Should I be scared?

[Chreamps]

Well, the Dell technician came to replace our DVD/RW drive because I wasn't able to burn cd's, backup or anything else. Spent time on the phone with "Jed" from India and he concluded that the drive would need to be replaced. The tech replaced the drive and it still wouldn't burn, etc. After consulting with Dell they determined that I need to backup, wipe out our computer and reload everything because they believe some software has been corrupted. We had gotten the blue screen of death back in August 2007 and Dell sent me the disks to get it started again.

I'm in the process of backing up to OnlineBackupVault what I determine to be vital (digital scrapbooking kits and pictures). I've been reading so I can be prepared, writing down all the programs we have, etc., and it said it could take up to 2 days to reload everything? The tech said I should disconnect from the internet connection and printer and anything attached via USB, load the OS, security, etc. then hook up to the internet and get all the updates. Dell will walk me through this. I don't really want to be on the phone for 2 days!

Has anyone gone through this before? Any advice (or prayers - silly, I know). Thanks for your input.

[ccubed]

Wow! Keep us posted on how this works out for you. Sounds like a pain but good luck getting everything back and running. I would love to do this to my desktop but it seems too overwhelming at this point.

[Scrappy Cats]

Blue Screen of death in August and now this? sounds like you are really having computer problems. sooo sorry.

Yes, I would be worried and I would put aside at least two days to get this done and done right. If you are hopping in and out doing only a little at a time you might make mistakes and forget where you are.

[saab]

I'm no expert but what burning software are you running? some of them clash, just a thought! I had a friend with the same problem and after replacing her drive they worked out she had Nero and another one that clashed.

[Chreamps]

I used to used Windows Media Player all the time. Roxio also was installed on my computer when we got it in 2006 and it wouldn't work, either. Just did not recognize any media cd in the drive at all. I also downloaded other burning software just to see if it was the software and nothing recognized it. I think that is why they thought the drive was bad. They also looked at something from DOS which wasn't even showing a drive.

[PamS]

By any chance did you install Norton Ghost? I went thru the same thing with my Dell and they too told me to wipe out and do a clean install. It just didn't make sense to me so I was "playing" deleting one thing at a time and when I uninstalled Norton Ghost, it started working again (and has been fine since)

Pam

[FrenchRuby]

You don't say what operating system you are using, but if it is XP and that's what you're going to stick with then make sure you have SP2 (service pack 2) and an antivirus (eg AVG) installed BEFORE you go online. Otherwise there is a very real risk of catching something nasty before you can get these things installed via net connection. Also the SP2 download from Microsoft is enormous and corrupts easily during download, so installing from a disk before you get online is a lot safer all round. You MUST have an anti-virus up and running before you go anywhere on the internet, especially if you are using ADSL/broadband.

It won't be so bad, you'll end up with a cleaner, faster computer. Remain positive!!

[Chreamps]

Pam, thank you, I wish it were that easy - no, Norton Ghost is not installed.

Thank you, FrenchRuby, yes, Windows XP Media Center. The disk states:
Reinstallation DVD Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Version 2005 with Update Rollup 2 - hopefully this is the service pack 2? I need to contact Dell because it says the disk does not contain the drivers but there are also 4 other disks which I'll probably be using. Also, I have McAfee Internet Security Suite for 2008 to install before I go back online - decided not to use the original McAfee disk because of all the updates since then. Plan on downloading Windows Defender, Spybot Search & Destroy and maybe adware once it's back up and running.

I've printed out a list of programs that show up in the install/delete windows and also printed out a BeLarc Advisor PC Audit to make sure I don't miss anything (and also to not install some things).

After seeing the loonnngg list of updates since we got the computer in 2006, I can see why it will take a while.

I will try to keep a positive outlook and look at it as "learning something new". Thanks everyone, feel like I need someone to hold my hand to do this which I'm sure Dell will.