Greetings technically gifted net-denizens,

I recently acquired an older Dell Dimension 2350 motherboard, along
with what I
believe is the original 48x CD-rom drive. It ended up in the scrap
yard after first residing at the best-buy repair facility (I'm kinda
reading between the lines here, it has a sticker on it which is dated
August, 2010 and has their name on it) and from what info I've
gathered so far, it was made some time around 2003 or 4.

I've probably spent enough time so far to reload the operating system
(only tried MS product so far) about 30 times now, and have gathered
info and files from both the Intel and the Dell support sites, I've
done multiple reloads of XP pro w/sp2; but, I finally ended up with a
kinda-successful install by using the restore discs for a E-machines
system that I used to have (that was made around the same time, and
had the same speed processor and a couple other similarities,
including an Intel chipset).

I say it was a 'kinda successful install' because I can start it up
in safe mode and do further set up to it, but it wants me to call MS
product activation before it will boot in normal mode.

Anyway, I think the main problem is that the chipset needs to have
some special software available to it on startup so it 'knows' how to
interpret the OS - it's called
'infinst.exe' and from the literature is spose to be installed in
certain location on the
HDD before XP is loaded (plus, I think the BIOS tells the machine that
the OS should be XP Home, not Pro). When I try to run the chipset
setup utility available from either Intel or Dell, I get a message
telling me that I don't have permission to do that or some such - I
can create the directories specified, but when the program runs an
error occurs and stops the installation.

Just wondering if someone here can shed some light as to what is going
on, and maybe even describe the process that these Intel-specific
machines required when putting in a new HDD (besides cloning from the
old hdd).

So far I've been using various diagnostic utilitiy packages that are
available around the 'net', including 'PartEd magic',
'YetAnotherBootDisc', 'UltimateBootCD 4.1.1', 'UBCDforWIN'; I've
found that I can't run the chipset software from DOS, always get a
message that "this progam must be run from windows".

So, anybody got any hints? As always, TIA.

Mike

On Wed, 24 Nov 2010 06:14:02 -0800, mike wrote:

Greetings technically gifted net-denizens,

I recently acquired an older Dell Dimension 2350 motherboard, along with
what I
believe is the original 48x CD-rom drive. It ended up in the scrap yard
after first residing at the best-buy repair facility (I'm kinda reading
between the lines here, it has a sticker on it which is dated August,
2010 and has their name on it) and from what info I've gathered so far,
it was made some time around 2003 or 4.

I've probably spent enough time so far to reload the operating system
(only tried MS product so far) about 30 times now, and have gathered
info and files from both the Intel and the Dell support sites, I've
done multiple reloads of XP pro w/sp2; but, I finally ended up with a
kinda-successful install by using the restore discs for a E-machines
system that I used to have (that was made around the same time, and had
the same speed processor and a couple other similarities, including an
Intel chipset).

I say it was a 'kinda successful install' because I can start it up
in safe mode and do further set up to it, but it wants me to call MS
product activation before it will boot in normal mode.

Anyway, I think the main problem is that the chipset needs to have some
special software available to it on startup so it 'knows' how to
interpret the OS - it's called
'infinst.exe' and from the literature is spose to be installed in
certain location on the
HDD before XP is loaded (plus, I think the BIOS tells the machine that
the OS should be XP Home, not Pro). When I try to run the chipset
setup utility available from either Intel or Dell, I get a message
telling me that I don't have permission to do that or some such - I can
create the directories specified, but when the program runs an error
occurs and stops the installation.

Just wondering if someone here can shed some light as to what is going
on, and maybe even describe the process that these Intel-specific
machines required when putting in a new HDD (besides cloning from the
old hdd).

So far I've been using various diagnostic utilitiy packages that are
available around the 'net', including 'PartEd magic',
'YetAnotherBootDisc', 'UltimateBootCD 4.1.1', 'UBCDforWIN'; I've found
that I can't run the chipset software from DOS, always get a message
that "this progam must be run from windows".

So, anybody got any hints? As always, TIA.

Mike

infinst.exe is just the Intel chipset driver. I've been dealing with Dell
for 11 years and I've not seen a situation where XP Pro would not install
on a Dell PC that came with XP Home installed. Only anti-piracy theme
Dell has used was to protect their OEM operating system disc from being
used to install on non-Dell computers.



--
Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a Pretty Corpse

Don't you have any linux live CDs? These are very handy for trying out
motherboards, or trying to do things that typical hack/spit M-soft products
tend you give you a lot of grief over.

You might also try changing some of the settings in the BIOS setup. I dunno
why a m-bd would be OS specific, but I suppose it's possible.

I encountered a FIC K8MC51G m-bd recently, that appears to have been made
especially for the OEMs.. Emachines/Gateway/etc, and there don't appear to
be any m-bd drivers available for it from FIC.
Emachines' website has drivers for the chipset, modem, video for hardware
specific to their machines.

--
Cheers,
WB
..............


"mike" wrote in message
...
Greetings technically gifted net-denizens,

I recently acquired an older Dell Dimension 2350 motherboard, along
with what I
believe is the original 48x CD-rom drive. It ended up in the scrap
yard after first residing at the best-buy repair facility (I'm kinda
reading between the lines here, it has a sticker on it which is dated
August, 2010 and has their name on it) and from what info I've
gathered so far, it was made some time around 2003 or 4.

I've probably spent enough time so far to reload the operating system
(only tried MS product so far) about 30 times now, and have gathered
info and files from both the Intel and the Dell support sites, I've
done multiple reloads of XP pro w/sp2; but, I finally ended up with a
kinda-successful install by using the restore discs for a E-machines
system that I used to have (that was made around the same time, and
had the same speed processor and a couple other similarities,
including an Intel chipset).

I say it was a 'kinda successful install' because I can start it up
in safe mode and do further set up to it, but it wants me to call MS
product activation before it will boot in normal mode.

Anyway, I think the main problem is that the chipset needs to have
some special software available to it on startup so it 'knows' how to
interpret the OS - it's called
'infinst.exe' and from the literature is spose to be installed in
certain location on the
HDD before XP is loaded (plus, I think the BIOS tells the machine that
the OS should be XP Home, not Pro). When I try to run the chipset
setup utility available from either Intel or Dell, I get a message
telling me that I don't have permission to do that or some such - I
can create the directories specified, but when the program runs an
error occurs and stops the installation.

Just wondering if someone here can shed some light as to what is going
on, and maybe even describe the process that these Intel-specific
machines required when putting in a new HDD (besides cloning from the
old hdd).

So far I've been using various diagnostic utilitiy packages that are
available around the 'net', including 'PartEd magic',
'YetAnotherBootDisc', 'UltimateBootCD 4.1.1', 'UBCDforWIN'; I've
found that I can't run the chipset software from DOS, always get a
message that "this progam must be run from windows".

So, anybody got any hints? As always, TIA.

Mike

Meat Plow wrote:

infinst.exe is just the Intel chipset driver. I've been dealing with Dell
for 11 years and I've not seen a situation where XP Pro would not install
on a Dell PC that came with XP Home installed. Only anti-piracy theme
Dell has used was to protect their OEM operating system disc from being
used to install on non-Dell computers.

Well, so much for that theory then...
So, how do you go about installing to a Dell puter with an Intel
chipset? Or am I totally f'dup in thinking that there's extra work
involved in getting a MS os working on an intel MB?

Mike

Wild_Bill wrote:
Don't you have any linux live CDs? These are very handy for trying out
motherboards, or trying to do things that typical hack/spit M-soft products
tend you give you a lot of grief over.

I guess I ought to try that, the reason I haven't so far is that when
I put a hard drive in that already has ubuntu installed on it I got
some really weird results, whereas it usually only takes a few extra
minutes for linux to find it's way around and then boot into a usuable
condition when put into a new (to me) machine.

You might also try changing some of the settings in the BIOS setup. I dunno
why a m-bd would be OS specific, but I suppose it's possible.

I guess that was a bad guess, now... I did update the BIOS, and
checked it out some, it's pretty spartan,
and when the configuration of the machine changes, it actually stalls
booting until you go into setup and make the changes and save it, I
hadn't seen that before.

I encountered a FIC K8MC51G m-bd recently, that appears to have been made
especially for the OEMs.. Emachines/Gateway/etc, and there don't appear to
be any m-bd drivers available for it from FIC.
Emachines' website has drivers for the chipset, modem, video for hardware
specific to their machines.

Dell seems to be pretty good that way too - now I wonder how MS is
gonna handle it if I call up wanting to
activate a Dell MB with E-machine components and product key... or
should I even bother? Guess I'll see whether I can get Linux
installed or not first.

Mike

--
Cheers,
WB

mike wrote:


I say it was a 'kinda successful install' because I can start it up
in safe mode and do further set up to it, but it wants me to call MS
product activation before it will boot in normal mode.

Hey again, just me replying to myself with new info - I installed SP2
while in safe mode and now
the puter boots into normal mode, but tells me I have to call for
product activation in 30 days. How nice of them...

mike Inscribed thus:



Meat Plow wrote:

infinst.exe is just the Intel chipset driver. I've been dealing with
Dell for 11 years and I've not seen a situation where XP Pro would
not install on a Dell PC that came with XP Home installed. Only
anti-piracy theme Dell has used was to protect their OEM operating
system disc from being used to install on non-Dell computers.

Well, so much for that theory then...
So, how do you go about installing to a Dell puter with an Intel
chipset? Or am I totally f'dup in thinking that there's extra work
involved in getting a MS os working on an intel MB?

Mike

It shouldn't be any different to any other M/B !

--
Best Regards:
Baron.

On 25/11/2010 11:37, mike wr
the puter boots into normal mode, but tells me I have to call for
product activation in 30 days. How nice of them...

Had you started with an actual Dell OEM OS installation CD instead of
eMachines restore disc, it would automatically self activate from its
knowledge of the BIOS signature. No manual entering of product keys
necessary.

I think you are running into some post install junk that the eMachines
CD is trying to push out. Note, a 'recovery/restore CD' and an 'OS
installation CD' may not be the same thing.

--
Adrian C

Backtracking.. first of all, I never expect used equipment to operate
perfectly, much less when I encounter something that was discarded (found in
a dump/ster).

I dunno if the BB store label was an indication that the unit was a customer
return that couldn't be/wasn't economically practical to try to figue out,
or that it was just a BB store product that some customer threw away.

When used equipment does turn out to be fully functional (as it often does),
that's just a bonus.

Someone had already decided that it was trash, so expectations of it working
properly could be unrealistic, you see.

Whe I mentioned a linux Live CD, I was referring to the linux OS not being
installed, just run Live as thay will often do, from the CD drive (as almost
all m-bds now boot from the CD).
A HDD isn't even required.

Some linux Live versions will be more favorable with certain types of system
hardware.
Several years ago, I bought about 12 different flavors of linux OSs, most of
'em Live CDs (cheap, from from an eBay'er). I know they can be downloaded
for "free" from numerous websites but I was on dialup service at the time.

Try a couple/few different linux Live CDs (no HDD or any other unneeded
stuff), if there are problems with all attempts, there's very likely
something wrong with the m-bd.

--
Cheers,
WB
..............


"mike" wrote in message
...
Greetings technically gifted net-denizens,

I recently acquired an older Dell Dimension 2350 motherboard, along
with what I
believe is the original 48x CD-rom drive. It ended up in the scrap
yard after first residing at the best-buy repair facility (I'm kinda
reading between the lines here, it has a sticker on it which is dated
August, 2010 and has their name on it) and from what info I've
gathered so far, it was made some time around 2003 or 4.

I've probably spent enough time so far to reload the operating system
(only tried MS product so far) about 30 times now, and have gathered
info and files from both the Intel and the Dell support sites, I've
done multiple reloads of XP pro w/sp2; but, I finally ended up with a
kinda-successful install by using the restore discs for a E-machines
system that I used to have (that was made around the same time, and
had the same speed processor and a couple other similarities,
including an Intel chipset).

I say it was a 'kinda successful install' because I can start it up
in safe mode and do further set up to it, but it wants me to call MS
product activation before it will boot in normal mode.

Anyway, I think the main problem is that the chipset needs to have
some special software available to it on startup so it 'knows' how to
interpret the OS - it's called
'infinst.exe' and from the literature is spose to be installed in
certain location on the
HDD before XP is loaded (plus, I think the BIOS tells the machine that
the OS should be XP Home, not Pro). When I try to run the chipset
setup utility available from either Intel or Dell, I get a message
telling me that I don't have permission to do that or some such - I
can create the directories specified, but when the program runs an
error occurs and stops the installation.

Just wondering if someone here can shed some light as to what is going
on, and maybe even describe the process that these Intel-specific
machines required when putting in a new HDD (besides cloning from the
old hdd).

So far I've been using various diagnostic utilitiy packages that are
available around the 'net', including 'PartEd magic',
'YetAnotherBootDisc', 'UltimateBootCD 4.1.1', 'UBCDforWIN'; I've
found that I can't run the chipset software from DOS, always get a
message that "this progam must be run from windows".

So, anybody got any hints? As always, TIA.

Mike

baron wrote:


It shouldn't be any different to any other M/B !

--
Best Regards:
Baron.

Well, I'm not sure why I had no luck trying to install xp pro with an
oem disc, it just seemed to be in an endless loop where I'd start the
install, then the machine would reboot and put me right back at square
one - did this several times. Then I loaded a bios update, and tried
to get infinst.exe (chipset drivers) to run, with no success and
finally dug up the emachine restore discs and found that that
installed a working system (just probably one that I can't get
activated).

I have since put in a Live cd with an older ubuntu on it, and it seems
to run that fine, so I spose this will make an ok linux box.

One thing I'm curious about, after several iterations of installing xp
is that sometimes I'd have to enter at least one user's name, and
sometimes I wouldn't, I found that with an oem disc and also with the
restore discs - doesn't really matter, just seems odd to not be
consistent while I'm fairly certain that I did the exact same thing
during th installation.

Anyway, thanks to every one for your suggestions and comments, I think
I'll check out one of the newer linux
packages mentioned.

Mike

Wild_Bill wrote:
Backtracking.. first of all, I never expect used equipment to operate
perfectly, much less when I encounter something that was discarded (found in
a dump/ster).

I'm a dumpster diver from way back, it's amazing what good stuff can
be found from time to time

I dunno if the BB store label was an indication that the unit was a customer
return that couldn't be/wasn't economically practical to try to figue out,
or that it was just a BB store product that some customer threw away.


I suspect it was tossed as being too costly/out of date to repair,
either by BB or by the owner after he got it back from BB - it had no
memory no PSU and no hard drive but I had spares that I could plug in
to check it out with.

When used equipment does turn out to be fully functional (as it often does),
that's just a bonus.

Someone had already decided that it was trash, so expectations of it working
properly could be unrealistic, you see.

Turned out good this time though, I seem always to be riding the
trailing edge of technology so I don't really mind too bad that none
of my puters are newer than 5 or six years old.

Whe I mentioned a linux Live CD, I was referring to the linux OS not being
installed, just run Live as thay will often do, from the CD drive (as almost
all m-bds now boot from the CD).
A HDD isn't even required.

Some linux Live versions will be more favorable with certain types of system
hardware.
Several years ago, I bought about 12 different flavors of linux OSs, most of
'em Live CDs (cheap, from from an eBay'er). I know they can be downloaded
for "free" from numerous websites but I was on dialup service at the time.

Try a couple/few different linux Live CDs (no HDD or any other unneeded
stuff), if there are problems with all attempts, there's very likely
something wrong with the m-bd.

I did and it seems to work fine, thanks for the suggestion

--
Cheers,
WB

Mike

Congrats on the good save.. persistence often brings rewards.
Yep, I keep telling folks that the U.S. is the land of surplus, where there
is more used and also new surplus stuff just laying around than many folks
can imagine.

I know about riding on the trailing edge.. I still do that, too. It's
generally a very inexpensive way to follow ones' various interests, finding
lots of cheaper stuff along the way.

--
Cheers,
WB
..............


"mike" wrote in message
...

I'm a dumpster diver from way back, it's amazing what good stuff can
be found from time to time


I suspect it was tossed as being too costly/out of date to repair,
either by BB or by the owner after he got it back from BB - it had no
memory no PSU and no hard drive but I had spares that I could plug in
to check it out with.

Turned out good this time though, I seem always to be riding the
trailing edge of technology so I don't really mind too bad that none
of my puters are newer than 5 or six years old.

Try a couple/few different linux Live CDs (no HDD or any other unneeded
stuff), if there are problems with all attempts, there's very likely
something wrong with the m-bd.

I did and it seems to work fine, thanks for the suggestion

--
Cheers,
WB

Mike

On 27/11/2010 12:42, mike wrote:

Well, I'm not sure why I had no luck trying to install xp pro with an
oem disc, it just seemed to be in an endless loop where I'd start the
install, then the machine would reboot and put me right back at square
one - did this several times.

Probably a daft question, but...

What is the device boot order set to in the BIOS? When the OS is
installed and it reboots for the first time, the priority should be to
the booting from hard drive - not the CD!

--
Adrian C

mike Inscribed thus:



baron wrote:


It shouldn't be any different to any other M/B !

--
Best Regards:
Baron.

Well, I'm not sure why I had no luck trying to install xp pro with an
oem disc, it just seemed to be in an endless loop where I'd start the
install, then the machine would reboot and put me right back at square
one - did this several times. Then I loaded a bios update, and tried
to get infinst.exe (chipset drivers) to run, with no success and
finally dug up the emachine restore discs and found that that
installed a working system (just probably one that I can't get
activated).

Some of the older mainboards have timing problems. The machine
manufacturer patches the install to suit. As you have found BIOS
updates can markedly change the behavior of the board.

I have since put in a Live cd with an older ubuntu on it, and it seems
to run that fine, so I spose this will make an ok linux box.

If you look carefully at the Linux boot log you might see notes refering
to "buggy this or that" or "workaround xxx". This can often give clues
to the odd behavior when trying to install from a retail/OEM Win disk.
Though Wins does a similar thing leaving a file on the drive to tell the
next install attempt to "avoid" or "do this" this time around.

One thing I'm curious about, after several iterations of installing xp
is that sometimes I'd have to enter at least one user's name, and
sometimes I wouldn't, I found that with an oem disc and also with the
restore discs - doesn't really matter, just seems odd to not be
consistent while I'm fairly certain that I did the exact same thing
during th installation.

See previous para !

Anyway, thanks to every one for your suggestions and comments, I think
I'll check out one of the newer linux packages mentioned.

Mike

I've used Linux for years without any problems ! In fact it is probably
the best diagnostics tool you could have. Try exploring a Windows
machine from Linux ! You might be surprised at what you find
squirreled away in there.

--
Best Regards:
Baron.

Adrian C wrote:

Probably a daft question, but...

What is the device boot order set to in the BIOS? When the OS is
installed and it reboots for the first time, the priority should be to
the booting from hard drive - not the CD!

--
Adrian C

Lazy guy that I am, I leave the cd-rom set to boot first and just make
sure there's no cd in the drive when
it's time to reboot.

Mike

Baron wrote:


Some of the older mainboards have timing problems. The machine
manufacturer patches the install to suit. As you have found BIOS
updates can markedly change the behavior of the board.

That makes sense...

I have since put in a Live cd with an older ubuntu on it, and it seems
to run that fine, so I spose this will make an ok linux box.

If you look carefully at the Linux boot log you might see notes refering
to "buggy this or that" or "workaround xxx". This can often give clues
to the odd behavior when trying to install from a retail/OEM Win disk.
Though Wins does a similar thing leaving a file on the drive to tell the
next install attempt to "avoid" or "do this" this time around.

Excellent suggestion, I'm gonna have to reacquaint myself with where
the logs are, and get familiar what 'normal' logs look like.

One thing I'm curious about, after several iterations of installing xp
is that sometimes I'd have to enter at least one user's name, and
sometimes I wouldn't, I found that with an oem disc and also with the
restore discs - doesn't really matter, just seems odd to not be
consistent while I'm fairly certain that I did the exact same thing
during th installation.

See previous para !

Thanks for the tips,

Mike

mike Inscribed thus:



Adrian C wrote:

Probably a daft question, but...

What is the device boot order set to in the BIOS? When the OS is
installed and it reboots for the first time, the priority should be
to the booting from hard drive - not the CD!

--
Adrian C

Lazy guy that I am, I leave the cd-rom set to boot first and just make
sure there's no cd in the drive when
it's time to reboot.

Mike

Thats a pretty standard thing ! CD first, then USB/revmovable devices,
then HDD. Unless you need it, disable "Boot from network" !

--
Best Regards:
Baron.