Hard Drive suggestions
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3437 Registered: Mar-07 | Hey fellas, turns out my hdd took a chit on me. I just ordered a new 250 gb hdd from Dell for a total of 110.39, my question is: should I call back and cancel my order and purchase something off newegg or should I just stick with what I orderd? Also, after troubleshooting and reseating my RAM to get into diagnostics, I found that one of my sticks was bad, would a bad hdd affect the RAM? I would think not, but this is fairly new RAM, they are kingston 1 gb sticks. Thanks for the feedback. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3438 Registered: Mar-07 | By the way i have a Dell Inspiron E1505. If you have suggestions, can you link them so that I know which hdd will be compatible with my laptop? Thanks |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3439 Registered: Mar-07 | So the hdd that I had ordered is a WD 250 GB, 8 MB buffer size, 5400 rpm spindle speed. should I cancel the order and get the WD 250 GB, 7200 rpm, 16 MB cache off of newegg, or will it not make that much difference? |
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Gold Member Username: Andrew571Stillwater/Edmond, Oklahoma USA Post Number: 2185 Registered: Oct-05 | I bet Dell has a markup price on that HDD. I would never order from a large corp. like that. newegg and ebay ftw |
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Silver Member Username: Mrskullz1Brooklyn, New York Post Number: 993 Registered: Feb-07 | go to tigerdirect.com you can get a 1TB hard drive for that price now lol...i think you are paying a lot of money for that HDD |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3440 Registered: Mar-07 | Mr. Skullz I don't think the 1TB would fit in my laptop lol. but I will give it a look. I totaled up the price for the hdd from newegg with UPS next day saver and it is 99 bucks, which is still $10 cheaper and faster speeds. |
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Silver Member Username: Mrskullz1Brooklyn, New York Post Number: 994 Registered: Feb-07 | lol i am sorry, i did not know it was for a laptop. |
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Silver Member Username: Mrskullz1Brooklyn, New York Post Number: 995 Registered: Feb-07 | http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=39694 44&CatId=1277 dunno if that would work with you...but check that site out...it has pretty good prices all around |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3441 Registered: Mar-07 | what's the difference between ATA and SATA interface? |
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Silver Member Username: LuisdelbronxBronx, NY USA Post Number: 246 Registered: Jan-06 | Sata is a faster technology. regular ata aka PATA aka IDE is older tech and wont fit in laptops that take sata drives. The sata interface has L shapped Connectors while the IDE has pins. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3442 Registered: Mar-07 | alright thanks luis, my laptop has ata-100 not sata. looks like I'm sticking with what I got from Dell lol. |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9484 Registered: Jul-06 | Really I would send it back..... WD is the absolute worst brand of hard drives ever. At a place I used to work we had stacks upon stacks of failed caviar drives. I knew people working other places with similar expierences. Never one single failure with the seagates. What I always tell people is anything but WD. But IMO seagate/maxtor is the best choice, I have never seen one of those fail. |
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Gold Member Username: The_image_dynamicSan Diego, California Post Number: 5073 Registered: Dec-06 | I agree 100% with what MS said. But I will add that the Raptor and VelociRaptor series of 10k WD drives are extremely good. For whatever reason, probably the higher quality internals (and a total re-think of the design) required to run at the faster RPM, the Raptor series have had a nearly flawless reputation for ruggedness and performance. |
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Silver Member Username: Armykyle1Ms Us Post Number: 139 Registered: Dec-08 | i'd get the one off newegg |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3443 Registered: Mar-07 | kyle, the one off newegg is the same as the one I ordered. M.S. the only seagate that I would consider is the 160GB, but I was hoping to get something like the 250GB. Also, what is the difference between ATA - 6 and ATA - 100. the WD that I ordered is ATA - 100 interface, when I search newegg, I can only search ATA - 6. However, when I search ATA - 6 I come up with the WD2500BEVE which is what I ordered from Dell. Also, not to defend anyone, just for information purposes, this hard drive is 3 years old, and I don't know how many hours I've logged, as I rarely completely shut down my computer. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3444 Registered: Mar-07 | item# N82E16822148073 ^that is for the seagate I just mentioned. |
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Gold Member Username: Th3pwn3rI compensate... Post Number: 9182 Registered: Jul-06 | M.S., you're retarded lol. W.D. is the most used hard drive around for a reason, they make the best drives around. Just because you get one bad batch of products in your tiny little shop doesn't mean the whole world is receiving the same. I doubt you guys carried even .001 percent of WDs hard drives. I remember when I went to tigerdirect and got 3 DOA motherboards that were from ASUS(Top ranked boards if you didn't know), it was a bad batch so I had to get a different board. It happens and people who know what's up with PCs know it. Seagate on the other hand has had lots of buzz on their forums for a loooong time now in regards to their drives failing. It's not a bad batch if the 500gig, 1TB and 1.5TB drives are failing, it's just sh1tty product. http://techreport.com/discussions.x/16232 First it started with lots of complaints of the 500gig hd, then the 1.5TB and now the 1TB drives are failing. They say it's almost as bad as the drives IBM had originally named "Deskstar" but became known as "Deathstar" drives. Also, Maxtor has been called "Suxtor" for ages for a reason. To the OP: Send it back, that's really, really over priced drive. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3445 Registered: Mar-07 | Rob, I looked on newegg, and the price to pay for a 1 year warranty for the same drive plus overnighting it would come out to the same price essentially. The reason I would be overnighting it is because the spring semester starts up again on tuesday. |
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Gold Member Username: Th3pwn3rI compensate... Post Number: 9183 Registered: Jul-06 | Have you checked out local shops? You may be able to get yourself a good deal. How much is the warranty? Over night shipping will always r@pe you horribly. I'd use a pen and paper for a bit instead of a laptop and wait it out probably. Unless you need it for something else other than note taking. Did you ever build that rig we were talking of a long while ago? By the way, I was about to invest into 2 Seagate 500gig hard drives until I read about sh1t about their current drives. Steered me right to WDs 500gig caviar. |
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Gold Member Username: Th3pwn3rI compensate... Post Number: 9185 Registered: Jul-06 | In Seagate news they just released the Barracuda® 7200.12 Hard Drives so maybe these will last longer than the .11 drives. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3446 Registered: Mar-07 | I have not checked out any local shops around yet, as they are not many. But I have pretty much been going off of tigerdirect and newegg prices as being the lowest around. as far as the one year warranty goes, through newegg it would be 15 bucks. I'm not really concerned about the overnight cost, as it is expected, I was just saying that paying for the warranty as well as overnight would be the same price essentially. I don't use my laptop for note taking, I use it for research and online homework, as well as essays and chit that seem to be becoming a pain in the azz with the education program I am in. |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9487 Registered: Jul-06 | @ Rob..... wow could your post possibly fail any more. First of all it is not just one batch, everywhere I have worked nearly all of the hard drive failures have been WDs. Even had a bad external drive. And secondly its not just me thats had that experience.... also others I know and apparently Brad also. @ Brad Those 10k rpm raptors really that good/reliable? I looked at all the tests when they came out and they have awesome performance but I just figured they were built like all the previous WDs. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3447 Registered: Mar-07 | So I can't find the original discs that came with my notebook, the more I think about it, the less I believe the discs even came with it as the OS was already loaded on it. That being said, my question is now, can I load Vista (since my step father has the disc for it) on to my new hdd and not have any problems? |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9489 Registered: Jul-06 | BTW you fail again. I'll admit there is a disaster going on right now with the 7200.11s but it is a firmware issue not a failure in the drive, and there is updated firmware out now to fix it...... and they have offered free data recovery services and a new drive to anyone whos drives became inaccessable..... can't ask for much more than that. Their warranties have always been unbeatable. |
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Gold Member Username: Th3pwn3rI compensate... Post Number: 9186 Registered: Jul-06 | Let's see the the proof of these WD failures that you speak of. By the way, FIRMWARE is a part of the product you dumbazz, and if it's failing, it's failing. There are all sorts of updates for lots of products but it still doesn't solve it for people that install them out of the box. I don't want to buy a product just so I can fix it, it doesn't make sense. There is a lot more than just firmware with Seagate/Maxtor drives by the way and we can go back and forth on it. Show me some proof of all these issues with WD hard drives, I bet you can't. WD is the drive of choice of many for a reason. If you have to ask about a 10K rpm Raptor you're obviously a noob in the PC world. Just about everyone knows how beastly in performance and reliability those drives are. I run my OS off of one and use a 500gig caviar for storage. I'm assuming you run Seagate drives MS? By the way...their warranty used to be 5 years and has been cut down to 3. This also drove sales away from Seagate, do your research son. I shouldn't have to school you anymore. It's alright though, soon enough we can go back and forth about who makes the best SSDs which I'm sure you'll know the answer to that as well since you've worked at all these shops. |
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Gold Member Username: The_image_dynamicSan Diego, California Post Number: 5076 Registered: Dec-06 | Wow Rob -- I know you hate MS and want nothing more than to prove him wrong, but... what you wrote is such utter bullshit I have to respond. First of all, WD is hardly "the most used drive around". Seagate is by far the industry leader, and has been for years, even before their takeover of Maxtor in '07. Many top execs are leaving WD for companies like Hitachi, who are now poised to take the #2 spot in worldwide sales from WD. The execs are leaving because of well known reliability issues, horrid customer service, and longtime money management issues. And if it wasn't for WD's now dwindling contracts as an OEM supplier of cheap, failure-prone drives (like the one that this thread was SUPPOSED to be about) they would fall to 4th in the global market, WD recently tried to acquire Fujitsu's HDD resources to attempt to pull within a workable distance behind Seagate, but even that backfired when Fujitsu backed out of the deal after learning first hand what a shoddy outfit HD is. All of the major online retailers, such as newegg, tiger direct, and zipzoomfly -- sell Seagate drives at a 2-1 clip over WD, proving my point above that WD relies heavily on their bottom-of-the-barrel OEM market share. Second -- Seagate only cut their warranty to 3 years on the bare bones OEM drives such as Barracuda and their mobile drives, both of which are still 5 years when purchased in a retail box. Every other Seagate HDD still carries a 5 year warranty. Recent industry studies indicate that over 95% of HDD returns occur in the first 3 years of use. Third -- WD drives have long had a reputation for unreliabilty around the industry. Their name is almost synonomous with failure. "Oh no, you didn't put a Western in there, did you?". I personally have custom built over thirty computers for friends and clients, and I have always used Seagate drives with zero failures so far. I also wrote a computer column for five years and I saw a huge number of WD failures over that time. I have a whole box of WD Caviar drives in my storage that someday I will attempt to repair the sectors on. I have had countless friends give me their WD drives in disgust because they know I have the tools to repair them in some cases. They were all replaced with Seagate. You know the grinding, halting sound that occurs when a HDD fails? This is known as the "Western Digital sound". I still to this day have never heard or witnessed very many failures of Seagate drives, although I did read a story about a defective batch that was sent recently to India. Seagate has been very solid for me since I started in computers, and the WD drives I have either had or friends had, have mostly failed. The link you posted about the recent Seagate drive failures is well known... it was attributed to a firmware error and has nothing to do with the reliability of the drives. Nearly all of those drives are now working flawlessly for those who updated the firmware version, which Seagate went out of their way to report and advertise, something WD is long known for never doing. There was nothing at all wrong mechanically with any of those drives. Firmware is what it is to correct problems that arise just as this one did. Every company constantly updates their firmware to fix bugs and issues that come along. And you want proof other than what I discussed above? Just do a Google search for "Western Digital sucks" or "Western Digital unreliable" or "Western Digital issues" for thousands upon thousands of horror stories of not only HDD failure, but failure of WD to do anything about it, or even care. So maybe it's you that needs to do a little research?  |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3453 Registered: Mar-07 | So back on topic...and really to further the topic, since I failed to get a preimaged drive, how do I image a drive so that I can write an OS to it? I've never installed a new drive, nor have I had the need to install and run an OS onto one. |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9496 Registered: Jul-06 | Haha I believe thats called owned lol. Maybe you can send rob one of your WDs for proof. I threw out all ~50 of ours. Thieves: If you are going to keep that drive which I highly recommend you do not, you will need a CD for whatever version of windows your laptop came with. The laptop should have a label on the bottom with the windows product key you will need. The key works only with the version of windows it says. Put the new blank HD in the pc and make sure the BIOS is set to boot from the CD drive before the hard drive, hit F2 as it starts up and look for boot options. Then the windows installer will load and you can format the partition/format the drive from there. Create a partition if it does not already have one using the max available space. Then format it NTFS, and let windows install. Then you will need to go on dells support site, enter you service tag also on a label on the bottom, and download the drivers for all of your hardware. You can see if any devices still need drivers by right clicking my computer, properties and open device manager, any alert icons are devices that do not have drivers. Then just reinstall all your software. I recommend you then make an image of your system so you don't have to do all this again in the event of another failure... esp if your keeping that WD drive lol. PM me if you would like help making an image. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3454 Registered: Mar-07 | So I'm pretty sure I understand your tutorial here M.S., and thanks for that, although I'm sure I'll have some questions along the way. But my question now is, if I don't have the Windows XP Media Center CD, is there a way I can just do a clean install of windows Vista and not have any real problems? |
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Silver Member Username: LuisdelbronxBronx, NY USA Post Number: 247 Registered: Jan-06 | Thieves, you can just download a dell media center cd from isohunt.com and use that (if you're familiar with torrents) and it will go through without a hitch.. i've done it for alot of people. as long as you have a dell you can use it. i looked up the specs on your laptop and if you have upgraded your ram to at least 2 gigs then you should be fine with vista. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3455 Registered: Mar-07 | I do have the 2 GB upgrade, which is another story. I upgraded sometime in july or august, and the same time I discovered partitions on my hdd were bad, one of the new sticks of RAM went bad. right now I'm only running 1 GB until I get the new hdd in, and my grounding straps on my feet. The reason I ask about vista, is that I already have the discs and keys for it, so it would be a bit easier, that is if I don't run into any problems once the OS is up and running. |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9504 Registered: Jul-06 | You CAN NOT install vista using the same key as someone else used, it will fail activation. You need a xp media center cd if thats what your key is for. If you don't have the disc you could do what luis said and download a torrent of it on a different pc. |
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Gold Member Username: Th3pwn3rI compensate... Post Number: 9188 Registered: Jul-06 | http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=215066 There's a good update for you on Seagate  Bricked drives FTL. Thieves, either DL a cracked OS or have someone send you a copy along with a product key changer. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3462 Registered: Mar-07 | Thanks for all the help guys, and information on both companies. I received an email today stating the hard drive should be delivered to my parents house, since the dumbazz sales rep didn't listen to me when I gave him a different shipping address. Regardless, I will be sending it back and getting a hdd through newegg. Unfortunately I'm on the fence now. There are only fujitsu hdds (rather small at that, 80GB max), seagates and WDs. The seagates, according to Rob's link, at least the ones that are compatible with my laptop are not affected by the recent firmware f-up. And the WDs are the caviar, the type that I ordered through Dell. M.S. I'm not really sure what you mean by your most recent post, at least the second half of it. I do not have the discs, nor do I have the keys for the discs. What I do have is Vista sitting in my desk at home. That particular OS I don't think has been installed yet, on any computer. There was an attempt to install it on my stepdad's thinkpad, which was unsuccessful. Regardless, if it has been installed on another system, can I download a product key changer and use the Vista disc I have? |
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Gold Member Username: Th3pwn3rI compensate... Post Number: 9192 Registered: Jul-06 | Yea but you're going to need another product key. This is important when you want to install your updates. You can still get cracked versions that will do what you need. If I had one laying around I'd ship it to you but I don't right now and I'm actually running a legit copy of Vista 64 bit =/ |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9524 Registered: Jul-06 | " What I do have is Vista sitting in my desk at home. That particular OS I don't think has been installed yet, on any computer. " Ok, if it has not been installed yet then you can install it on your laptop and use that vistas product key. But if it had been installed before you're screwed when you try to activate it. As for the new drive I've said it before and will say it again, Seagate all the way..... they make some very good 120-500GB laptop drives. I run a seagate 160GB IDE drive in my laptop (my poor laptops gettin old) |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9525 Registered: Jul-06 | Your laptop uses a SATA drive so you've got tons of options, but heres the best one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148371 Good quality 500GB SATA drive for $110 and free shipping. And newegg is a good store to order from. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3463 Registered: Mar-07 | well I feel like stabbing someone now, mainly the dell sales associate who sold me an ATA interface hdd. that had me under the impression that I did not have a SATA interface. that definately opens up my options. |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9526 Registered: Jul-06 | Just buy that drive i showed you and make dell take thiers back.... if they dont take it back and pay return shipping reverse the charge with your credit card company.... they fukked up |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3464 Registered: Mar-07 | That's what I planned on doing, I just have to figure out if it's at my apartment, as my parents didn't call yesterday. Anyway, I don't need 500GB in my laptop as I already have a 320GB external. So I am in between the Seagate 7200rpm and the WD 7200rpm 250GB hdds....as they both have great reviews on egg. so basically my decision comes down to this thread...lol |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9528 Registered: Jul-06 | Take it from me Seagate... if not me take it from Brad hes got 10x more expierence than any of us |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3465 Registered: Mar-07 | this is the seagate I was considering: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=22-148-364&SortField=0&Sum maryType=0&Pagesize=10&SelectedRating=-1&PurchaseMark=&VideoOnlyMark=False&Vendo rMark=&Page=1&Keywords=(keywords) |
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Silver Member Username: Armykyle1Ms Us Post Number: 196 Registered: Dec-08 | i had a maxtor external HDD it took a dump 1yr after i had it, i bought some cheap called lacie i think, i've had it for 2yrs and i use the sh!t out of it, and travel with it alot. it seems to be holding up pretty good. it seams to be as fast as my internal one (dell inspiron 9300) |
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Gold Member Username: Th3pwn3rI compensate... Post Number: 9195 Registered: Jul-06 | According to a Seagate "employee" Seagate has been doing things half-azzed backwards =/ It's all over the forums as well. |
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Gold Member Username: Th3pwn3rI compensate... Post Number: 9196 Registered: Jul-06 | http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=4771 57 thread page thread on it and the admin pulled the so called "employees" posts =/ |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9531 Registered: Jul-06 | Thieves: For persormance that drive is about as good as it gets with laptop drives, I'd recommend it if it's enough space. kyle: Maxtor didn't used to be that good, they're owned by seagate only recently. And an external USB drive will never be as fast as an internal one, I could explain why but dont feel like it...... Rob: Not even gonna try. I could pull up 10x more sh!t about WD but just don't care. |
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Gold Member Username: Th3pwn3rI compensate... Post Number: 9197 Registered: Jul-06 | Pull up 10x more sh1t, please. Bet you can't or won't. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3468 Registered: Mar-07 | so after searching, I've only found the "Drivers and Utilities" disc,Microsoft Works 9.0 disc, and Windows Vista Ultimate. after I install ultimate, will I have to re install my drivers and utilities? What else do I need to do to get my laptop running as good, or better than before it crashed? |
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Platinum Member Username: Basshead86FTW Post Number: 10335 Registered: Aug-05 | WD > Seagate Seagate > WD i just use my computer and im glad it works. lol |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9536 Registered: Jul-06 | You will have to reinstall drivers and whatever software you had. And the windows key has to not been used yet. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3470 Registered: Mar-07 | lol, I get it M.S. . my step dad tried to install it on an old thinkpad but there simply wasn't enough space. so the installation failed. regardless of whether the key works or not, is the drivers and utilities disc pretty universal as far as which OS it goes with? |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9538 Registered: Jul-06 | No.... you will have to download the vista drivers from dells web site.... put in your sercive tag and choose vista. |
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Gold Member Username: Th3pwn3rI compensate... Post Number: 9203 Registered: Jul-06 |
Right if you want to do SP updates but you can still install with a duped or key already in use. |
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Diamond Member Username: BestmankindPost Number: 23200 Registered: Oct-05 | i was able to find a 250gb seagate sata notebook hdd for $69 at office depot. it was on special sale. damn the dell hdd failing on me. it was a seagate hdd that came with my laptop btw. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3473 Registered: Mar-07 | my friends are telling me to stay away from vista, as it isn't compatible with anything lol. I have both 32 and 64 bit, but I'm a bit warry to install it now. the problem here, is that I can't find a good torrent for xp media center anywhere that I've looked.... |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9543 Registered: Jul-06 | I would have told you that also but you seemed intent on using it. Vista on a system that didn't come with it is just asking for compatibility problems. I'd send you a copy of media center but I only have xp pro. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3474 Registered: Mar-07 | well...I never used my media center anyway, it was a bit cumbersome. so, would you mind sending me a copy of xp pro? and would I need a keygen to get a new key to use for it? |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9544 Registered: Jul-06 | http://torrents.thepiratebay.org/4659667/Microsoft_Windows_XP_Media_Center_2005_ with_SP3_OEM__Activated.4659667.TPB.torrent You could try that, although it looks to be a cracked version so your windows wouldn't be genuine. You may be able to change the product key to your after installing, I have done that on xp pro before. |
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Gold Member Username: Th3pwn3rI compensate... Post Number: 9204 Registered: Jul-06 | There are also cracks to make your Windows appear genuine. The only reason you need a genuine key is to get MS support. You can get their SP packs elsewhere and install them though. It's usually only security fixes but certain things require your SP to be updated. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3477 Registered: Mar-07 | well as I said previously, I've never really used my media center app, it's slow and it's a bit pointless I think. So if I can save on partition space then I would prefer that. which is why I asked if you, M.S., wouldn't mind sending me xp pro. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3483 Registered: Mar-07 | bump for M.S., would you mind sending me that xp pro disk? |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9563 Registered: Jul-06 | If you want to send me a few bucks for S&H I could send you an xp pro disc but I can't give you a valid key.... I have valid VLKs but can't risk them getting out. Meaning it would fail activation and couldnt be updated. But if you don't care about that send me a PM. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3486 Registered: Mar-07 | well can't I download a keygen, so that I can get a valid key, thus allowing me to get the updates? or is there another route I can go through to get a valid key? |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9566 Registered: Jul-06 | I can give you a keygen but they do not generate valid keys.... you can install but not update with those. And windows pops up stupid messages constantly. The way you get a valid key is buy a legit copy of XP. I think your best bet is to get dell to send you a disc for free or cheap... they should since your PC came with a valid windows license. |
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Silver Member Username: LuisdelbronxBronx, NY USA Post Number: 248 Registered: Jan-06 | http://isohunt.com/download/19815218/dell+xp.torrent Download and burn this, run it and it will install like if its legit only because you have a dell. When ever you install windows on a dell with a dell cd they never ask for the serial because it looks for and detects a specific line of code dell writes in the firmware (thats what i believe anyways. Toshibas work like this when you try to run that toshiba only image restore). Try to run that cd on a non dell and it will ask your for a product key. I've installed this on a few dells, sometimes it installs regular xp and sometimes it will install media center but never asks for a cd key. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3489 Registered: Mar-07 | thanks Luis. Can I update with the copy you just linked? |
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Gold Member Username: Kpa2727Old Bridge, NJ USA ! Post Number: 1569 Registered: May-07 | it's a dell recovery disc , u should be fine thieves. i use dell oem discs i have, all the time with no issue. the worst that would happen is it would ask you to re activate.i recommend highly , depending on what service pack is in there. if it's not updated u could have to worry about the blaster worm and so on. so definatly i say update. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3492 Registered: Mar-07 | lol, called Dell, pretty painless, the new startup disks should be here by the end of the week. is there any way I can not install the Media Center aspect of XP when I get the disks in? I never use that damn program, and the faster I can have my "new" laptop, the better. I'll definitely be more conservative about installing programs and downloading chit this time around lol. there is a lot of useless stuff on my comp right now. |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9578 Registered: Jul-06 | I don't have much expierence with media center, but I believe it is it's own version of windows so I don't think you can do that. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3514 Registered: Mar-07 | hdd in, now I'm just waiting on the start up disks. |
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Gold Member Username: Kpa2727Old Bridge, NJ USA ! Post Number: 1575 Registered: May-07 | yes M.S. is right , it's it's own version of windows not a add on. plus might wannna not get ur hopes up to much most of the time they are going to send u vista discs as a free upgrade not xp. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3523 Registered: Mar-07 | lol, so this morning there is a knock at my door, I get up, trip on the power supply cord, and I drop the laptop.... so since I figured out my hdd was bad, I have been using my laptop but it will shut off and blue screen etc. well when I dropped the laptop the hdd officially took a dump, I got the "no bootable devices" message. Ironically, the person knocking at the door was the delivery guy delivering my new start up/recovery disks. so right now, my laptop is in the other room, new 2GB RAM, new 250GB hdd, installing xp media center. thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it. |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9611 Registered: Jul-06 | Sweet, I'm glad everything has worked out for you so far. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3526 Registered: Mar-07 | well after re installing the OS, and getting halfway though my drivers, my CD?DVD drive failed. wonderful. That being said, what am I limited to as far as a new drive goes? |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3528 Registered: Mar-07 | I can't seem to find a dvd R/RW, CD R/RW combo IDE drive on newegg or tigerdirect. |
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Silver Member Username: LuisdelbronxBronx, NY USA Post Number: 249 Registered: Jan-06 | ouch. i would go with an external slim drive. or check ebay dell drives.. just type in your model number and dvd rw. |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9614 Registered: Jul-06 | You sure it's bad? Can you boot from the CD, that would mean its a windows problem. If so the only place to get a new one would be from dell since those drives are proprietary. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3529 Registered: Mar-07 | Luis, I'd really prefer to keep it internal, as I don't have much space on my desk. M.S. I'm sure it's bad, I tried booting the drivers and utilities disk, the software disk that comes with the OS disk, and a plain audio CD to no avail. My computer is up and running, it's just missing half the drivers, and I didn't install the browser software, so I have no idea how to get to the internet and download the rest of the drivers. After trying to boot all of those disks, I went into diagnostics and got a spindle test failure message. So, I'm sure it's bad lol. |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9618 Registered: Jul-06 | Well windows comes with IE so you've got a browser. lol If you need a network card driver you wouldn't have internet though. Guess you gotta call dell again for a new CD drive, that sucks. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3532 Registered: Mar-07 | Well M.S., I got recovery disks, so the OS is actually on a different disk than the internet software. I do have an IE icon, but it can't/won't connect to a direct internet connection. This calling Dell BS is getting old. |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9631 Registered: Jul-06 | You DO have the IE browser then.... you probably don't have a driver for the network card.... which is why you have no internet. And you can't download it cause thats a catch 22. So you're going to need that CD drive. Or else download your nic card driver from another computer. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3539 Registered: Mar-07 | I see what you're saying. On another note, this is the second time the sales rep took down the WRONG shipping address....grrrrr....looks like I'll be taking my quizzes at the library damnit. |
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Gold Member Username: Th3pwn3rI compensate... Post Number: 9215 Registered: Jul-06 | Use a flash drive or something to put the drivers onto your Laptop. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3542 Registered: Mar-07 | The prob there, is that I don't have access to a PC that can download or even access the interweb right now. I took a spare thinkpad out of my closet before I left for the weekend, turns out it's so old that it has a telephone wire input but not an ethernet one. I need to find a place that has free wifi, because it does have a wireless card. |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3547 Registered: Mar-07 | wrong f*ckin disks!@#!@#!@#!@# a quick google search revealed this was not an isolated mistake, they have been sending out the wrong disks for a while now......grrrrr....I may just wait and go home and download the updated drivers on my desktop, even though I am supposed to be getting the correct disks in today or tomorrow. I wanna stab someone. |
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Gold Member Username: Th3pwn3rI compensate... Post Number: 9219 Registered: Jul-06 | Wow, I can't even imagine your frustration. This is why I have a few computers =/ |
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Gold Member Username: JtownTexas Post Number: 3548 Registered: Mar-07 | I downloading the required network and video drivers on a friends comp, and uploaded them on mine, success!!! I am still missing 3 Base System Device drivers, I think this has to do with the correct NSS not being uploaded yet. I also need to flash my BIOS,as I have version A12, and the current BIOS is A17. Are the drivers I'm missing the NSS install? And Rob, I WILL be building my own rig this summer for sure, I'm tired of this BS. I just don't know if I want to run Vista on it or not. |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Philadelphia, PA Post Number: 9705 Registered: Jul-06 | NSS? Just go on dells website and download all the drivers for your system, the ones you need will be in there somewhere. |