Dell Dimension XPS D266 Problem

[moggy44]

I am relectantly upgrading a Dell XPS D266.

Putting 60 gig drive and more memory 128meg or 256 meg
I tried a 256 meg pc100 but did not register in bios memory check, Bios is at A07 and I think latest is A09, Dell site say non-ECC Sdram or ECC Sdram so which should I use.

Also will a 60 gig Maxtor register in BIOS, only 6 gig in at the moment.

Thanks for any help

Regards John.M

 

[8humhum8]

personaly, i think that unless you plan to use your comp as a high end server, you dont need ecc (error correction code) which is a feature that corrects ram errors (doesnt only detect them). but modern ram is stable enough and im sure that most avarage - high end users can live with the few errors that come through. so save the extra money.

also check if your motherboard can handle high density ram (if it has more then 128MB per eight chips on the module, its high density). so check if 256 can be handled at all. otherwise buy 128, or several 128, but not higher density then that.

as for the HDD, if you only have 6GB at the moment it might mean that your motherboard isnt INT13 compliant, which means it can only support sizes of up to 8.2GB. you'll have to check on the manufacturer's site.

post back and update on the situation.

 

[moggy44]

Thanks for Info was useful.

I have installed a Maxtor +9 60 gig Hard Drive and went in fine, tried to slave original 6 gig HD which was originally set at C.S in jumper changed to slave but when I went into Bios setup or just let it load it stalled, not tried any other jumper setting yet,so left out till later, any ideas ??
Installed a Dual Boot on the Maxtor Win ME on C: which I made 20 gig and then Win XP Pro on D: which I made 40 gig this works fine but need some Graphic drivers and Modem drivers yet for ME.

The last thing is the Memory I bought both 128 meg PC133 in standard and ECC, the standard did not detect although I did have the original 64 meg memory in place so will play around, and not tried ECC memory yet been busy working on car and letting the computers load OS.

Regards John.M

 

[8humhum8]

moggy, you didnt specify wether you set the new drive (the 60GB) as master. maybe its on cable select by default.

also, it sounds like your system has a 100MHz sys board since its an older one. so check that the modules you bought (the pc133) are backwards compatible with the pc100 mode! many are not, so either buy pc100 or pc100/133. the latter cost more, like 20$ more, so bear that in mind.

 

[moggy44]

I got most things working know.

The 6 gig I had set to a wrong slave jumper and when I checked again set to corret jumper worked fine, 60 gig is Master and has ME on C: and XP on D: and works fine albeit the AIWA moden won't detect a driver in ME but ok in XP will try another driver prom aonther disk but will just set internet access to XP.
Also according to a small utility call advisor the system is running at 66 mhz bus speed.

The memory whon't work with any memory i've tried another site told me Dell are very fussy on memory type and Kingston KTD-XPSD/64 or 128 may be the only type that will work but at £48.63 that makes it twice as expensive as a normal 256 meg stick, so will leave until next upgrade and then I will put MB/Processor/DDR mem this will cost about £130.
Regards John.M