Not exactly sure where to post this, but I'll leave this here for the time being.
I have an X51 desktop that shipped with Windows 8 installed. Since purchasing (three years ago), I have recently restored the system to factory settings via the 'reset' option in Windows 8. For reasons unknown to me, a particular block of Windows automatic updates failed to install. When I attempted reset the system again, I was unable to, due to an unknown error. I'm assuming the recovery partition corrupted when the update installation failed and tried to restore previous conditions.
Following this, I tried a system restore to a point prior to the failed install of the updates. Unfortunately, the restore locked up (for several hours; all afternoon), and I was forced to shut the system down. As I had feared, upon restarting, the OS had totally failed, and I was met with the dreaded "Your PC needs to be repaired" screen when booting failed.
I've since tried to boot from both an external hard drive and a flash drive containing recovery material created with Alien Respawn, but all attempts have failed.
Would it be possible to somehow obtain a Windows 8 DVD from Dell/Alienware? I realize that systems are not typically shipped with a DVD containing the OS, but I see no other way to rectify the problem I am currently facing.
If someone from Dell could chime in and discuss options, I would be much obliged. I understand that there would be a charge associated with any distribution/shipment.
