My laptop, an Inspiron 6000, I purchased 3 years ago, recently starting exhibiting symptoms of what I call Microsoft OS bewilderment. For some reason unbeknownst to me, Windows gets really confuzzed after a couple of years and the only surefire way to remedy the situation is to reformat your hard drive and reload your OS and applications.
My laptop starting getting really confused about the available USB ports it thought it may or may not have and kept rejecting devices. Windows kept telling me the drivers were bad, when I know darn well they weren't.
When I originally received my laptop, it came preloaded as they often do, but I did receive media to reinstall the OS and all necessary drivers. However, I was lacking my DVD decoder/player and Roxio media software packages.
I started searching the Web for downloads and came across a link in the Dell User Forum, where I learned it is possible to request backup disks of what came with your system. So, I gave it a try.
Well to my delight, I received an e-mail from Dell the very next day informing me that even though my warranty had expired 2 years ago, they would still fulfill my request (thank you Ronald). In less than a week, I received backup disks for everything I needed and more.
Dell, you rock!!!! My laptop is working like a champ and it's just as good today as it was the day I first received it in April of 2006.
