Are you sure that model# is right? I wasn't able to find any reference to it online (other than this post) including the PCchips website.

The problem is that if people are constantly "bumping" old threads they'll essentially spam a forum organized by "last post". This isn't a problem if done responsibly (look at the daniweb forum, the...

It wouldn't work. The whole concept of DDR ram is that it runs in full duplex mode, opposed to SDRAM that runs in half-duplex. It's just too dis-similar to have any potential. It would be like...

No problem, I'd guess the HDD's jumper settings were set for multiple drives and Dells BIOS got confused (they're notoriously picky about jumper settings), that would explain why your HDD was showing...

Is there an option to disable boot-up floppy search?

It's not recognizing your hard drive properly, I couldn't tell you why. It will probably generate that error until you put in a drive it likes,...

Should work fine.

+1 to Jbennet Sounds like there's something wrong with the partition on the drive.

Since you have a single 512 stick you would probably be best off buying a 1GB and putting it in the second slot. In XP you really wont notice the difference between 1.5 and 2Gb. And +1 to caper,...

PC-3200 is slow by modern standards, but fast on any platform that runs it. 1,2, or 4 sticks of PC-3200 will match the FSB of CPU that runs on a DDR platform. In this case 2 is just shy of his 533mhz...

If there is a BIOS upgrade use it.

The SPD error means that the system can't accurately asses the type of ram in use. Try going into your BIOS and manually adjusting the RAM settings to the specs...

If you have a pre-existing installation and want to create separate partitions using with different letter designations, I'd suggest using a third party "partition manager". It will let you resize,...

You might consider downloading a third party process manager. I've never really worked with one myself but I've seen other people with them. The short of it is that if you install this application it...

I forgot to note, My CPU usage stats were while in use. Everybody knows there's a difference between a Firefox window that's sitting a one that you're doing something in, but I like to be as clear as...

You have to remember the difference in clock-speed and CPU architecture. 50% on a P4 2.4 (especially if it's a prescot) would probably be close to max utilization on a P4 1.7 or a celeron M 1.5. His...

VS has a point about editing the MSconfig file to cut down bloat, this can be a good way to stop programs and services that you're not seeing in task manager and handle them, but doesn't entirely...

Was the "show processes from all users" function enabled?

Right now I'm on a 1.5ghz Celeron M laptop, and just working on Daniweb and running my (particularly lean) background processes has me at...

Any physical strain on a circuit board or it's contacts can damage it. If you're careful it should be fine, just don't do it excessively or when it's not needed.

Does your CPU fan spin and LED's light up?

You might want to check with Dell support to make sure this is a compatible board, many of the Dell desktops have proprietary power supplies that fit but...

I'm assuming you don't receive a BSOD (blue-screen-of-death) when this happens and it just shuts down.

It sounds like an insufficient power supply, I've had this problem before when my power...

I'm assuming you mean replace a 256mb stick of PC2700 RAM with the 1GB pc3200.

Usually Yes, you'd need to check your particular motherboard since some boards have a maximum size for memory...

A fresh PC build is just like Legos. As long as you're careful not to zap anything and put all the screws in you'll be fine.

Make sure your power supply can handle that hardware (Here's a link to...

Intel chips are the best performing chips, especially for gaming, but you have to remember that you'd need to be buying one of the top 5 Intel chips to be at a level you couldn't match with AMD.
...

They wouldn't be able to adjust settings or BIOS if he can't load to the BIOS.

If anything is bad it's the motherboard.

Check and make sure that the 4-pin power connector to the motherboard is...

It's true that AMD has been playing catch-up the last year or two but, you have to remember, the question of which companies chips are better is based on their top of the line chip. There's a...

I don't do a lot of benchmarks, and when I do they're always synthetic. The thing about quake benchmarks (as I understand it) is that it usually doesn't actually monitor frame rate in YOUR game, but...

There are two kinds of benchmarks in use today:

Synthetic benchmarks run a series of tasks and score how well they perform.

Real-world benchmarks monitor frame rate and other performance...

Coolraj is spot on, although a lot of older systems do have video-cards, just not good ones (by todays standards). I'd suggest either posting or browsing the "diagnosing dead systems" section....

ATX is the screw patern/ size /Power specifications for standard motherboards. There are also micro ATX boards that fit the same cases but are shorter (probably not relevant to you).

Virtual all...