Replacing failed HD in Dimension

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

Original Hard drive on Dell 4100 desktop has failed on my son's 3 year and 3
week old pc he uses for college. Looks like we will be replacing the drive,
and coincidentally today I got a mailer from MicroCenter with a special on a
7200rpm 160Gig hard drive for $109 after various instant and mail in rebates.
This pc came originally with WinMe and a coupon for XP Home. My son got the
Dell XP disks and installed them at least a year ago over the original WinMe.
We still have all Dell supplied CD. We have very little hope of nursing the
existing HD to life for purposes of recovering anything since he wrote his
precious mp3 library to CD, and as the school year is over, he claims he
doesn't need anything on actual school work on it. Assuming we cannot not
recover anything, or even boot from the current hard drive, what is the best
way for us to reload Win XP Home? I guess more precisely, will the Dell WInXP
load to a clean hard drive, or will it require some existing version of Win to
be installed? I could use some pointers, though I'll have no problem with
Office install etc.

Thanks for any advice,
Jere

 

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

jcmcdonald@aol.comnot (Jcmcdonald) wrote:

>Original Hard drive on Dell 4100 desktop has failed on my son's 3 year and 3
>week old pc he uses for college. Looks like we will be replacing the drive,
>and coincidentally today I got a mailer from MicroCenter with a special on a
>7200rpm 160Gig hard drive for $109 after various instant and mail in rebates.
>This pc came originally with WinMe and a coupon for XP Home. My son got the
>Dell XP disks and installed them at least a year ago over the original WinMe.
>We still have all Dell supplied CD. We have very little hope of nursing the
>existing HD to life for purposes of recovering anything since he wrote his
>precious mp3 library to CD, and as the school year is over, he claims he
>doesn't need anything on actual school work on it. Assuming we cannot not
>recover anything, or even boot from the current hard drive, what is the best
>way for us to reload Win XP Home? I guess more precisely, will the Dell WInXP
>load to a clean hard drive, or will it require some existing version of Win to
>be installed? I could use some pointers, though I'll have no problem with
>Office install etc.

When he is installing the WinXP home on the new drive, the
process will ask him to put his original OS CD [the Dell CD
containing WinME] in the CD Drive momentarily for verification.
After that, the install will continue.

He should go to Dell's support web site, enter his Service Tag
number and recheck the D4100's specs. From that site, he can do
a search for a Dell instruction set on reinstalling the system's
drivers from the Dell "driver" CD, which should be done
immediately after installing the OS. Some may need updating to
work with XP [although FWIW, when I upgraded an L733r of ~ the
same era as his 4100, none of the drivers supplied for ME needed
updating for XP].
--
OJ III
[Email to Yahoo address may be burned before reading.
Lower and crunch the sig and you'll net me at comcast.]

 

[Guest]

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

If all you're worried about is whether you can do a clean install with
Dell's XP CD, fear not: Dell's CD will work perfectly well in the old
computer and it will perform a clean install. There's no need to have ME on
the computer in order to use Dell's CD.

You also asked about the best way to install XP if the old hard drive is not
bootable. That's actually a moot point, because the XP CD is bootable. Just
be sure to set your computer to boot from the CD drive first (i.e. to boot
from the CD drive before trying to boot from the hard drive), then put the
XP CD in the CD drive and start (or re-start) your computer. The setting to
boot from the CD drive is in the BIOS, which you can access even if the
computer doesn't boot. Your computer will boot from the XP CD, and from
there you just follow the steps for a clean install.

Before installing, you should update your computer to the latest BIOS
available on Dell's web site.

You know, there are lots of other considerations here: You will want to
remove the old hard disk before you start and replace it with the new hard
disk. Unless you have experience with this manoever, follow the directions
in the computer's User Guide or check Dell's knowledge base for complete,
illustrated instructions. Once the new hard disk is in place, just boot from
the CD and you're all set.

I would suggest you have a look at this illustrated guide to installing
Windows XP. It helps if you know what to expect:
"Windows XP Clean Install (Interactive Setup)"
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp

Dell also has terrific information in their knowledge base that takes you
step by step through all the stages of installing XP and all the other
Dell-supplied software.

You didn't ask us for our opinion on that new hard drive you are
considering...what brand? what model? We have lots of experience with
different hard drives. It may be worth your while, if you feel you have
enough time, to pick our brains.

It's worth mentioning that you can clone the old hard drive onto the new
drive, so you won't have to reinstall anything, although this is an advanced
procedure. If you previously had ME on the computer, it's probably better to
do a clean install anyway, as you'll maximize the computer's stability and
performance. At the very least, you can copy data easily enough from the old
drive onto the new.

Last thing: Disconnect the computer from the Internet until after you have
installed Windows and your antivirus software. Then, connect to the Internet
and go directly to Windows Update (do not pass Go, do not collect $200) to
get all the security updates. After that, update your virus definitions. Now
you can proceed with the rest of your software installation.

Rocky

"Jcmcdonald" <jcmcdonald@aol.comnot> wrote in message
news:20040713220046.16931.00001226@mb-m20.aol.com...
> Original Hard drive on Dell 4100 desktop has failed on my son's 3 year and
3
> week old pc he uses for college. Looks like we will be replacing the
drive,
> and coincidentally today I got a mailer from MicroCenter with a special on
a
> 7200rpm 160Gig hard drive for $109 after various instant and mail in
rebates.
> This pc came originally with WinMe and a coupon for XP Home. My son got
the
> Dell XP disks and installed them at least a year ago over the original
WinMe.
> We still have all Dell supplied CD. We have very little hope of nursing
the
> existing HD to life for purposes of recovering anything since he wrote his
> precious mp3 library to CD, and as the school year is over, he claims he
> doesn't need anything on actual school work on it. Assuming we cannot not
> recover anything, or even boot from the current hard drive, what is the
best
> way for us to reload Win XP Home? I guess more precisely, will the Dell
WInXP
> load to a clean hard drive, or will it require some existing version of
Win to
> be installed? I could use some pointers, though I'll have no problem with
> Office install etc.
>
> Thanks for any advice,
> Jere

 

[Guest]

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

jcmcdonald@aol.comnot (Jcmcdonald) wrote in message news:<20040713220046.16931.00001226@mb-m20.aol.com>...
> Original Hard drive on Dell 4100 desktop has failed on my son's 3 year and 3
> week old pc he uses for college. Looks like we will be replacing the drive,
> and coincidentally today I got a mailer from MicroCenter with a special on a
> 7200rpm 160Gig hard drive for $109 after various instant and mail in rebates.
> This pc came originally with WinMe and a coupon for XP Home. My son got the
> Dell XP disks and installed them at least a year ago over the original WinMe.
> We still have all Dell supplied CD. We have very little hope of nursing the
> existing HD to life for purposes of recovering anything since he wrote his
> precious mp3 library to CD, and as the school year is over, he claims he
> doesn't need anything on actual school work on it. Assuming we cannot not
> recover anything, or even boot from the current hard drive, what is the best
> way for us to reload Win XP Home? I guess more precisely, will the Dell WInXP
> load to a clean hard drive, or will it require some existing version of Win to
> be installed? I could use some pointers, though I'll have no problem with
> Office install etc.
>
> Thanks for any advice,

???????????????????????First, are you SURE your hdd is dead! Could be
one of a dozen different causes! If it is indeed dead, then your
answer is YES..as long as the new HDD is attached to the DELL, and
you're using the Dell WIN XP, it will load , even without requiring
activation. Try the Dell XP an another computer? NOPE!
> Jere

 

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

The Dimension 4100 will not natively support greater than a 127GB drive.

Tom
"Jcmcdonald" <jcmcdonald@aol.comnot> wrote in message
news:20040713220046.16931.00001226@mb-m20.aol.com...
> Original Hard drive on Dell 4100 desktop has failed on my son's 3 year and
3
> week old pc he uses for college. Looks like we will be replacing the
drive,
> and coincidentally today I got a mailer from MicroCenter with a special on
a
> 7200rpm 160Gig hard drive for $109 after various instant and mail in
rebates.
> This pc came originally with WinMe and a coupon for XP Home. My son got
the
> Dell XP disks and installed them at least a year ago over the original
WinMe.
> We still have all Dell supplied CD. We have very little hope of nursing
the
> existing HD to life for purposes of recovering anything since he wrote his
> precious mp3 library to CD, and as the school year is over, he claims he
> doesn't need anything on actual school work on it. Assuming we cannot not
> recover anything, or even boot from the current hard drive, what is the
best
> way for us to reload Win XP Home? I guess more precisely, will the Dell
WInXP
> load to a clean hard drive, or will it require some existing version of
Win to
> be installed? I could use some pointers, though I'll have no problem with
> Office install etc.
>
> Thanks for any advice,
> Jere

 

[Guest]

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

On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 11:46:54 -0400, Rocket J. Squirrel wrote:

> Last thing: Disconnect the computer from the Internet until after you
> have installed Windows and your antivirus software. Then, connect to the
> Internet...

....with a firewall enabled. The nasties out there are *quick*!

-Jeff B.
yeff at erols dot com