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36577
None of these fields are changeable.
My reliable Dell XPS M140 has finally run out of HDD space. I have purchased a new drive, but have run up against a BIOS wall. The "Device Info" field in the BIOS states quite annoyingly: "None of these fields are changeable.". And of course I need to be able to change the details of the "Primary Hard Drive" field. No searches have resulted in any useful answers. So I am in need information on how to make the necessary fields of the BIOS changeable so that I can install the new HDD.
Your assistance is appreciated.
Thank you all.
Mary G
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20.1K Posts
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July 28th, 2009 14:00
Directions for replacing your hard drive are Here.
<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>
ejn63
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July 28th, 2009 14:00
What are you trying to change? Once the drive is plugged in, the BIOS will sense it and auto-populate the fields. If you're saying the drive isn't detected at all, be sure it's seated properly. If it is seated and not detected, what happened to the original drive?
ModernCelt
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July 29th, 2009 07:00
Now THAT is extremely interesting and likley quite useful.
Thank you! I will begin the learning.
ModernCelt
3 Posts
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July 29th, 2009 07:00
I have cloned the original drive, boot sector, and all. It views properly via Explorer when connected to the computer via USB. However when I physically install it, the HDD is not recognized. Specifically, the details in the BIOS never change from those describing the factory installed HDD. I had hoped to change the setting to Auto detect. As it stands, I insert the new HDD, start the machine and the BIOS maintains the information for the removed HDD. And, of course will not continue into Windows since it does not see that there is a bootable HDD in place.
Mary, I have those directions, thank you.
I appreciate the input so far.
ejn63
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July 29th, 2009 07:00
Because of the presence of the hidden Media Direct partition, you cannot clone the drive entirely. You must OMIT the Media Direct partition and the boot sector and restore those separately. For details on how to wipe the drive clean (so that it will show up its proper size) and on what you can and cannot do with the Media Direct partition present, see:
http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/mediadirect.htm
and
http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/hpa-issues.htm