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April 18th, 2009 11:00
help dimension 8400
i need help with a new install on my friends dimension 8400. i can't get the h/d to take the os during setup. i have used the resouce disk and created a driver floppy disk from it. do i choose raid or ahci after using f6 button. i am running xp home and a maxtor diamondmax plus 9 80 gig drive. does any one know what i'm doing wroung?
thanks
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sawaddi
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611 Posts
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April 18th, 2009 11:00
check the floppy disk. Is there just one file on it or several?
shesagordie
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46K Posts
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April 18th, 2009 12:00
forankirk
If you are not using RAID, or do not have an internal floppy drive, enter the system setup, scroll down to drives, press Enter or + to expand the drive menu then down to "SATA Operation", press Enter.
Change the SATA operation mode to "RAID Autodetect/ATA" press ESC to save and exit the BIOS.
Then windows should install without a problem.
Bev.
shesagordie
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April 18th, 2009 13:00
forankirk
If you are getting an Error Code 7 this means the drive has failed it's self-test and usually means that the hard drive has failed and you need to buy a new SATA hard drive.
Bev.
forankirk
9 Posts
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April 18th, 2009 13:00
hi,
thanks for getting back to me.
I am lost, I am working this dell dimension 8400, diamondmax maxtor hard drive 80 gb, with xp home. for a friend.
I started by backing up the files he needed then used wipe drive software to clean drive (this is where everything went wrong) I then tried to load xp os but it won't load past the part where you can format drive, i get an error screen. So for some reason I thought it was a raid problem, but i just relized i have only one drive in it, duh. So i am flatteing it again and starting over. The wipe drive said that the drive serial number and model number are disabled but it reads the 80 gb drive. I do have a floppy and tried a boot disk with format and fdisk but it wont work. I also tried the resouce disk but it said the drive has an error 7 code?
I know this is a lot but thanks for the help.
Do you think I could have a bad drive it did have that 380 virus or whatever it is called. I also tried my drive from my home machince but it just gave me an error screen.
Thanks again
hvfd13
82 Posts
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April 18th, 2009 14:00
google "dell diagnostics code 7" most of the results that come up will be other forum posts.
I took a quick look through some of the results, and this is the best link i can find to help you out.
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7586_102-0.html?threadID=234470
read all the way through the post. As stated in a previous reply by Shesagordie, more than likely it is a bad drive and you need to purchase a new one. A little tip of advice, do not buy another maxtor. They are known for crashing.
forankirk
9 Posts
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April 18th, 2009 14:00
thank you do you know of a link i can go to to see this error code? i will goole it.
thanks again
forankirk
9 Posts
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April 19th, 2009 04:00
hi,
Thanks again for the help. I've been working all night but did fix it. I had to take the drive out of my system and use wipe drive to clean it, from there I had to fdisk it and set a primary partition then xp os would load.
Why did I have to set a dos primary partition? Also if I add a new drive and take mine out will I need to use f6 to set the drivers for a sata drive? or just if I'm using the pc in a raid mode with two drives?
Thanks
shesagordie
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46K Posts
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April 19th, 2009 12:00
forankirk
I have reinstalled XP on several 8400's and never had to F'disk the hard drive, but at times I have had to erase the HD, using a utility like Darik's Boot and Nuke, prior to installing XP.
If you are using RAID, then you must load the drivers using F6 and have an internal floppy drive.
Not using RAID and don't have an internal flopply drive, then make the change to the system setup, I already posted and you will not have load the drivers using F6.
Bev.