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Old September 10th 08, 05:16 PM posted to microsoft.public.win2000.hardware,microsoft.public.windowsme.hardware,microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
Derek[_2_]
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 5
Default Dell Insiron 4000 Laptop hard drive 10gb failed, installed 120GB hard drive but it's not recognised in BIOS.

Thanks again everyone. It looks like unless I happen to see a 10-30GB hard
drive from 2001-2003 at a car boot sale then this laptop is going in the bin
that is ebay spares or repair.

Thanks all of you.



"Shenan Stanley" wrote in message
...
Derek wrote:
Thanks everyone for your replies.

I have tried a 30GB hard drive as suggested, this also was not
recognised by the BIOS. It's from a 4 year old sony laptop so I
had hopes it might work.
I also tried installing Windows XP and Ubuntu, it won't work
without a hard drive recognised in the BIOS.

I can only guess that there is also a problem with the motherboard,
or that modern hard drives are different to older ones.

The service tag is 151150J.
Dell Inspiron 4000, Windows ME, Pentium 3-700MHz, 128MB RAM, 10GB
HDD, 56k modem.

Is there anything else that I could try to repair this that is
cheap?
Is here a spec for the DELL that says the hard drives that it does
support?


That particular system (bought in 2001, warranty ran out in May 2004) has
long outlived support. Dell doesn't even list parts for it anymore it
seems.

Here is the manual:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins4000/

I like this for hard disk issues:
"Click the Start button, point to Programs- Accessories- System Tools,
and then click ScanDisk."
haha

They do tell you how to remove the hard disk drive:
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...ve.htm#1025004

Beyond that....
It seems difficult to find laptop ATA-100 drives that fit the Inspiron
4000 (likely because of age.) Any I did found cost about $150 - and were
out of stock. The $399 laptop I saw the other day seemed like a wiser
choice.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html