so i have no idea what grub means or how to exit screen so i can finish my factory reset of the mini dell.

Hi LOSSI, and welcome to LQ.

You have not provided enough information for anyone to troubleshoot your problem. Why are you factory resetting your computer and what screen are you seeing?

If you can, take a photo of the screen and post it here.

Welcome to LQ.

I assume your mini came installed with Ubuntu?

I'm unfamiliar with the Mini but from a quick web search it did does not have a factory reset function key or restore partition. Dell had a DVD install disk which you probably don't have,

If your seeing the grub prompt then some thing happened to corrupt the drive. To install a new version you need create a live USB from an ISO file.

It may be possible to repair your existing operating system but it can be complicated for someone that is new to Linux.

If I remember correctly, the Dell Mini 9 came with Ubuntu 8.04 as the factory installed operating system. Ubuntu 8.04 reached its "end of life" in 2013 and has been completely unsupported for 5 years. Therefore I suggest one of two options: 1) install a currently supported operating system, if you can find one that will run on such low-spec hardware; or 2) recycle the Mini 9 and purchase a more modern computer.

If you choose to continue with Ubuntu 8.04 despite its total lack of support, you may find this information helpful: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DellMini9

Factory resetting DELL is done before you see the Grub prompt. AFAIK you have to enter one of the secret keys (DEL, F10, F11 or F12) to get in the system setup and you have to select a factory reset.

If it is there. For Windows systems there is, maybe not for Linux.

The alternative is to create a Ubuntu live USB. Boot it, rescue your files from the /home directories and re-install.

jlinkels