stored in hidden 3GB partition on hard drive. Then I
just installed the couple of things that I didn't want and that was very
fast. I'll probably play like this for awhile and test some stuff out
and then I might just go ahead and reinstall from scratch and get this
machine the exact way that I want it.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

RRR_News wrote:
> Patrick,
> Did you get a Dell Tools CD, not Resource CD? Those trial programs, and probably hardware drivers, should be on it. Some third party applications are available from other Dell models Download web pages, but they may earlier versions that came with your PC. You can download MM version#10 off the web:
>
> http://www.musicmatch.com/
>
> Those who plan to purchase a new Dell, and are considering to reformatting the hard drive. They should copy to a CD the following folder:
>
> C:\Dell\drivers
>
> This should contain, all your drivers and some third party programs that came with you PC. After reformatting your HDD, you can use the CD to reinstall your drivers and applications, that are there. Install the programs from your CD-ROM.
>
RRR_News,

There was NOT a Dell Tools CD. Tech support informed me that the
promotional software that they install on the systems is "only"
available right from the factory or from using the PC restore feature
(pressing CTRL-F11) when the Dell logo is on the screen. This uses a
version of Symantec sytem retore to put the machine back exactly as it
was from the factory.

A word of caution about the PC restore functionality. If you reload
Windows XP from the disc supplied by Dell and you choose to delete the C
partition during the install and create a new C parition, you will
overwrite the MBR (master boot record) and the option for CTRL-F11 will
be gone. I called tech support and confirmed this as well today.

As you can guess, I did overwrite the MBR and forever have lost the
ability to do the system restore. Alas, it is no big deal, because I
didn't really need/want any of the software that they placed on there
anyway. I loaded XP myself and it is running great.