I give up...........

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Perhaps I have my posts confused. I realized that it possible after I
posted.

Late night.
<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:42f182e2.17391380@nntp.charter.net...
> Hmm, not sure about that. Vince's original posting referred to an XPS 266
> or
> something similar. A little old to have built-in SATA. Maybe he tried an
> add-in SATA card? I dunno. I am just as muddled about what he was trying
> to
> do, because his postings were hard to comprehend... Ben Myers
>
> On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 01:40:06 GMT, "Tom Scales" <tomtoo@softhome.net>
> wrote:
>
>>Actually, I answered the question and explained how to do it. He never
>>responded to whether that worked.
>>
>>The underlying problem is he's trying to use old technology IDE drives in
>>a
>>new technology SATA based system. It would work the way I suggested, but
>>I'd bet $10 he never actually tried it.
>>
>>It will work.
>>
>>Period.
>>
>>Tom
>>"Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
>>news:zfdIe.17835$QX2.11961@trndny01...
>>> done everything but tell us the details... the suggestions you received
>>> in your previous thread (called "ready to go nuts," where this comment
>>> really belongs since we are not mind readers) were based on the limited
>>> information that you provided. ask a precise question get a precise
>>> answer... if you care to detail what you have done, what drives are in
>>> the system, what size they are, what controller they are connected to,
>>> what type of ide cable was used for the hard disk, what bios revisions,
>>> if
>>> you are booting the new os from the floppy or cd, what the results of
>>> running dell diagnostics were, etc... then perhaps we can provide some
>>> meaningful pointers. if it wasn't the ram, the my next guess would be
>>> that you are using a relatively new hard drive with a relatively old ide
>>> cable.
>>>
>>> ps. i find it very amusing that this experience is going to make you
>>> more
>>> discerning regarding the next computer that you pick out of the trash.
>>>
>>> "Vince" <holvbphoto@optonline.net> wrote in message
>>> news:HfaIe.9193$_R1.197@fe11.lga...
>>>> This DELL XPS where I've been trying to re-load the OP system
>>>>
>>>> is a nightmare, no matter what I try it just won't go.
>>>>
>>>> I've done everything you good folks advised and its just no good
>>>>
>>>> Lastly after what I read on this NG be sure when it comes time to
>>>>
>>>> buy a new PC it won't be DELL.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for you help
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

A system hang is a symptom of some sort of hardware problem. I cannot be more
explicit without a more exacting description of when, where and how the system
hangs. You've checked and double-checked all the BIOS settings for consistency
and correctness? ... Ben

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 00:51:20 -0400, Vince <holvbphoto@optonline.net> wrote:

>Ben Myers wrote:
>
>> Fine. Maybe we're getting somewhere. IIRC, the XPS 266 system is not able to
>> boot from CD-ROM. So go to www.bootdisk.com and download the file 98BOT10A.EXE.
>> Use it to create a Windows 98 boot floppy. Insert floppy in drive. Insert Win
>> 98 CD in CD-ROM drive. Boot the system from floppy, switch to the R: drive, and
>> enter the SETUP command at the DOS prompt. That will start up the Windows 98
>> install. If it does not, the Windows 98 CD may be defective.
>>
>> And PLEASE! Tell us the exact hardware configuration you are dealing with!!!
>>
>> ... Ben Myers
>>
>
>
>Ben I just downloaded the above all it does is create the same WIN98SE
>floppy as Control Panel's add/delete programs does which hangs the
>system when I try to use it.

 

[vinCe]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Ben Myers wrote:
> A system hang is a symptom of some sort of hardware problem. I cannot be more
> explicit without a more exacting description of when, where and how the system
> hangs. You've checked and double-checked all the BIOS settings for consistency
> and correctness? ... Ben
>
> On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 00:51:20 -0400, Vince <holvbphoto@optonline.net> wrote:
>
>
>>Ben Myers wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Fine. Maybe we're getting somewhere. IIRC, the XPS 266 system is not able to
>>>boot from CD-ROM. So go to www.bootdisk.com and download the file 98BOT10A.EXE.
>>>Use it to create a Windows 98 boot floppy. Insert floppy in drive. Insert Win
>>>98 CD in CD-ROM drive. Boot the system from floppy, switch to the R: drive, and
>>>enter the SETUP command at the DOS prompt. That will start up the Windows 98
>>>install. If it does not, the Windows 98 CD may be defective.
>>>
>>>And PLEASE! Tell us the exact hardware configuration you are dealing with!!!
>>>
>>>... Ben Myers
>>>
>>
>>
>>Ben I just downloaded the above all it does is create the same WIN98SE
>>floppy as Control Panel's add/delete programs does which hangs the
>>system when I try to use it.
>
>
Yes unless I still missed something

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I would never in all my darkest dreams attempt to install ANY version of Windows
with as little as 32MB of memory. I don't care what the Microsoft hype says
about the minimum memory requirements of Windows. Anyway, I would run hardware
diagnostics on both memory (MEMTEST-86) and hard drive (manufacturer's
diagnostics, or use Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test, which works with all brands),
before attempting to install Windows again. Rule of thumb is that you need to
have some reasonable assurance that the hardware is working right before
installing software. Otherwise if something goes wrong, you won't know why.

There is some possibility that the BIOS in the Dell XPS 266 motherboard is
limited to seeing a hard drive no more than 8.4GB in capacity. This would be
consistent with most Pentium, Pentium-MMX, and early Pentium II systems, no
matter what brand they are.

May I suggest trying again with the 1GB hard drive and 128MB of memory? The
10GB and 20GB drives simply may not work without additional hardware (an add-in
IDE controller card) or special and awful software like Western Digital's
EZ-Drive. Obviously, a 1GB drive is almost useless, but at you know for sure it
will work in the XPS 266. Unless it is defective, of course.

Toshiba CD-ROM drives are generic, too.

At this point, it would also be a good idea to identify the graphics card. Does
it have a Dell part number? Any other obvious markings, either on the graphics
chip, etched on the card, or stickers?

.... Ben Myers

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 00:19:43 -0400, Vince <holvbphoto@optonline.net> wrote:

>Ben Myers wrote:
>
>> Good. That's what I thought after reading your several posts. But I still do
>> not understand the exact configuration(s) that you are dealing with. How much
>> main memory? Which graphics card? Capacities of hard drives, since you've
>> tried several? Brands of hard drives tried? Make and model of CD-ROM drive?
>> What sort of IDE cables does the system have? There are two types, one which
>> requires CS (cable select) jumpering on the IDE devices, the other which
>> requires master and slave jumper settings. Did you go to the Dell web site and
>> download the user's manual for the beast, and print out motherboard diagrams and
>> jumper settings? Have you checked the motherboard jumper or switch settings for
>> correctness vs. the assumed 266MHz processor speed?
>>
>> I can ask probably another dozen very specific questions, but I would far rather
>> respond to some very exact and factual statements about the computer, how it is
>> set up, what you have tried, and what the symptoms of failure are... Ben Myers
>>
>>
>
>It had 128MB to start, someone said maybe the RAM is NG so I switched to
>two 16MB SIMMs (Besides WIN98 only needs 16MB), Graphics card no idea
>but it has two terminals. One CD was Toshiba, the rest are generics.
>HDs 12GB, 20GB, 1GB. IDE the later. I'll have to look at the the DELL
>site again.
>
>Looks like a lot seeing as other systems didn't have these problems.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I appologize if I mention something that you may have already tried, but i'm
coming into this thread quite late in the game....

It's easy to give erronious advice based on the fact that a person says he
has a Dell XPS. Need to be a bit clearer sometimes to make sure we don't get
confused between the old XPS systems and the current XPS gen x systems.

That said, If I may, here is the way I normally install Win98 on a system.

Start with some sort of Win98 boot floppy, and add the format.exe file to
it.

Boot to the floppy choosing CD-Rom support, fdisk the drive if needed, then
format /s the HD.

Put the Win98 CD in the CD-Rom drive.

Go to the C: drive and create a directory (i usually name it 'win98cd') to
copy the setup files to.

Change to the CD-Rom drive, typically E:

Change to the 'win98' directory and take a directory listing to make sure
you're in the right place.

Copy the contents of the E:\win98 directory to the C:\win98cd directory. no
need to worry about sub-directories, they're not needed.

If you were able to copy the contents to the C: drive, you have just proved
that the CD is readable.

Re-boot the system and boot fronm the HD.

change to the c:\win98cd directory and run setup.exe from there.

Installation should now procede normally. If it hangs somewhere during the
install, it would again point to a hardware problem.

Over many years, I've discovered that by copying the files to the HD and
running the setup from there accomplishes several things.

Once you get the system ready, setup runs much faster than from the CD.

Because you have copied the files to the HD , any time in the future you add
or modify the system or it's components and it asks for the CD, just
re-direct it to the C:\win98cd directory. No more searching for the CD.

Because you ran the original setup from the C:\win98cd directory, Win98
should by default look in that directory the next time it needs files from
the CD.


Again I appologize if I'm suggesting something you've already tried.

BTW, should I assume that the Dell diagnostic lights on the back show all as
green?

Good luck.

"Vince" <holvbphoto@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:ATqIe.2256$9v3.766@fe09.lga...
> Ben Myers wrote:
>> A system hang is a symptom of some sort of hardware problem. I cannot be
>> more
>> explicit without a more exacting description of when, where and how the
>> system
>> hangs. You've checked and double-checked all the BIOS settings for
>> consistency
>> and correctness? ... Ben
>>
>> On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 00:51:20 -0400, Vince <holvbphoto@optonline.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Ben Myers wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Fine. Maybe we're getting somewhere. IIRC, the XPS 266 system is not
>>>>able to
>>>>boot from CD-ROM. So go to www.bootdisk.com and download the file
>>>>98BOT10A.EXE.
>>>>Use it to create a Windows 98 boot floppy. Insert floppy in drive.
>>>>Insert Win
>>>>98 CD in CD-ROM drive. Boot the system from floppy, switch to the R:
>>>>drive, and
>>>>enter the SETUP command at the DOS prompt. That will start up the
>>>>Windows 98
>>>>install. If it does not, the Windows 98 CD may be defective.
>>>>
>>>>And PLEASE! Tell us the exact hardware configuration you are dealing
>>>>with!!!
>>>>
>>>>... Ben Myers
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Ben I just downloaded the above all it does is create the same WIN98SE
>>>floppy as Control Panel's add/delete programs does which hangs the system
>>>when I try to use it.
>>
>>
> Yes unless I still missed something

 

[vinCe]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Timothy Drouillard wrote:
> I appologize if I mention something that you may have already tried, but i'm
> coming into this thread quite late in the game....
>
> It's easy to give erronious advice based on the fact that a person says he
> has a Dell XPS. Need to be a bit clearer sometimes to make sure we don't get
> confused between the old XPS systems and the current XPS gen x systems.
>
> That said, If I may, here is the way I normally install Win98 on a system.
>
> Start with some sort of Win98 boot floppy, and add the format.exe file to
> it.
>
> Boot to the floppy choosing CD-Rom support, fdisk the drive if needed, then
> format /s the HD.
>
> Put the Win98 CD in the CD-Rom drive.
>
> Go to the C: drive and create a directory (i usually name it 'win98cd') to
> copy the setup files to.
>
> Change to the CD-Rom drive, typically E:
>
> Change to the 'win98' directory and take a directory listing to make sure
> you're in the right place.
>
> Copy the contents of the E:\win98 directory to the C:\win98cd directory. no
> need to worry about sub-directories, they're not needed.
>
> If you were able to copy the contents to the C: drive, you have just proved
> that the CD is readable.
>
> Re-boot the system and boot fronm the HD.
>
> change to the c:\win98cd directory and run setup.exe from there.
>
> Installation should now procede normally. If it hangs somewhere during the
> install, it would again point to a hardware problem.
>
> Over many years, I've discovered that by copying the files to the HD and
> running the setup from there accomplishes several things.
>
> Once you get the system ready, setup runs much faster than from the CD.
>
> Because you have copied the files to the HD , any time in the future you add
> or modify the system or it's components and it asks for the CD, just
> re-direct it to the C:\win98cd directory. No more searching for the CD.
>
> Because you ran the original setup from the C:\win98cd directory, Win98
> should by default look in that directory the next time it needs files from
> the CD.
>
>
> Again I appologize if I'm suggesting something you've already tried.
>
> BTW, should I assume that the Dell diagnostic lights on the back show all as
> green?
>
> Good luck.
>
> "Vince" <holvbphoto@optonline.net> wrote in message
> news:ATqIe.2256$9v3.766@fe09.lga...
>
>>Ben Myers wrote:
>>
>>>A system hang is a symptom of some sort of hardware problem. I cannot be
>>>more
>>>explicit without a more exacting description of when, where and how the
>>>system
>>>hangs. You've checked and double-checked all the BIOS settings for
>>>consistency
>>>and correctness? ... Ben
>>>
>>>On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 00:51:20 -0400, Vince <holvbphoto@optonline.net>
>>>wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>Ben Myers wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>Fine. Maybe we're getting somewhere. IIRC, the XPS 266 system is not
>>>>>able to
>>>>>boot from CD-ROM. So go to www.bootdisk.com and download the file
>>>>>98BOT10A.EXE.
>>>>>Use it to create a Windows 98 boot floppy. Insert floppy in drive.
>>>>>Insert Win
>>>>>98 CD in CD-ROM drive. Boot the system from floppy, switch to the R:
>>>>>drive, and
>>>>>enter the SETUP command at the DOS prompt. That will start up the
>>>>>Windows 98
>>>>>install. If it does not, the Windows 98 CD may be defective.
>>>>>
>>>>>And PLEASE! Tell us the exact hardware configuration you are dealing
>>>>>with!!!
>>>>>
>>>>>... Ben Myers
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Ben I just downloaded the above all it does is create the same WIN98SE
>>>>floppy as Control Panel's add/delete programs does which hangs the system
>>>>when I try to use it.
>>>
>>>
>>Yes unless I still missed something
>
>
>
Thanks but there no point as the kids took the system back
and besides when I did the WIN98SE floppy it hung anyhow.
This is my last posting as I'm leaving the NG now
Thanks again friends

 

[Dan]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Make sure to get one with an Enter key that's not sticking

On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 16:58:37 -0400, Vince <holvbphoto@optonline.net>
wrote:

>This DELL XPS where I've been trying to re-load the OP system
>
>is a nightmare, no matter what I try it just won't go.
>
>I've done everything you good folks advised and its just no good
>
>Lastly after what I read on this NG be sure when it comes time to
>
>buy a new PC it won't be DELL.
>
>Thanks for you help