Member Avatar for nancoke

My friend asked me to help fix this computer
dell 4550 dimension, he had someone replace the Hard drive froma 40mb to a 160mb
it booted a couple of times but now power will sometimes starts then dies
is this hard drive too big for this system?? I never get even a post but I do hear the fan and at first the lights on the drives come on then go off.
and I am using a monitor that I know works.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by forumdude123

Dani AI

Generated

Building on 's report and the pointers from and , here is a short, practical diagnostic path that separates BIOS/compatibility problems from power/cabling or a defective drive.

  1. Confirm what was installed: identify whether the new disk is PATA (IDE) or SATA and whether it really is 160 GB. Make sure any PATA drive jumper is set correctly (master/slave/cable-select) and that a SATA drive is plugged into a SATA port.
  2. Observe the hardware behavior closely: listen for a steady spin-up, watch the drive LED, and try a different Molex/SATA power lead and a different data cable. If the system starts for a second then dies, swap in a known-good PSU or try the drive in another machine or in a USB/IDE-SATA adapter to see if it stays powered.
  3. Check BIOS detection: enter setup and confirm the drive appears. If the drive does not show at all but works in another PC, the motherboard or cabling is the issue. If it shows but the capacity is incorrect, the machine may need a BIOS update or 48-bit LBA support — some older BIOSes cannot address drives beyond the 137 GB barrier; some drives provide a jumper/utility to limit reported capacity for compatibility.
  4. Is there an OS on the replacement disk? An empty/new drive will not boot to Windows; you should see the BIOS POST and a "no boot device" message unless an OS was cloned or installed.
  5. Other quick checks: boot with minimal components (remove extra cards and drives), inspect the motherboard for leaking/bulging capacitors, and avoid repeated power cycles if the drive is suspected faulty.

If the drive fails to run in a different machine, contact the vendor for diagnostics/RMA. If it works elsewhere, focus on cables, PSU, and a BIOS update from Dell specific to the Dimension 4550.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

1) i think you mean gb
2) yes, its probably too big - but that shouldnt mean it wont boot. generally it just means it wont recognise it

Member Avatar for forumdude123

probably not a supported size by bios, and/or a disk/power connection failure. Check your cable connections, and make sure nothing is broken or loose.

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