Thanks for the link mombodog, 500 for $100... I've been thinking on get a new one...

The external HDD are used just by pluging the USB, the first time will load driver, so it will take a few more seconds. After that, you just plug into, go to Mycomputer open the local disk and put there all the information you want. As you may do with a flash drive, exactly the same.

 

to run diagnostic, you need to press F12 before loading Windows (when you see the Dell screen) select the Hard Drive diagnostic and it will test the HDD.

1. No

2. Yes

3. No

4. How to run the Dell Diagnostics

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/deke/laptopsupport/manuals/d600/diag.htm

 

Diagnostics and chkdsk are not the same.

 

Here is an example of a USB external Hard drive that uses USB to connect to your PC

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5239577

Gio, the only question is, is it one of the old Maxtor Drives inside?, or the newer ones made by Seagate.

Here's one I'm thinking of getting:

 

http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaplesProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&prodCatType=1&catalogId=10051&productId=169564&cmArea=

 

Those freeagents are nice. 5 year warranty too!

 

thanks mombodog,now I know checkdisk and Diagnostics are two different things. I do have a 1GB flash drive, or thumb drive, whatever they call them. It can compress the files up to 3GB. I got it at Staples for about $30. I have a 250GB hard drive on the pc, but have about 211GB of free space left. I probably could keep most of my files on the flash drive if I wanted to. My hard drive files are probably a mess. I've had this computer for 2 years and in that time had installed and deleted a lot of programs. I'm sure there are tons of orphaned files and lost files on the hard drive. I cleaned up as much as I could. But I'm not sure how to clean up the rest of the files so I don't touch them because I don't want Windows to stop working. I really do need to do a complete clean install. And I'd like to get an extra external hard drive.

 

Is there a place on the web about how to do a clean install on a 9100 without getting the blue screen?

 

Where did you get the Grim Reaper Avatar? It's spooky.

Just so happens I have a text copy of the procedure that was posted on a website, that has since been removed from the site. Copy and paste it to a text file for your records.

 

 

You can use these XP reinstallation procedures, they can be used for either the D9100 and D-9150.

Windows XP Clean Installation Process.

Option #1: You should follow the below steps if you are not using RAID or don’t have an internal floppy drive connected your system.

1. Remove any external devices from the computer, such as external serial or parallel port devices and external USB peripherals (not including your mouse and keyboard).
2. Within BIOS Setup: Set CD-ROM to load prior to hard drive.
a. Insert the Windows XP installation CD in the CD drive.
b. Restart your computer.
c. When the blue DELL logo is displayed, press the key to enter the BIOS Setup.
d. Press the key on your keyboard to highlight Boot Sequence.
e. Press the key to display the available boot devices.
f. Press the key or the key to highlight IDE CD-ROM Device.
g. Press the key or the key on the keyboard to move IDE CD-ROM Device to the top of the list.
h. Press the key.
3. Within BIOS Setup: Switch from RAID Autodetect / AHCI to RAID Autodetect / ATA.
a. Press the key on your keyboard to highlight SATA Operation.
b. Press the key to display the available RAID configuration modes.
c. Press the key to select RAID Autodetect / ATA.
d. Press the key.
e. Press the key to exit Setup.
f. Press the key to select Save/Exit.
g. Press the key.
h. Your system attempts to boot to the CD that is inserted in the CD drive.
4. Boot off the Windows XP Pro SP2 installation CD.
5. The following message appears: Press any key to boot from the CD.
6. Press the to boot to the Windows XP Pro SP2 installation CD.
7. Continue from Step 7 below.

Option #2: You should follow the below steps if you are using RAID and have an internal floppy drive connected to your system. You can also follow these steps if you don’t have RAID but do have a internal floppy drive connected you system.

1. Download Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver (Dell – R99740.exe) and install onto floppy disk.
2. Remove any external devices from the computer, such as external serial or parallel port devices and external USB peripherals (not including your mouse and keyboard).
3. Within BIOS Setup: Set CD-ROM to load prior to hard drive.
a. Insert the Windows XP installation CD in the CD drive.
b. Restart your computer.
c. When the blue DELL logo is displayed, press the key to enter the BIOS Setup.
d. Press the key on your keyboard to highlight Boot Sequence.
e. Press the key to display the available boot devices.
f. Press the key or the key to highlight IDE CD-ROM Device.
g. Press the key or the key on the keyboard to move IDE CD-ROM Device to the top of the list.
h. Press the key.
i. Press the key to exit Setup.
j. Press the key to select Save/Exit.
k. Press the key.
l. Your system attempts to boot to the CD that is inserted in the CD drive.
4. Within BIOS Setup: Use RAID Autodetect / AHCI (this is default).
5. Boot off the Windows XP Pro SP2 installation CD.
6. Press to load RAID drivers from floppy disk - follow instructions.
a. Press to specify additional device.
b. Insert floppy disk with Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver (Dell – R99740.exe).
c. RAID Configuration: Select Intel 82801GR/GH SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH7R/DH).
d. Non-RAID Configuration: Select Intel 82801GR/GH SATA AHCI Controller (Desktop ICH7R/DH).
7. Follow Windows XP Pro SP2 installation instructions.
8. The setup program will now copy files to your system. This will take several minutes, please wait. After the files have been copied, a message appears and notifies you that the computer will be restarted.
9. Press the key to restart the computer or a timer will count down and restart the computer automatically.
10. Restart
11. When the computer restarts, the following message appears: Press any key to boot from the CD.
12. Do not press any keys when this message appears and allow the operating system to load.
13. The Windows XP Setup window appears. Many devices will be detected during this process. This will take several minutes, please wait. Once this process is completed, the Regional and Language Options window appears.
14. Follow Windows XP Pro SP2 configuration instructions.
15. After all hardware has been detected and the files have been copied to the hard drive, the system will restart. When the computer restarts, the following message appears: Press any key to boot from the CD.
16. Do not press any keys when this message appears and allow the operating system to load.
17. Once the Desktop appears, eject the Windows XP Pro SP2 installation CD from the CD drive.
18. Install Intel Chipset driver (Dell – R96614.exe) (Found on Dell Resource CD or Dell web site)
19. Restart
20. Install Intel Matrix Storage Manager (Dell – R99738.exe) (Found on Dell Resource CD or Dell web site)
21. Restart
22. Install the following additional drivers (Found on Dell Resource CD or Dell web site):
a. Display adapters (video)
b. Network adapters (Dell – R97085.exe)
c. Any other system drivers.
23. Restart
24. If using the Dell 2005FPW monitor, change screen resolution to 1680 x 1050 pixels.
Microsoft Windows Update
25. Apply Windows Update (if you have a network connection)
26. Restart
27. Repeat above two steps until all critical updates/patches have been applied.

INTEL BIOS RAID SETUP

Upon re-boot you will see the Intel RAID BIOS status message on the screen - press CTRL-I to enter the Intel RAID Option ROM user interface.
Within this interface select option 1 'Create RAID Volume'.
Specify a RAID Volume name and then press the or key to advance to the next field.

Select the strip value for the RAID 0 or RAID 1 array by scrolling through the available values by using the or keys and pressing the key to select and advance to the next field.

Select the RAID level by scrolling through the available values by using the or keys and pressing the key to select and advance to the next field.
From the Strip size, press the or key to advance to the ‘Create Volume’ prompt. Press the key to create the specified volume.  Confirm this selection by pressing the key after the prompt.
Scroll to option 4 ‘Exit’ and press the key to exit the RAID Configuration utility. Confirm the exit by pressing key

You are welcome Robin.

Thanks again mombodog. You are a lifesaver.:smileyhappy:

 

Robin