Dell Dimension 4100 Need Help

Question

Hi all,

I just picked up this Dell Dimension 4100 and it has Windows XP on the HD. I would like to do some upgrading such as a bigger HD, DVD player, and a CD R/W. I have replaced the CD Drive with an ACER CD-ReWriter but I have no idea where to plug in the digital source on the mother board. I got this computer WITHOUT any disks and wonder if anyone would happen to have any factory restore disks or can tell me where to get them. I dont want to download them for security reasons. This computer seems to have an excellent motherboard that can be upgraded to do a great job. How do I find out what HDs and other accys that are compatable???

Thank you in advance.

osprey4 · Answer

Hi, Lonesoldier:

The manual is here. The 4100 takes only IDE drives, and the location of the IDE ports on the motherboard should be fairly obvious.

As for the OS, I'm afraid things aren't so easy. The 4100 originally came with 98 or ME, not XP. So you have no choice but to purchase an XP disc with an unused license. The drivers are available for download here, although with XP you shouldn't need more than one or two.

For hardware, this system takes all standard parts except the PSU, which is one of the older, proprietary Dell PSUs. One good upgrade would be a USB 2.0 PCI card, since the system is only USB 1.1.

lonesoldier9091 · Answer

Thank you very much for the info.  I am not experienced when it comes to upgrading a computer so I'm not sure about the different kinds of drives.  I am familiar with the USB upgrade and have done it and it works beautifuly.  I believe the HD is a 20gig with only 18gig usage available.  Can a DVD R/W be installed and used on this system?  I guess what I'm asking is what is the maximum that can be done to get this computer to perform the best that it can?  Sorry for the computer illerate questions guys.

osprey4 · Answer

You can use up to a 120-GB hard drive without any problem. Bigger than that and you may run into a BIOS problem. Again, you need an IDE drive. The hard drive controller is ATA-100 so an ATA-100 or ATA-133 drive will work.

Yes, you can install a DVD burner. Again, IDE only.

The system can take up to 512MB of RAM (2x256MB).

A CPU upgrade would not be cost-effective. So aside from the hard drive, DVD burner and RAM, there's not much else that can be done.

Storage, Drives & Media

Dell Dimension 4100 Need Help

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