Dell Dimension 9100....HELP!!

[harley_Husky]

Hi all AB ers.

Can anyone please help....

I have been given a Dell Dimension 9100 PC, which came with just the motherboard.

I've fitted in all the peripherals as they should be, with the exception of my MAxtor HD, which i've had to use as primary on an IDE, as the Dell uses SATA drives which i don't have..

OK, heres the problem.

Need to reinstall windows, for which i use 98se floppy. Altered boot sequence no probs, picks up floppy, Fdisk/format c:/s etc.. no probs.

Enable 'cdrom support'... "setup" ..no probs.

Chug chug...etc.. Enter windows key....no probs.

wondows installs some drivers (not sure what ) & system asks to reboot. Does this and then Blue screen of death saying something like: Your child devices are not supported" then something about 32bit drivers, and windows will use something default....

At that point.... Hangs.!!

Sorry that this is a little 'long winded' but i'm stuck.

Do i need some 'raid drivers' whatever thay are, or a Bios disk of some description >>>>>????

Very many thanks.
Eddie

[kempie]

There may be a way of resolving this but what immediately strikes me is that you are attempting to load a version of Windows which was released around 5 years before the motherboard was produced. Dell's support website doesn't offer drivers pre Win 2000 for the mobo chipset...

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driv erslist.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&ServiceTag= &SystemID=DIM_P4_9100&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&imp id=

...so it could be the case that Win 98SE is not supported by the mobo.

[harley_Husky]

Hi Kempie, and thanks for your response.

I'm loading 98se as i then load XP on the top as an 'upgrade'..

I cannot seem to get it to take an XP disk from the outset of reformatting....??

Is it me being a muppet !

[kempie]

Ignoring the convoluted method of XP install (which probably introduces all manner of complications compared to a straight install) I would suggest disconnecting any and all peripherals not required to complete the upgrade. Since the device manager is already complaining about some of the 'children' I say ignore them until you have a basic OS up and running.

If you can get this most basic system to function you then install the Dell drivers and add the peripherals back in (one-by-one is optimal, but a few at a time should be OK).

[rojash]

"I cannot seem to get it to take an XP disk from the outset of reformatting....?? "

Not sure what you mean by this, but if you are trying to upgrade from 98 to XP (as appears to be the case) then the upgrade can only be successful if all the 98 drivers are working correctly - which would seem to be unlikely.

Have you tried going into the BIOS, setting the machine to boot from CD and then booting from the XP CD? This would seem to be the simplest, most logical, and probably the only way to achieve a proper install.

[vehelpfulguy]

>This would seem to be the simplest, most logical, and probably the only way to achieve a proper install.

But it may only be an XP upgrade CD.

Having said that I believe you only need to have proof you have an earlier version of Windows, it does not have to actualy be installed.

What happens if you try to "boot" from the Windows XP CD ?

[harley_Husky]

Hi all and thank you all for your help.

I'll alter the bios to boot from the CD rom and try that.

I'm just also wondering if installing windows (XP) to a Dell computer is a different proceedure, or more long winded, that to other computers, which i've done many times.

I keep reading on the 'net about needing Dell Raid drivers etc whereas with the other two computers that i've had ( AMD ) i've never had any problem at all.

What i think i'll do is alter the Bios boot order and pop XP ( legitimate version ) in the CD draw & see what happens.

Thanks again everyone & I'll report back !!

Eddie