Installing new Hard Drive: Bios version

Question

I am going to be installing a new harddrive in my Dell Dimension 8100.  I already have 2 drives in it now but I will be taking them out (I think, at least the 40GB one).  It is a system very similar to the one in this post: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_bios&message.id=41709 .  But I doubt I will have these problems because I listen.  Currently I have Bios A09 dated 10/02/01, w/768 ram, 40GB HD, 80GB HD and I have Win2K Pro.  I will be installing a Hitachi 250GB Deskstar 7K250 and upgrading to Win XP Pro ( yes I do have a network) and taking out the 2 other hard drives.   My questions are: A or B or a combo of the 2 A: 1.  Do I need to change my Bios to bios D81XPXP2.EXE first?  It's at this link:http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R36258&formatcnt=2&fileid=40728 . 2. Then install the hard drive. 3. Then install winxp pro.   OR   B: 1. Install the HD with jumbers changed to cable select?  (I think I only want to have one HD in this computer and use the 40GB and 80GB HD's as external hard drives). 2. Change my Bios to D81XPXP2.EXE, from the same link above. 3. Install winxp pro.   Just want to do it all correctly the 1st time and not have to come back or waste people's time.   Thanks, Pat

peharris · Answer

Thanks. It will be xp pro sp-2 ( have to wait until it gets here.  Ordered OEM version online. Message Edited by peharris on 12-25-2005 10:46 PM

shesagordie · Answer

peharris (A) a) Upgrade the BIOS. b) Install new hard drive. c) Load either XP Professional SP-1 or SP-2. Bev.

Majestic · Answer

Peharris,  the BIOS link you posted is for the 'unpackaged' format of XP2.  I don't know if you are aware, but that format will require you to manually boot the system with a bootable floppy and then manually run the BIOS upgrade from the command prompt.  An easier format to work with is the one that will create its own bootable BIOS upgrade floppy disk.  You can click here for the bootable floppy format of BIOS version XP2 and then follow the directions below for use that file.      Once the file is downloaded to your hard drive just run the file.  The program will then prompt you into creating a bootable BIOS upgrade floppy disk so have a 'good' blank one available.  Once the floppy is created just leave the floppy in the drive and reboot your system.  The BIOS upgrade program will then prompt you into updating the BIOS.  If the floppy fails to boot then check your system's boot order and make sure the floppy drive is before the hard drive in the boot sequence.  Once the BIOS upgrade is successfully done just remove the floppy disk and reboot the system. If you encounter problems then try another download of the file and use another blank floppy disk.  If either of those two items are bad it will prevent a successful BIOS update.  The actual time it takes the new BIOS code to be written is less than 30 seconds.  While the upgrade is in progress do not interrupt the upgrade or do the upgrade when weather conditions might indicate a possible power failure such as doing the upgrade during a thunderstorm.  An interrupted BIOS upgrade may corrupt the currently installed BIOS and thus require a motherboard replacement.   Since BIOS version XP2 is compatible with Windows 2000 I would update the BIOS in advance of the hard drive upgrade.  That way you will have a couple days to see how the new BIOS version is performing.  Otherwise doing too many updates and upgrades at once can be a pain in the rear to try an trouble-shoot in the event of problems.

peharris · Answer

Wow THANKS! I really would have been up a creek .

Majestic · Answer

Your welcome!  Good luck on your project.

Storage, Drives & Media

Installing new Hard Drive: Bios version

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