Max Hard Drive Size, Inspiron 4000

Question

What is the maximum internal hard drive the Inspiron 4000 can recognize without overlay software?   Dell reps have given me contradictory answers to this question. One said 40 GB (yesterday); another said 120 GB (today).   I just upgraded directly from BIOS A05 to A23 (via floppy) -- despite today's Dell rep who told me I must upgrade through several intermediate steps.  A23 seems to work fine.   My 4000 can recoginze an external 60 GB USB drive (with A05 or A23 BIOS).  It can't recognize a 120 GB external USB drive.   I want to install an 80 GB internal if it will work.  If not, the nearest that works.   Using Windows ME -- may upgrade to 2000 Pro (depending on driver complications).   Thanks

funtoupgrade · Answer

The 4000 will work with any 2.5' 9.5mm thick laptop hard drive regardless of capacity as the primary internal drive. Sorry to report that Win ME is generally considered the worst version of Windows ever published and that Win XP is the most stable and best version to date.  It does need lots of RAM though to work nicely - absolute minimum is 256MB and with the 4000 512MB would even be better.

jbnimble · Answer

Thanks for your reply.   Does that mean that the 4000 can recognize an 80GB or 100GB ($$) internal hard drive?  It certainly does NOT recognize my external 120GB USB (FAT32) drive, which baffles me.   Can Win ME recognize 80GB?  100 GB?  Not certain whether I want to invest the time installing W2000 Pro.   I won't purchase XP for this notebook.   I agree ME is the worst version -- but at the time Dell wanted $100 MORE for another OS.  And I've had zero problems with ME on this Inspiron 4000, since I use only a few different applications on my notebook.

leduke30 · Answer

If you use W-ME, you will have to use FAT32 format and DOS Partitions. With more than a 64gb drive, the partitions and total drive size are not reported correctly by Fdisk. If you plan on using a larger drive than 64gb, I would follow futoupgrade's recommendation and use W-XP with NTFS partition and format. Further, even though W2k can use NTFS partition and format, it will have a problem of a different sort with those large late-model drives, and will not let them run at their rated UDMA5-6 capabilities, but defaullt configures them to UDMA2. I most highly recommend at least W-XP Home if you go ahead with your plan for a very large drive.  If you stay with Me, get a 60gb and the 7200rpm model  Message Edited by leduke30 on 04-14-2005 11:59 PM

jbnimble · Answer

My Inspiron 4000 w/Win ME has now successfully recognized the 120GB USB. I erased the 120GB drive by installing it on a desktop first. Don't know why this matters, but now it's recognized (repeatedly). Also, I tried an 80GB via USB and it is also recognized by my Inspiron 4000. Fdisk within a DOS window in WIN ME refuses to change the USB drive. And of course, booting ME on a floppy won't find the USB drive.

I have the slide-in floppy drive for the 4000. Can I use that, booting with a Win ME DOS floppy, to fdisk/format a new internal 80GB drive as FAT32? This works on desktops. Alternately, are there adapters to put a new 80GB 2.5" drive in a desktop for fdisk/formatting with an WIN ME floppy? I am still hoping to understand a clear path to an 80 GB with WIN ME. Otherwise, I'll get a 60 GB, which I am confident will work, based upon the helpful comments above.

leduke30 · Answer

As long as you can live with the drive's size not being reported correctly, it should be OK with the 80. I would suggest that you make Primary DOS Active C:\ Partition of 60-63bg and a Extended DOS/ Logical Drive D:\ Partition for the remainder. That way at least your partitions will be reported by Fdisk correctly. The total size of the drive will reported as about 10gb though, no matter what you use for partition size, as an 80gb should be equivalent to around 74gb for DOS and Windows!! Talk about "monkey math"!! It is as if Fdisk counts up and reports drive/partition size correctly up to 64gb and then starts over at zero when you pass it. This PC briefly had a 120gb in it that I bought at a "steal" price, when I had gone to buy just a 60gb. As I was aware of this 64gb conundrum, I partitioned it 60/53+ without difficulty for W98SE and then formatted it FAT32. Those partitions were correctly reported, but the total drive size was reported as about 50gb! I eventually resold that drive and replaced it with a 60gb; it offended my sense of order and I did not need all that drivespace.

Message Edited by leduke30 on 04-15-2005 12:09 PM

jbnimble · Answer

Win ME on my Inspiron reports the two USB 120GB partitions as D = 20.5GB and E = 91.2GB.  That adds up to about the correct number, given the various (1000 vs. 1024) definitions of a GB.   I conclude that an internal 80GB drive can be made to function and report correctly in the Inspiron 4000 with Win ME, if two partitions are used.   Thanks for the help.

johnallg · Answer

Also if you move to W2k or XP, they will have most drivers for the 4000 built-in, and for the touchpad, audio, and video drivers use the above Product Support - Downloads - Inspiron 4000 - Windows version you are interested in, and get those drivers there.  They enable all 4000 features you need with the associated hardware, and the audio driver is needed for the correct implementation of the modem.  If you have the Actiontec modem or modem/NIC combo, the correct drivers are linked below in my sig - Lucent 8.30 modem driver and the Actiontec Mini-PCI 8255x Ethernet Driver.

jbnimble · Answer

Just installed W2000 on a new 80GB hard drive on my Inspiron 4000.
The basics appear to be normal. Mouse, audio & video are OK.

When I try to install other Microsoft OR third party software, I get a problem box:
==========
"16 bit Windows Subsystem
config.nt. The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS or Microsoft Windows applications."
==========

WHAT GOOD is a Windows system that won't run DOS or Windows applications??

There must be a simple fix. I hope. Otherwise, it's back to WinME.
Do I have a hard drive size problem?

Dell Inspiron 4000 (vintage 2001)
700MHz P3
320MB RAM (recently increased from 128MB -- OK w/old 10 GB Hard Drive)
New 80GB hard drive:C=12GB, D= 2GB, E=62GB
W2000 SP4 -- fdisk and Windows Explorer see the drives with their proper sizes
FAT32 -- hard drive fdisked & formatted w/WinME floppy boot disk

leduke30 · Answer

The problem may be comng from your E:\Partition which is a 62gb FAT32 partition, which is not kosher with W2k or W-XP as I said previously. If you want to use W2k on this drive, I would make the 2 upper partitions( D: and E: ) 32gb each. You can do this in one of 2 ways. I assume that your W2K installation is on C: drive. Use a W/Me boot disk to delete the 2 upper partions by deleting their Logical Drives and then resplit your Extended DOS Partition into 2-32gb Logical drives, then format them FAT32 with the Boot Disk. That is the most foolproof way. The second is by using Partition Magic if the machine will let you install it with the present problem.

I have used W2K previously on this PC with a Dual Boot of W98SE, which required FAT32; I never had any problems with it, or got the error messages you are getting. I still have the Dual Boot but now it is W-XP Home/W-ME

Home built PC
Gigabyte 7VTXE+1.0 M'board
60gb Maxtor HDD
512mb DDR PC2100 SDRAM
AMD 1.6ghz CPU
ATI Radeon 32mb Video card w/ Hardware DVD Decoder
Dual Boot W-ME & W-XP Home
52x32x52x CDRW
BTC 16x DVDROM
An ancient Canon BJC-3000 Printer
17" Hyundai Flat Screen Q770 Monitor
Logitech Wingman Extreme 3D Pro Joystick

leduke30 · Answer

Message Edited by leduke30 on 04-23-2005 12:43 AM

leduke30 · Answer

It is monitored by W2k through Power Options/Management in Control Panel and also in BIOS.

jbnimble · Answer

I resized my partitions to C=12GB (no change, left W2000 build as is), D=32GB, and E=32GB. Then I tried again to install an application. The same problem message appeared.

Then I copied the problem file (config.nt) from another disk, via some boot floppy tricks -- same message still.

So, I reformatted C: and reinstalled W2000. Now applications can be installed !

My next problem: Which download contains the battery monitor software? The descriptons on the download area are unclear re which file monitors battery charge.

Thanks, Jack

leduke30 · Answer

Yes, under that Control Panel applet for Power options is the Advanced TabThat has a box to checkmark for Always Show the Icon in the Taskbar.

jbnimble · Answer

Is there a way to get an icon on the bottom of the screen, as it was before?

jbnimble · Answer

Thanks. The system looks good now.

Storage, Drives & Media

Max Hard Drive Size, Inspiron 4000

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