Replacing a drive in a Dell 8400 Desktop

This machine has what I believe to be a flaky drive and I want to replace
it. I am willing to buy XPP full install- but from where can I download the
drivers? I "believe" the video and sound are compatible enough, her modem
has me a bit concerned. Can someone point me to a URL?

When did they stop giving us the original XPP and drivers on CDR? This is
why I build computers- so I have the tools to work with.

"Michael Hobbs" wrote in message
...
This machine has what I believe to be a flaky drive and I want to replace
it. I am willing to buy XPP full install- but from where can I download
the drivers? I "believe" the video and sound are compatible enough, her
modem has me a bit concerned. Can someone point me to a URL?

When did they stop giving us the original XPP and drivers on CDR? This is
why I build computers- so I have the tools to work with.


If the laptop shows "Built for XP" then dont worry the drivers should be
included in XP

Michael Hobbs wrote:
This machine has what I believe to be a flaky drive and I want to
replace it. I am willing to buy XPP full install- but from where can
I download the drivers? I "believe" the video and sound are
compatible enough, her modem has me a bit concerned. Can someone
point me to a URL?
When did they stop giving us the original XPP and drivers on CDR?
This is why I build computers- so I have the tools to work with.

If the machine came with XP Pro, and has the code on the sticker underneath,
you can use any old XP disk to install the operating system, just use the
code on the sticker when installing.

The other drivers will be on the Dell website, but you may find that XP
installs default drivers that work.



HTH,

Pete.

Why buy XPP? Install the new drive as a slave and copy the image to your
new hard drive. Most hard drives come with the software to do this or you
can download it. Then remove the old hard drive and cable the new one as the
master.

"Michael Hobbs" wrote in message
...
This machine has what I believe to be a flaky drive and I want to replace
it. I am willing to buy XPP full install- but from where can I download
the drivers? I "believe" the video and sound are compatible enough, her
modem has me a bit concerned. Can someone point me to a URL?

When did they stop giving us the original XPP and drivers on CDR? This is
why I build computers- so I have the tools to work with.

Michael Hobbs wrote:

When did they stop giving us the original XPP and drivers on CDR? This is
why I build computers- so I have the tools to work with.

The driver CD is an option when you configure the PC. It's not really
necessary though since you can download the latest ones for free...

Alex

Not quite.

First, you cannot install XP Home and expect it to accept an XP Pro COA.

Second, the Dell versions of XP Home and XP Pro are ever so slightly different
than the retail versions (and the upgrade versions). As a consequence, a
retail XP install will not accept the XP COA from the sticker on the Dell.

Finally, if one has a Dell version of XP Home or XP Pro, it will install
perfectly and never ask for the COA. But only on a Dell.

The same holds for HPaq, IBM, Lenovo, Gateway and all the other larger Microsoft
OEMs. Their versions of XP install just fine on their computers (their branded
BIOSes actually) without need to manually enter a COA code... Ben Myers

On Fri, 14 Jul 2006 17:42:22 +0100, "P"
wrote:

Michael Hobbs wrote:
This machine has what I believe to be a flaky drive and I want to
replace it. I am willing to buy XPP full install- but from where can
I download the drivers? I "believe" the video and sound are
compatible enough, her modem has me a bit concerned. Can someone
point me to a URL?
When did they stop giving us the original XPP and drivers on CDR?
This is why I build computers- so I have the tools to work with.

If the machine came with XP Pro, and has the code on the sticker underneath,
you can use any old XP disk to install the operating system, just use the
code on the sticker when installing.

The other drivers will be on the Dell website, but you may find that XP
installs default drivers that work.



HTH,

Pete.

On Fri, 14 Jul 2006 10:58:20 -0500, "Michael Hobbs"
wrote:

When did they stop giving us the original XPP and drivers on CDR? This is
why I build computers- so I have the tools to work with.

Dell stopped distributing support CD's around the same time the cases
changed from black plastic to white metal. From what I recall, the
entire recovery system is located on the hard drive.

It's great when they send me a blank hard drive for these calls. Dell
doesn't want to waste time preparing an imaged HD, but they also don't
want to spend money on recovery CD's (90% of all desktop HD calls have
a blank HD; only about 10% have an XP imaged HD prepared for the
customer). I call phone support and the tech goes,

"ok, so just run the hardware diagnostics" ...um, the new hard drive
is blank....there's no diagnostic partition.

"oh....ok, so now start the recovery partition on the hard
drive"....uh....

"oh...yea...ok, so now install the XP reinstall CD" What CD's?

Then the phone tech orders out a set of CDs and spends 10x more in
overnight shipping than it would've cost Dell to simply include them
in the box in the first place.

Granted, Dell's gotten better in the past few months, but those kinds
of calls were interesting.

The flaw in your math is that as long as less than 10% of the shipped
systems require the CDs, then they make money.

I'm sure it's *WAY* below that.....

Regards,
Hank Arnold

Dan wrote:
On Fri, 14 Jul 2006 10:58:20 -0500, "Michael Hobbs"


Then the phone tech orders out a set of CDs and spends 10x more in
overnight shipping than it would've cost Dell to simply include them
in the box in the first place.