Dell formatting problem; Urgent help

BOZG

My friend uses a Dell Dimension 5150 and had recently been having a lot of performance problems. Tried defragging, freeing up RAM and System Restore but to no avail. Dell in Ireland don't give any of their own Dell Restore CDs or OS CDs anymore, so we decided to just try a fresh install of Windows XP Pro using floppy boot disks. Formatting the hard drive was no problem, all 6 disks worked perfectly, finally asking for the XP disc to be inserted and copying the setup files to the hard drive. But when it rebooted, the first Dell loadup screen appears but it refuses to start Windows install. It checks the CD drive but refuses to boot it. I've tried changing boot sequence and manually booting the CD drive through the Boot menu but it still refuses to install. As a result of formatting, the computer now does nothing so you can see why I need urgent help or am I going to be forced to hire a Dell technician. Has anyone any suggestions? There is no problem with the CD or boot disks themselves, I tried them on my own PC last night and they work fine.

tba

when you say it fefuses to install does the cd actually boot or is it not even spinning?

BOZG

It just refuses to boot. I can hear it spinning and it lights up.

Airblazer

try swapping out the cd with another one just for the install..hopefully it's something as simple as this..

BOZG

What do you mean swapping out the CD for another one? How do I install it then?

Anyone have anymore ideas?

BOZG

After re-checking to make sure the boot sequence accessed CD-ROM again, it still refuses to work. Definately checks the CD drive but just won't boot the CD. The Dell loadup screen just keeps repeating itself. I went into the boot menu itself and clicked on Onboard CD-Rom drive to try and force it to boot from the CD drive but I get the following message:

Selected boot drive is not available

Looks like a Dell technician having to fix it which I really don't want to pay for. Is it easy to remove the hard drive from Dell PCs because it would probably be cheaper to just pay for a new hard drive than ask Dell to help?

Wertz

Slotting in a new HDD or removing the old one is a piece of piss...they sit on these green plastic rail brackets that you squeze the ends of to release the drive.

tba

yeah I used to but one in every thirty seconds

BOZG

But don't the drives themselves have brackets attached to them so that they can slide in? So where would I buy a hard drive with those brackets on them? I don't think Dell sell hard drives independently.

CyberGhost

extra brackets should be attached to the case itself, inside.

cython

CyberGhost wrote:

extra brackets should be attached to the case itself, inside.

Or you might just be able to transplant the brackets from the old HDD to the new one (unless you want to keep both disks in the machine)

tba

or anybody with a dell ill have some more in their machine