Need help with dell dimension 2400 with new hard drive

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aziebel

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I will try to make this brief. I have a dell dimension 2400 that the hd went down. I have a like new IBM drive installed, the bios recognizes it, however, I cannot get the computer to re-install the cd that i have from dell to reinstall xp. i have the boot sequence to start with the cd, however all I get is press f1 to try again, for f2 for setup. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks
adam
 


It won't re-install on a new hard drive. The drive needs to have previous Dell installation of XP, and the Dell disk restores it.
Another issue is that Dell makes many computers so they won't work with off the shelf hardware. You must use Dell hardware only, which has proprietary system pre installed on the drive when you buy it. This includes the RAM memory sticks.
At the very least you will need a new XP installation disk. You might need a Dell hard drive.
Well you should be pressing F2 for setup if you can get it to work.
Amazon has the best deal on XP pro install disks, installer version is cheaper, you will need the motherboard drivers from the dell or intel websites. Check your motherboard model number.
The best deal on a dell drive is on e bay, it's velociraptor. But is your system IDE or SATA? I used one in my system and it works great. There are some velociraptor Dell IDE drives around if you search on e bay.

Now the lesson to be learned: Dell and other manufacturers make computers so they don't accept regular parts, you have to buy proprietary parts, to avoid this, build your own computer with off the shelf hardware.
Never buy a computer unless it comes with the entire operating system on a CD, NOT a restore disk. never depend on the system restore that is installed into the computer, many times it won't work. Always get ALL your drivers on a CD from the manufacturer, before you pay. Otherwise, you may find yourself stuck and out of luck.
 


Dell doesn't make their own hard drives or RAM. The velociraptor is made by western digital, not Dell.


@ aziebel
Try disabling all other boot devices in the BIOS, except for the CD/DVD drive. Double check the cables, and make sure they are secure.
 
I mentioned the velociraptors on e bay because they were made specifically for dell computers, have the dell label affixed, and are approved for installation, wheres other off the shelf drives will not work in a Dell. There is a proprietary system loaded into these drives before they are sold specifically for installation in Dell computers. And yes they are made by Western Digital, custom, for Dell. The difference being that they cost half as much on e bay as they do when you buy them from Dell, thought that it was worth mentioning.
On some dells the drive needs to be set to master if it's an IDE drive, and some need to be set to cable select. That also might be the issue.
 
Depends on the model and manufacturing date, during 2008, Dell stopped using many of the proprietary parts, in some models, still uses them.

The first XPS to shed the proprietary hardware will be the new budget XPS630 gaming machine. Based on the nForce 650 ichipset, Dell claims you can swap the board, PSU out for any other ATX-spec hardware.

The change is a long overdue. In the past, Dell has used designs that looked ATX-like but were actually not. If you tried to swap the power supply in your Pentium III Dimension XPS B 733R years ago, you would have been greeted by charred motherboard as the company actually wired its PSU’s differently than the industry but did not key them differently. For years, PC Power and Cooling has made small side business selling Dell upgrade PSUs. More recently, the company has been called out over BTX support and even using a proprietary power plug in its more recent XPS gaming rigs.

Why the use of proprietary designs? Cynical observers have said the company was just trying to lock customers into buying parts exclusively from Dell. The company has long defended the practice by saying that the variations from spec were because its engineers found the specs to be lacking. But the heat from critics and machines such as Hewlett-Packard’s Blackbird 002 going all ATX apparently have forced Dell to see the light. Company officials said the mantra in Dell engineering is that varying from the spec’s must be avoided at all costs.
 

ks875436

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Absolutely not correct. Adam only needs to have his BIOS flashed to A09 from the current A05 or ealrier. These do not support higher transfer rate HDDs. The problem is Dell has wrongly posted A09 for all 2400 machines, whereas the released A09 is only compatible with 2400C series machines and hence the patch doesn't get applied. Dell is aware of it, follow the thread;

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/p/19429301/20021656.aspx#20021656

In my job everyday I upgrade all kind of Dell systems with off the shelf hardware, Wetern Digital, Seagate, Maxtor, etc. etc. with no problems absolutely what so ever.

I have been able to even upgrade a 2400 RAM with an HP RAM of differnet speed and models with absolutely no problems. I was only not able to match just one more kind of generic only because of the latest BIOS but even that was achieved on a 2400C. I guess the only thing Adam needs to do is wait for a compatible BIOS upgrade released.

Kamran
 
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