I just bought a second hand dell mini 9 netbook . It needs to be completely wiped and restored. It obviously has not got an optical drive so I have just bought one in the hope of restoring it with the recovery discs which came with it.
The problem is it still wont boot even when changing the boot order. I have tried various methods but on all re starts I get the options to re start windows normally/safe mode/last known etc but none work and keep going back to the same screen. Also it says "SYSTEM 32 IS MISSING". Have I wasted my money ? Are there any other things I can try ?
Any help most appreciated.
Thanks.

Hi ,

Sounds like a corrupted install , as much as a pain in the it is , a reformat and fresh install of OS . sounds needed . I've tried rescue discs before for repairing OS installs and they don't always work .

The manual on the Dell web site for the Mini 9 has directions for how to reinstall the OS: Mini 9 Documentation

Originally Posted by cyberjunkee

Hi ,

Sounds like a corrupted install , as much as a pain in the it is , a reformat and fresh install of OS . sounds needed . I've tried rescue discs before for repairing OS installs and they don't always work .

Many thanks.

I would love to format and start over but dont know how to go about it as the laptop wony let me in to open anything.
Any tips greatly appreciated.
thanks

Hi ,

You say you purchased an external optical drive ?? By that do you mean a floppy drive or cd / dvd rom ? If it's the latter then just attach the drive and follow the instructions as given by Ztrucker above - boot into the bios first , set boot sequence to boot from cd - this is normally found under the " boot " page in bios . I wouldn't touch a Dell computer with a barge pole personally - Dell were attempting to corner the market with specific manufacture that required Dell components and in most cases a Dell engineer .

As you've stated you can actually boot the machine up a reformat is a very simple thing - as long as long as the external " optical " drive you are referring to is a cd / dvd rom ( and as long as you have an avaliable copy of windows to install )

Originally Posted by cyberjunkee

Hi ,

You say you purchased an external optical drive ?? By that do you mean a floppy drive or cd / dvd rom ? If it's the latter then just attach the drive and follow the instructions as given by Ztrucker above - boot into the bios first , set boot sequence to boot from cd - this is normally found under the " boot " page in bios . I wouldn't touch a Dell computer with a barge pole personally - Dell were attempting to corner the market with specific manufacture that required Dell components and in most cases a Dell engineer .

As you've stated you can actually boot the machine up a reformat is a very simple thing - as long as long as the external " optical " drive you are referring to is a cd / dvd rom ( and as long as you have an avaliable copy of windows to install )

Many thanks again for your reply.
Yes the drive is a cd/dvd drive and I have made several attempts to follow the those instructions but when I change the boot sequence it simply ignores it and wont boot from the drive, just goes back to the Start normally/safe mode etc . I have tried various ways including shutting down and restarting several times but it wont have it. It seems to recognise the drive though as I did get it to work once with the dell diagnostic disc but not with the windows disc.

thanks again.

Hi ,

Here's a thread that might be of use to you - you'll notice a few people " sending thier Dell mini 9 " back to Dell for repair

[ubuntu] HELP: How to restore Dell Mini 9? - Ubuntu Forums

Hope you sort the problem , Dell pc's are notoriously expensive .

Have you tried an install with UBUNTU ? ( free Linux based OS )

Hi lordladeda...

I also tried to install WinXP SP2 on a Dell Mini 9 Netbook last Christmas using an External CD\DVD drive as the unit did not come with an Internal CD\DVD-ROM drive. I ran into issues as the "Boot to USB" was not available even though I enabled it in the BIOS. While searching for different methods to install WinXP without a CD\DVD Drive I came upon a page on how to install WinXP SP2 using a USB Memory Stick. Using the method outlined in the link below I installed XP onto the Netbook using a 1.0GB USB Memory stick...worked like a charm ...no install issues what so ever. The instructions are perfect...
http://www.liliputing.com/2008/04/in...-note-usb.html

Also one of the guys at I work with pointed me to this interesting link below...
UNetbootin - Homepage and Downloads

Hi ,

Glad something I've done has been of some use : the Dell mini 9 is a nice lappy . Happy computing !

I run an IBM THinkpad Z61m dual core t7200 x 2.00 gig
3 gig ddr2
Mobility Radeon 1400 xt

Hope the new install works well and you can gain full usage of the OS .