DImension E510 Resurrection

Question

I have a Dell DImesions e510 with Windows XP and an ATI Radeon 600SE 256 Hyper Memory pci-e x16. It shutt down on me a few years back and I just bought another computer. I pulled the e510 out of storage the other day and began working on it to bring it back to life. I replaced the BIOS battery and cleaned the internal component fans heatsink etc. and connected dvi cable on the video card plugged in the power cord and the fan started working but no display on the monitor. I tried the vga conncetor but no display I pulled the video card out of the pci-e slot and connected to the integrated graphics vga port and it worked.This temporarily solved my display issue, BUT the e510 also has dual wd 250 hard drives and when it attempted to start windows it went to a black screen with the message:

Windows could not start because System32\Drivers\pci.sys file is missing or corrupt. Also it said I could try to repair by starting windows Setup using the original setup CD. So I tried that but after loading some files from the CD it gave me the choice of enter=continue; "r"= repair or esc= to exit.However I was not able to do any of the choices and had to shut computer down and restart.

This time I used F12 to enter the boot screen ran a hard drive diagnostic which showed that hard drive 0 failed but hard drive 1 passed so I went back to CMOS Setup screen and turned off HD 0. After exiting there windows started. After windows loaded I shut down computer reinstalled the PCI card and connected the dvi cable turned the machine on but no display. I removed the card and reconnected the vga to the integrated graphics port and everything worked. I also went back into the BIOS system setup screen and turned HD 0 back on and everything is still working.

I guess I need to get a new PCI-E x16 graphics card and another HD. Can anyone recommend a new graphics card. (CPU is Pentium 4 (3.4Ghz and a 305W PSU). Also do I need to replace HD 0 with a similar HD (Western Digital 2500JS 75 NCB) to match HD 1? I appreciate and and all imput regarding my issues, thank you.

Dan-H · Answer

I split my HD response from the graphics card because I have more questions than suggestions.

Can you boot the system with the display connected to the onboard/integrated graphics with the graphics card installed, and get into BIOS? If so what does the graphics card settings offer you for choices?

If the BIOS can see the graphics card, then perhaps you are chasing a windows driver issue. If the BIOS cannot see the graphics card then perhaps the card is bad.

It could also be the power supply. At one time we had four Dell 5100s ( same as E510 just bought through business channel) and two PSUs failed and we had intermittant problems. Once the PSU was replaced, the problems magically fixed themselves. When the second system started acting up the first thing I did was replace the CMOS battery, ( did not fix it) and then replace the PSU and all the problems went away.

You might consider this as an option to consider depending on what you find.

Dan-H · Answer

It has been a while since I've done anything on an E510 ( aka 5100) so this is all from memory.

Drive: ( that one is easy) any SATA III drive will work up to some max size that I don't remember. I believe a 1TB will work. I had a WD Caviar Black 640GB in one for a few years. It is SATA III.

The BIOS might show SATA 150 or SATA 300 ( which is SATA I or SATA II) but the system recognized it and it worked without any change.

XP had some quirks for drives above a certain size but I don't remember the details.

A SATA III SSD will also work in this system. I had an 80GB in one at one time running Linux and it worked well.

rdunnill · Answer

You might have a power supply issue. Regarding a modern video card, I suggest the XFX R7 240. It's available for 10% off (for a limited time) and there is a $20 rebate available.

Dan-H · Answer

Another alternative, ... replace the entire system.

I'm not sure what your intents are for the system but every part of the E510 is several generations behind. If you end up having to buy a graphics card, and PSU you might take that money and put it towards a new system.

I won't go any farther with this, but it is the direction I went about 18 months ago and put together a budget system with some hand-me downs from other systems and some new parts and the result was about 3x faster than the E510 ( It runs a minecraft server for the kiddos ) and it runs cooler and quieter and uses a fraction of the power.

ibturner · Answer

Hello Dan, as to your question of connecting display to the integrated port with the PCI-E card seated the computer, everything powers up but no display I have to remove the PCI-E card before I can get a display on the monitor. Researching this issue the information was if PCI graphics card is installed integrated graphics is not recognized.