System Restore Dimension 8200

save anything you want to keep on external storage and you can try this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157838

i formated my system and it worked great... better then new.

PS: AHIC = Intel SATA Drivers (there are usally 2 listed in the drivers and download section) get them both and unzip them and burn to a cd, install when in the windows install screen (there should be a load driver on the botom right when you select the drive to install windows to)

chrisnjoe2008

The closest to factory configuration you can revert the 8200 too, is a clean reinstall of XP.

Disconnect all the peripherals from the system except the keyboard, mouse and monitor.

How to configure a Dell Dimension series system to boot to the CD or DVD drive.

This XP reinstallation guide is excellent, or you can use Dell's XP Restallation Guide here.

While installing, remember to delete all existing partitions when you are prompted, then recreate the partitions and format the hard drive, following by installing XP.

Note: You need not delete the small 40/50mb EISA Partition, if you wish to keep Dell diagnostics on the hard drive.

After installing XP, you should install the drivers and applications in the correct order, see here

Followed by installing the Anti Virus utility, updating the definitions, then all the critical Microsoft updates.

Bev.

Your computer is probably too old for a return to original condition. You will have to reinstall Windows from disk and reinstall all your programs and files.

My Dimension 8200 is about 6 years old and has slowed over the years. I have a new PC but would like to do a clean install of XP Pro before I pass the 8200 along. I've read this forum's posts on how to do a clean install.

I have the OEM XP cd which came with the 8200 and has never been out of the original package (have the Dell drivers cd also).  I have changed the bios to boot to CD, but the OEM XP cd will not boot the computer.

Since my 8200 has a floppy drive, I downloaded the 6 diskette xp bootable from Microsoft and tried booting to it which worked through 5 of the 6 diskettes when an error message blocked the process.

I even tried an install on top of existing OS with the OEM XP cd, but  I get a "can't install because the OS on the PC is newer than the one on the CD." The CD is xp with service pack 1, and my 8200 has  sp3 plus all current updates.

So far, I've not done any damage, but I'm stuck without a bootable way to get any kind of xp reinstallation going. Any ideas?

Lewis