Will a Dell Windows disk work with a non Dell PC?

[RumblePen]

I'm building a PC for the first time and I thought I'd save $100 by just using the Windows ME disk that shipped with my Dell.

Does anyone know if there is something on that disk that wouldn't allow it to be used with non Dell hardware?

 

[jlanka]

probably not

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[ejsmith2]

"Does anyone know if there is something on that disk that wouldn't allow it to be used with non Dell hardware?"

Yes.

There is.

Try it. But I'm saying, be prepared for when it doesn't work. Remember, as long as a package isn't opened, you can always return it to Best Buy or Compusa for a full refund.

"I personally think filesystems should be rewritten from scratch every 5 years..." --- Hans Reiser

 

[Zoron]

If it didn't work, I wouldn't be surprised. However, from looking at the disc, it looks like a relabeled Windows CD... nothing more. It doesn't do a restore in the same sense that a Compaq restore CD does. It should work, but be prepared for the fact that it might not.

<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>

 

[4Ryan6]

If its specifically just 1 Dell restore disk, it will not work because all the drivers for the old machine are on that disk, including a handshake, (so to speak), with the original MBs Dell BIOS chip. However if the setup is a DELL loading disk, and a separate WinME OP SYS disk, you're in business, but you'll need a floppy bootdisk for the WinME OP SYS thats non proprietary which you can download and make from <A HREF="http://www.bootdisk.com" target="_new">http://www.bootdisk.com</A>. Just download the WinME bootdisk creator EXE file save it to My Documents on your machine, after the download is completed insert a 3 1/2" formatted floppy disk in your floppy drive, find the file you downloaded to My Docs and simply double click on it and it will write the files to the floppy and create you a WinME Bootdisk. Then use that floppy to boot with, make sure your machine is set to boot from the floppy drive, if you let the machine come up on its own it should end up at the DOS prompt, which is a flashing, (A:\>) without the parenthesis, Type FDISK, to run the FDISK program, set it as you need, making sure to enable large disk support, if you need further instructions on using FDISK post so, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. Then restart the machine, let it come back up on its own again, this time at the DOS prompt type FORMAT C: press ENTER, give it permission to Format your hardrive, when it completes press ENTER, when you once again arrive at the DOS prompt, at this point put the WinME CD in the CDROM drive, type CD then press ENTER, type E:\ press ENTER, type WINME\SETUP press ENTER, at that point WINME autosetup should start running, if you get an invalid drive error start back from the CD ENTER step, and in the second step try F:\, this is you CDROMS drive letter your CDROM should be drive letter E, but depending on the drives in your machine it could also be F,G,H, and so on but E should work. Once the setup starts running it pretty much is an answer the questions as you go thing. Post back if you have questions or need anything explained better.




Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.

 

[RumblePen]

Thanks. I really appreciate your help. I do have two CD's: a Dell Resource disk with drivers, and an OS disk.

The 2 times prior that I've formatted my HD and reinstalled Windows, the Dell tech had me run some program before I gave the format command. Something to clean or prep the disk I suppose. Any idea what this is and if it's necessary?

 

[lagger]

did he have you run fdisk.com maybe ??

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[4Ryan6]

The Bootdisk I told you about will give you the ability to bypass their features. Use the bootdisk to boot, do not use the Dell resources disk at all, in the bootup process. There may actually be some things on the resources disk that you're going to have to give up to achieve what you're after, but in the long run you won't regret it to get Dell completely out of the picture.


If you transfered any of the old periferals such as modem, lan, soundcard, video card, and such as that on the new machine, during the final bootup installation stage when Windows is installing its periferal drivers for your hardware any piece of hardware you transfered from the old machine you will need drivers for, click on cancel when Windows trys to install those particular hardware items you don't have the drivers for yet, so the machine will be able to come completely up then, do an explore only of the resources disk, find the drivers folder on the disk, you can independently recover the drivers for the particular item, by single right clicking the needed drivers folder, and from the drop down select, Send To:, select My Documents, then open the folder in My Docs and look for the setup ICON and double left click it to install the drivers you need.


Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.

 

[RumblePen]

I read a few ms support articles and one instructs to give this command when formatting an active drive:

format C:/s

Another article leaves off the /s. Which do I use?

 

[lagger]

format /s copies the boot files to the harddrive and makes it bootable they are io.sys, msdos.sys, command .com and config.sys and autoexec.bat when appropriate

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[4Ryan6]

If you follow the instructions I've given you, You will not have any problems, the /s will not be necessary if you download and make the bootdisk I told you about, the system files are on the bootdisk, and the step by step walkthrough I've already given you will take you through the boot process. Have you tried it yet? Post any problems you encounter, if you encounter any?




Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.

 

[4Ryan6]

One thing you do need to be concerned with is the Dell proprietary features of the old machine you can't get around, so if you're transferring anything at all from the old machine to the new, list exactly what you're transferring. The major question I have is, You are not going to try to reuse the Case and Power Supply are you?




Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.

 

[RumblePen]

I haven't built the new system yet. I am still waiting for my components to arrive.

The only thing I am carrying over to the new system are the Hard Disk, CD Rom, and Floppy drives. By the way, is it possible to do this without a Floppy drive?

 

[4Ryan6]

The only thing I am carrying over to the new system are the Hard Disk, CD Rom, and Floppy drives. By the way, is it possible to do this without a Floppy drive?

It is possible to do it without a floppy drive, but its a lot more complicated, if you're transferring the old hardrive you may have better results by running the manufacturers diagnostics disk on the hardrive and running a write disk recertification (or low level format), on the hardrive itself to return it to factory specs, that will remove any previous boot records from the drive, and that process you will need a floppy drive to do, you also can download and make the Diagnostic disk from Bootdisk.com. You just need the manufacturers name which is on the top of the hardrive, if its not a major brand name you can get a Dell, from the Utilities page.






Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.

 

[Random_Guy]

Yes, you can do it without a floppy, and it's simple.

Enter your CMOS setup at bootup and change it to boot from CD-ROM device first. It's probably set to boot floppy first, hard drive second, CD third (if at all) now. Just remember to change it back when you're done, or else it will ask you if you want to boot from CD-ROM any time you leave the Windows disc in there.

Somewhere on the Windows disc (in root directory or maybe in TOOLS or something, I can't remember) you have your format.com, so you can format the hard drive. Make sure you are either in that directory or type the path when you issue the command. You don't need the system files copied when you format - Windows will install them.

There's really no reason to run fdisk unless you're changing the partition structure. It's in that same directory if you want to though. Windows setup will automatically run scandisk (which is probably what techs had you run in the past) before it installs.

I've used the OEM OS discs that come with Dells and Gateways, and there's no difference between them and a genuine MS disc. The hardware you're carrying over shouldn't need any drivers that Windows doesn't have. You will need the authentication key when you're done with setup, so have it handy.

 

[dhlucke]

I'm almost positive I used my Dell Win98 disk on a non dell machine.

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[RumblePen]

I'm stuck. I can't partition, format, or install. Running fdisk I receive the following "Unable to access drive 1". When I boot with the startup disk, it tells me that Fat or Fat32 isn't found and tells me to restart and partition, which I can't do.

I've tried running fdisk from both the floppy and CD. I've run the debug script. The hard drive is installed and configured properly and is recognized in the bios.

I've read support article after support article, I have no idea why fdisk can't access my HD.

 

[4Ryan6]

The hardrive will have to be blanked or restored to factory specs first, I told you about that in one of my previous posts with the instructions I believe.




Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.

 

[Zoron]

You probably did. As I've stated... from boot to OS loading... all it looks like is a relabeled Windows CD. It doesn't mention ANYTHING about Dell anywhere in the process of reloading the OS.

<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>

 

[RumblePen]

I've erased the drive using Western Digitals DataLifeguard but fdisk is still unable access drive 1. I've also run the diagnostics and no errors were found on the drive.

 

[RumblePen]

I've tried the last thing I could think of, and it was what I should have tried first. The IDE cable was in backwards. I didn't consider this since the mobo was detecting the HD in the bios perfectly.

My IDE cable has three connecters: One black, one grey, and one blue. The Primary IDE port on my mobo is blue. Thinking it made sense, I plugged the blue connector to the blue port, the red stripe was to pin 1 and the notch matched up so I figured this was the only way it could be hooked up. Guess not.

Btw, is it possible to damage the cable having it in reverse?

 

[4Ryan6]

The blue end of the cable goes to the M/B

Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.

 

[RumblePen]

Aparently not, since plugging in the black connector fixed the problem. I was able to run fdisk and format the drive. That, and the system boots and runs its tests in less than 30 seconds instead of the 3+ minutes it took with the cable backwards.

But, now I have a new problem which takes us back to the topic of this thread, apparently my disk wont work with a non dell system. During windows installation I receive Error SU0173 telling me I have the wrong disk for this system and to contact my manufacturer.

I found a workaround here: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/brendrek/

and had a friend burn me a copy of the cd with the replaced file, but I am unable to get setup to run from the burned CD.

Sucks to get this far and not be able to install an OS you paid for.

 

[4Ryan6]

That workaround will definitely solve your problem, don't give up you're almost there, maybe something wasn't done quite right as per the instructions from the website, it should probably have to be burned as an ISO image, to be able to boot from it.




Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.

 

[RumblePen]

I got the machine up and running on Win98 (there's a couple of installation problems with the nforce2 drivers under win98 that I was finally able to get around) and was able to burn the CD correctly and install ME. Since then I've had no problems aside from a slight freeze after installing DirectX 8.1b and having to reboot, but that doesn't seem to have caused any problems.