Upgrading hardware and having problems...

[strykr14]

Hello all,

I need some advice. I have an old Dell Dimension 2400 that I am upgrading for my kids to use for school. Here is wha tit had:

Pentium 4 GHz
80 gb hd
512 k RAM
CD Rom drive
DVD drive
Floppy Drive
200 watt power supply

Here is what I have done
Ditched the CD Rom and Floppy
Ditched the RAM, replaced it with 2 GB of RAM
Added a DVD Drive I had laying around
Added a 320 GB Hard drive

Successfully reinstalled XP on the 80 GB HD,I went into the BIOS and removed the floppy and I kept getting this erroriskette drive 0 seek failure. I would press F1 and the computer would boot.

I tried to istall the 320 GB HD, no love. The device manager knows it's there but I can't access it.

Ther is one cable for the 80 GB HD, another for the DVD drive and the new 320 GB HD (used to be the cd rom spot) I have the 320 as slave and the DVD rom as master.

So, can I get rid of the floppy and the error? What do I do anout the 320 GB? Is the power supply to small maybe?

 

[arsenalbates]

Have you formatted the new drive ? Windows wont be able to do anything with it until its been formatted to the correct file system.

 

[strykr14]

Update:

I solved the Floppy drive program by making a changre in the BIOS - no more floppy and no more error.

I can't format the new drive - the computer sees it in the device manager but it wont let me access it. It does not show up in "my computer" either

I tried another old 80 GB drive I had laying around and it was detected no problem - could my new hard drive be bad?

 

[arsenalbates]

it wont be in my computer if its a new drive.

read this

 

[strykr14]

I kind of thought it would be plug and play. So what do I have to do to get access to this drive? And why did another older 80 gig drive I had laying around show right up?

It's one of 3 things IMO:

1. I'm missing something
2. the power supply is not big enough to handle the 320 ggb drive
3. the drive is lunched.

 

[arsenalbates]

the old drive (80GB) may have been already set up with either fat32, fat or NTFS meaning that it will work as soon as you plug it in. with a brand new drive you have to go though a different procedure. have a look at that website to see what this is. if after you have done this it still dont work then it will be an alternative problem, possibly one you have mentioned.

 

[strykr14]

DONE!

You were right. I went to the Western DIgital site and it pretty much walked me through it. Computer is set up and running fine. Should be good for the boys intil they want to start playing games, then I think this thing may fall flat on it's face. Until then it should be good.

Thanks for your help!

I am curious though - how do you know when you've upgraded to point where the power supply just can't handle it?

 

[arsenalbates]

I think the hardware will just not work properly if at all. my advice is to look at how much power hardware needs before buying it. for example most if not all website that sell graphics cards will state how much Watts the PSU should be at least. I think this number may account for a standard number of basic hardware such as the motherboard and hard drive.

Click Here for a brill website to test the amount of power you need to run your system.