Thetownend.com

My Dads shitty Dell has been playing up so I ordered a new HDD:

Western Digital WD800JB 80GB Hard Drive 7200RPM 8MB Cache

I've screwed it into the case and connected the relevant wires, but now I think I need to do something in the BIOS settings which appear if I press F2 on startup. Trouble is I have no idea, and it didn't come with any instructions. I've twiddled with some HDD settings in the BIOS menu but no success as yet.

Any ideas please?

Straight swap for the existing HDD? SATA or IDE?

Its not identical to the old one but I matched up the interfaces and wotnot. I think. I really hope.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/34419

Its EIDE, ATA-100

It replaced this

http://www.samsung.com/ph/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=computerperipherals&type=harddiskdrive&subtype=35patahdd&model_cd=SP0401N

There will be a little plastic jumper on the back of the hard drive which connects to a couple of pins. The pins should be labeled master and slave. Make sure the drive's jumper is connected to the master pins.

Make sure the power connection is secure on the back of the HDD.

Also, you will need to load the operating system e.g. windows onto the drive before it will do anything.

Finally, if you've connected the hard drive to the same slot on the motherboard (circuit board) you shouldn't need to change anything in the bios.

Did the master thing, covered the M for master one up with the plastic bit.

Plugged in the big long connector, and little one, to the back of the HDD.

How do I load the OS onto it? He's lost his Windows CD so I've downloaded a dodgy version of XP and have it burnt to CD.

Put the cd into the computer and when hopefully it asks if you want to boot from disk, press any key. Then the disk will load and should guide you through the options. Use the serial number on the sticker on the back of the pc though, and you will have a legit copy installed.

If it does not ask/want to boot from disk you need to change the boot order in the bios so dvd/cd drive is the first device to boot from. Remember to change this back to the pre-adjusted setting after windows is installed though.

At the moment when I turn the comp on with HDD all plugged in it says

Diskette drive 0 seek failure
Primary drive 0 not found
F1 to continue, F2 to run setup utility

Hope thats not a bad sign.

Ah sounds good, cheers Si I'll try it now.

It looks heavily modified. If you want the full version I'd find another torrent or someone with a normal disk just in case.

The version you have will work though.

Yes I think so. I'd try and use the legit serial which Dell would sticker onto the machine rather than the crack which comes with that one though.

Just PM'd you OF.
 
@Si Pie - isn't it the case XP OEM key will only install with an XP OEM CD unless you modify something or other?

Cheers, I'm getting an OEM one now.

Nope, you can buy OEM discs of XP intended to put on your own system builds/for system builders.

I bought an OEM XP disc for my pc and have used it on loads of people's computers with a 'standard' license and also manufacturer licenses (e.g. Dells).

Dell (and HP/Compaq) use tattooed motherboards/bios - Eprom, one reason I despise them.

Some early OEM keys will actually install in 3 different PC's with no bother, the newer ones are limited to 1 installation.

I had a hard drive yesterday.

Plymouth and back in a day.

weak.

Tell me about it. I had to sit through an eight hour meeting as well. Uber knackered.

Should I burn just the ISO file to CD, or open it out with ISO buster?

I'm going to use ISO buster

Do you find yourself talking to yourself often?

Only when I'm stupid enough to ask dumb questions.

Argg. With either of the CD's (modded XP, OEM XP) it gives me the....

Diskette drive 0 seek failure
Primary drive 0 not found
Strike F1 to continue F2 to run setup utility

....message. In the BIOS its like this:

Drive Config - Diskette drive A: 3.5inch, 1.44mb
                 - Primary master drive - unknown device
                 - Primary slave drive - OFF
                 - Secondary master drive - CD ROM device
                 - Secondary slave drive - OFF
                 - IDE Drive UDMA - On
HArd Disk Drive Sequence - 1. System BIOS boot devices
                                   - 2. USB Device (not installed)
Boot Sequence - 1. IDE CD-ROM device
                     - 2. Hard disk drive (not installed)

There's an OS install mode on/off bit, but neither makes a difference. It says something about limiting memory to 256mb.

Would involving an external HDD be useful at all? If its having a problem with CDs?

I've tested both of the CDs in this laptop and they both work.

Give your dad the laptop  ;)

Sorry OF I forgot about this. Have you tried pressing the F1 key to continue?

No worries have only just got in, and thanks for all your help so far.


Yeah, It repeats the message.

How odd. You definitely selected master and not Cable Select on the jumper didn't you.

I assume the Hdd is powered on OK and spinning up, and that it's connected OK on the IDE cable/cable to MOBO.

Q for Si Pie - I'd have though BIOS would have detected some sort of signature from the Hdd, but its displaying 'unknown'. Is that correct or not?
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Other than that, I assume the BIOS is set to auto detect the Hdd and not set manually for the number of cylinders/heads/etc.
---

Not sure why the thing won't boot from CD ROM straight off mind given they work in the laptop. Maybe the Dell doesn't like them for some reason.

I assume they are CD-r or CD+r , have been finalised and are not CD-rw/+rw's?

Just unscrewed it and the jumper is definitely on the 2 pins on the M for Master row.

I can hear the HDD spin, so its definitely powered up. The cable to HDD/mobo is connected fine at both ends.

I turned the diskette thing off because it doesn't have a floppy. Have tried primary drive on AUTO and disabled.

The CDs are CDR's, finalised with Nero.

It should be recognising the drive but what I would try first is to swap over the connection from the hard drive to the cd rom and vice versa. By my recogning that would make the cd rom primary 0 and maybe progress the thing along.

I reckon the drive is too big for the BIOS. That's if it's an old-ish Dell.

Could be, though you'd have thought it would try and boot from the cd.

Maybe it might be time to find a BIOS update.

What model Dell is it?

Dimension 3000.

Argh why can't it just plug in and go!

Its currently got BIOS v. AO2, but AO3 is here, must be worth a go

http://support.euro.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R115211&SystemID=DIM_CEL_3000&servicetag=BYVHQ1J&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=308&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=4&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=1&fileid=151932

A little progress. Checked the old HDD and its set to cable select, CS. switched the jumper on the new one and it now recogises it in the BIOS, but still no luck getting anything off the xp cds.

I've got to ask, when you checked the CDs in your laptop, did they boot before it got to Windows?

Shit i was just putting them in with windows already up and running on the laptop. Just tried them in the cd drive from startup and they don't make a difference, i t loads vista like normal

hahaha :)

Not sure why CS works and master doesn't, but if it detects it then all is good!

I assume the laptop boots from floppy first, anyway if the disks are duff from a bootable sense then there's ya problem.

What software do you use to burn cds?

I used Nero for one, Windows explorer for another. Nero for the OEM one.

In nero there should be an option to create a disc from an image. Select that option then it will ask for file location. Select the iso file you downloaded and then it will burn the bootable cd.

FWIW I just opened the ISO as SI Pie says and it worked fine. Open the Nero burning ROM (close any boxes that open) and select file/open.

OF, Just get a new PC  ::)

Its getting there! The CD booted and its formatting.

You have more patience than me......if it was the same scenario for me and didn't work, my PC would be getting booted (into the garden). :nod:

I think Si Pie deserves the plaudits here

No worries, at least it appears it will be sorted without a messy BIOS update.

If you want to recover the files from the old hard drive it may be another patient task though, but I can help you with that one too if needs be.

Why are you helping this scummer anyway? Don't people on the scum forums know about computers?

He's actually a Swindon fan

I think the answer to that is obvious, he comes on here cos he gets a better quality answer! :)

I always try to help those less fortunate than myself. And if he really is an Oxford fan he can't get much less fortunate.

I would like my displeasure recorded in the official logs.

Hes genuinely oxford. At least as far as I can tell. He knows all about them...

I have been wondering this for a while - why would you start posting on a swindon board if you were an oxford fan?  :wtf:

Because he is a closet Swindon fan.

Yep its all go now, even managed to get it online too. Sod getting stuff off the old HDD, I've done my bit and there's nothing vital on there. Should I ever come to another Swindon match I'll buy you a pint Si, thanks a bunch.


I came on just for a bit of banter originally, then discovered that the 'general discussion' was a lot better than the Oxford version, and the members in general were more my age and more entertaining. Onion Jimbo used to make me laugh a lot, an olden day Flammable Ben if you will. The personnel have changed a bit since then, but this is the only forum I post on and it still has good content and good members. Its the only forum I post on.

do you go to games regularly?

Swindon games? No, Ralphy kindly gave me a lift one time when Mooney came back to the County Ground with Wycombe a few years back, the season after he left us.

no oxford games

Spy, Oxford don't have a football league club any more.

Yeah. Had season tickets regularly from 2000, then went to Uni, now living back in Oxford so go to most games.

Have you ever been to a Swindon game (that wasn't against Oxford)?

Ralphy kindly gave me a lift one time when Mooney came back to the County Ground with Wycombe a few years back, the season after he left us.

Is Ralphy still on here?