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HDD gone after 1 year and 4 days - OS install issue

 
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dellity
Discovering Dellhate


Joined: 17 May 2009
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Sun May 17, 2009 1:26 pm    Post subject: HDD gone after 1 year and 4 days - OS install issue Reply with quote
So it happened to me too now...

Just 4 days ago my standard one year warranty expired and the HDD of my XPS720 died on me.

With Seatools I got the issues fixed but for how long...?

I just popped in a new Seagate to take over the new OS installation. The old one will be my secondary backup then.

Now, here is the issue.

I can't install any other OS than the one that came with the computer.
It came with Win XP Media Center Edition but I already own XP Pro.

I can't get the XP Pro to install. I constantly get a blue screen during installation saying something about a virus... All bogus!

Has anyone here ever installed another OS on a XPS 720 other than the one it came with?

Dell told me before I could install any OS I want. I told them it won't work. They said maybe the 4GB Ram cause a memory issue during installation and take 2GB out at least during the install. Didn't do anything. Still got bluescreen.

Can anyone give me some ideas what's happening here? Is Dell trying to keep me from installing other OSs other than the ones they sell the computer with?

Thanks in advance
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Rocke_T_Sinetist
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Joined: 26 Aug 2005
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PostPosted: Sun May 17, 2009 11:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
New drive? How could a blank drive have a virus on it? I'd try manual partition write. But the diskpart utility is about the most cantankerous, oblique POS interface Microshaft ever wrote. Like they wrote it for you to NOT use it. From one step to the next they don't even identify the drive the same way.

Dell doesn't lock the system to one install. They DO lock their install disks so it will only install on a Dell within a generation of the one it came with.

Standby, maybe someone has an idea. I might could make it go, hands on, but not in text tell you what to do.
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dellity
Discovering Dellhate


Joined: 17 May 2009
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Rocke_T_Sinetist wrote:
New drive? How could a blank drive have a virus on it? I'd try manual partition write. But the diskpart utility is about the most cantankerous, oblique POS interface Microshaft ever wrote. Like they wrote it for you to NOT use it. From one step to the next they don't even identify the drive the same way.

Dell doesn't lock the system to one install. They DO lock their install disks so it will only install on a Dell within a generation of the one it came with.

Standby, maybe someone has an idea. I might could make it go, hands on, but not in text tell you what to do.


Well, I'm quite sure it has nothing to do with the new drive. Whether I tried to install XP Pro on the original HDD when I first got the computer or now with another new HDD installed I get the same Blue Screen during install.

More precisely I get the Blue Screen right after the Install CD has loaded all drivers to start the installation. Once the message at the bottom of the screen states: "Starting Windows" I get the Blue Screen.

After some research back then when I first tried it I found many people having the same problem. They got a XPS720 with Media Center Edition and tried to install XP Pro 64 which wouldn't work.

Some where I read that it worked if you burn your own "updated" XP Pro install CD. Of course you need your original CD and integrate your SATA drivers into the installation CD and burn a new one.

I forgot the name how you call the process of doing so. I got the tools to do that

AND

I actually made it through the entire installation Razz

BUT

when Windows was supposed to boot, I got a Blue Screen. Crying or Very sad

This is too much of a time waster to keep doing this. I was just wondering if someone found a straight forward tutorial for that kind of issue.

I also tried a bunch of other XP Pro installation CDs from colleagues from work and they all fail.

One more question:

Dell delivered my XPS720 with 4GB of RAM and Media Center Edition.

Is it correct that Media Center Edition is not be able to address all 4GB of RAM? I was under the impression that if you have more than 3GB installed on your system you should be running 64-Bit OS in order to address/use all the memory resources.

I'm not a geek so I don't know...
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incident_man
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Joined: 04 Sep 2007
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PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 4:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
As I understand it:

system memory + graphics memory <= 4GB for a 32-bit os

If, for example, you have 4-1GB sticks of RAM, 512 MB graphic card, and a 32-bit os, it'll only see 3 GB of system memory (you can't get 3.5 GB out of 4-1GB sticks, obviously, but if your motherboard supports 8 sticks of 512 MB, then you can).

For a 64-bit os, it doesn't matter. For the record, my insp 6400 is running Vista 64-bit w/2GB RAM and it runs really well, better than my Dim 4600 w/2.5 GB RAM and Win XP. Einstein@Home and Seti@Home run a lot faster on the Insp 6400 versus Dim 4600, even with no other programs running, save what's in the system tray.
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dellity
Discovering Dellhate


Joined: 17 May 2009
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 4:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
incident_man wrote:
As I understand it:

system memory + graphics memory <= 4GB for a 32-bit os

If, for example, you have 4-1GB sticks of RAM, 512 MB graphic card, and a 32-bit os, it'll only see 3 GB of system memory (you can't get 3.5 GB out of 4-1GB sticks, obviously, but if your motherboard supports 8 sticks of 512 MB, then you can).

For a 64-bit os, it doesn't matter. For the record, my insp 6400 is running Vista 64-bit w/2GB RAM and it runs really well, better than my Dim 4600 w/2.5 GB RAM and Win XP. Einstein@Home and Seti@Home run a lot faster on the Insp 6400 versus Dim 4600, even with no other programs running, save what's in the system tray.


OK thanks for clearing that up.
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