Some of you helped me out last week on another issue, and I really appreciate it. Now, I am trying to reload XP from a DVD that Dell just sent me, on to a Western Digital 160GB drive that came with this Dimension E510 and which I just formatted. It was in this six year old Dell, and I am trying to get the PC running. I did a diagnostic test and the hard drive shows no problems, but the Processor failed the APIC Test, and the System Board failed the Timer Functionality Test. I guess you all are thinking there is a major problem here with this PC, but I have a question. Could this HDD need some sort of drivers that the Dell CD is not providing? I ask because I had the HDD out of the PC to look at it and forgot to put it back in. When I tried to install the XP, without the drive inside, it did all of the same loading, etc., that it does with a drive in it. Then it locked up at Windows is setting up, with a blue screen. Is that normal for it to not even need a hard drive to start loading, or could it be that when it is time to do something in the loading process with the drive, something is not there to complete the XP set up? Maybe the drivers? Thanks for any help. Tom
most likely is a setting issue in bios as that dvd came from dell for that pc so any driver needed is already on that disk. i ran my xp pro sp2 disk on my new acquired laptop to make certain it could boot before getting a new hard drive for my sony viao laptop, didn't need to load a special driver for it. this computer i'm posting on is a clone intel dual core with sata hd & xp pro sp2 initally with no special drivers.
Possibly it's the CMOS (BIOS, motherboard) battery that needs replacing. The PC you have listed should have a normal IDE drive, therefore no (additional) drivers needed. Nope, Windows setup needs something to install to; Maybe you had like a USB stick plugged in @ the time?.. Anyway, you're not trying to preserve any data - but just to install Windows?! If the partitioning from the Windows setup CD won't work, then there's something wrong with the system. :$ Link @ Code: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348 PS. Load the BIOS and see if the drive is even recognized 1st. =)
