Dell XPS T450

Now that I got my new Dell xps 420 system, I would like to wipe my Windows
98se off my Dell XPS T450 and install XP and give it to my brother.
The specs are Dell Dimension XPS T450 MHz
Pentium III MiniTower Base with 512K Cache
384MB SDRAM Memory
6x max variable dvd-rom drive
13.6GBUltra ATA Hard Drive, 7200 rpm

Can I do that? Change it to an XP machine?

Cdlsrn wrote:
Now that I got my new Dell xps 420 system, I would like to wipe my Windows
98se off my Dell XPS T450 and install XP and give it to my brother.
The specs are Dell Dimension XPS T450 MHz
Pentium III MiniTower Base with 512K Cache
384MB SDRAM Memory
6x max variable dvd-rom drive
13.6GBUltra ATA Hard Drive, 7200 rpm

Can I do that? Change it to an XP machine?

Maybe. Dell doesn't have drivers for XP on that model.
Win2k or ME is as late as it goes. I had several 4100s at 900MHz and
above and frankly that was as slow as I would want to go.
http://support.dell.com/support/down...atid=&impi d=

Hi!

Can I do that? Change it to an XP machine?

Yes, but you should really consider putting 512MB RAM in place. XP
will run in 384, but anything beyond that is iffy at best.

Much of the hardware will probably already have support in XP,
especially basic system devices like the chipset. The video is
probably also supported. Still, before you wipe the machine, run
through Device Manager and write down the hardware that's present
under each category, paying special attention to:

Video
Sound
Networking
Modem

Then back up all your data and make sure the backup worked. When
you're done with that, get a tool like DBAN and wipe the machine. If
you go to Dell for drivers, the Windows 2000 drivers will work fine.
I'd check with the hardware manufacturers first, and use their
drivers--especially if they are newer.

You'll need a copy of Windows XP next. The system should have no
problem starting from the XP installation CD and once that takes
place, you should be good to go.

I think the computer will actually run XP fairly well if the graphical
"extras" are turned off. I'm running XP on a Dell Dimension L566cx
right now with 512MB RAM and an 80GB hard disk. It runs well, although
multimedia-heavy web pages tax the system heavily. Other than that it
works well and is very usable--it's presently joined to a domain and
word processes, plays music, burns CDs and has played DVDs without
issue.

William

"Cdlsrn" wrote in message
...
Now that I got my new Dell xps 420 system, I would like to wipe my Windows
98se off my Dell XPS T450 and install XP and give it to my brother.
The specs are Dell Dimension XPS T450 MHz
Pentium III MiniTower Base with 512K Cache
384MB SDRAM Memory
6x max variable dvd-rom drive
13.6GBUltra ATA Hard Drive, 7200 rpm

Can I do that? Change it to an XP machine?


I gave away a Dimension XPS T600 that had a 1 Ghz processor in it. It ran
Windows XP flawlessly, but it had (I think) 768 MB of memory and an updated
video card.

Is that all it will handle? or can I add more than 128mb? if I change some
of the settings.

"William R. Walsh" wrote in message
...
Hi!

Can I do that? Change it to an XP machine?

Yes, but you should really consider putting 512MB RAM in place. XP
will run in 384, but anything beyond that is iffy at best.

Much of the hardware will probably already have support in XP,
especially basic system devices like the chipset. The video is
probably also supported. Still, before you wipe the machine, run
through Device Manager and write down the hardware that's present
under each category, paying special attention to:

Video
Sound
Networking
Modem

Then back up all your data and make sure the backup worked. When
you're done with that, get a tool like DBAN and wipe the machine. If
you go to Dell for drivers, the Windows 2000 drivers will work fine.
I'd check with the hardware manufacturers first, and use their
drivers--especially if they are newer.

You'll need a copy of Windows XP next. The system should have no
problem starting from the XP installation CD and once that takes
place, you should be good to go.

I think the computer will actually run XP fairly well if the graphical
"extras" are turned off. I'm running XP on a Dell Dimension L566cx
right now with 512MB RAM and an 80GB hard disk. It runs well, although
multimedia-heavy web pages tax the system heavily. Other than that it
works well and is very usable--it's presently joined to a domain and
word processes, plays music, burns CDs and has played DVDs without
issue.

William

Hi!

Is that all it will handle? or can I add more than 128mb?

According to www.crucial.com (always a good place to look and maybe
even buy, depending upon price), you can put a maximum of 768MB in
place. The largest supported DIMM is 256MB in size per Crucial, so I
would say that you almost certainly have three RAM slots in the
machine.

Right now you could have 256 and 128, or three 128s...a 256 and two
64s...it could be anything and you might have to remove some RAM in
order to add more.

William

you can most definately do this but you want to have at least a 20gb hard
disk (xp fully patched plus microsoft office professional fully patched plus
an antivirus program comes to nearly 10gb). and it is a breeze as even the
oldest version of xp as all the drivers you will need built in. 384mb is on
the light side, and a memory upgrade would certainly help xp run faster on
this old machine, but the price of memory for this machine (that is
particular about the memory it accepts) likely will make it not worth the
effort. but don't fret, it will still work just fine, it will just be slow
to start up and/or open programs. but still perfectly good for surfing the
internet and doing word processing tasks. you don't have to actually wipe
your old operating system, just begin by putting the xp cd into the optical
drive and booting from the cd... once booted you follow prompts which
include allowing you to delete the current partions from the drive and then
create a new single partition that you should then format as ntfs. the
hardest part of this process is getting the thing to boot from the cd.
enter the system bios and change the boot order to have the cd as the first
thing it tries to boot from, then the floppy, then the hard disk... once
windows is loaded then connect to the internet and visit
update.microsoft.com until you have windows fully up to date. then download
a good free 'light' antivirus program like free.grisoft.com or avast. good
luck.

"Cdlsrn" wrote in message
...
Now that I got my new Dell xps 420 system, I would like to wipe my Windows
98se off my Dell XPS T450 and install XP and give it to my brother.
The specs are Dell Dimension XPS T450 MHz
Pentium III MiniTower Base with 512K Cache
384MB SDRAM Memory
6x max variable dvd-rom drive
13.6GBUltra ATA Hard Drive, 7200 rpm

Can I do that? Change it to an XP machine?

I had 128 and I added 256 from crucial years ago. They give you very good
instructions, how to do it yourself. Is there such a thing as a 384? Ginny


"William R. Walsh" wrote in message
...
Hi!

Is that all it will handle? or can I add more than 128mb?

According to www.crucial.com (always a good place to look and maybe
even buy, depending upon price), you can put a maximum of 768MB in
place. The largest supported DIMM is 256MB in size per Crucial, so I
would say that you almost certainly have three RAM slots in the
machine.

Right now you could have 256 and 128, or three 128s...a 256 and two
64s...it could be anything and you might have to remove some RAM in
order to add more.

William

Hi!

Is there such a thing as a 384?

It would be extremely unlikely. I've certainly never seen any module
that claimed to have 384 megabytes of capacity in a single unit.

William

this 256mb module from newegg works in the dimension t series. i have used
scores of them and even have some spares... a much better value at $29 ($23
+ $6 shipping) than the $69 crucial wants. but sadly, i don't think i would
even spend $29 on this, certianly not before i loaded xp on the existing
system to see how it performed as-is, and probably not after having
installed it either. good luck.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134144


"William R. Walsh" wrote in message
...
Hi!

Is there such a thing as a 384?

It would be extremely unlikely. I've certainly never seen any module
that claimed to have 384 megabytes of capacity in a single unit.

William