Booting a Dell Dimension 2400 from a USB flash drive
To boot a Dell Dimension from a USB flash drive, for example a Clonezilla
Live USB drive, connect the USB flash drive, power on the system, then hit
F12 to get the boot menu when you see the Dell logo. From the
boot device menu, select "USB Flash Device".
Boot Device Menu
================
1. Normal
2. Hard-Disk Drive C:
3. IDE CD-ROM Device
4. Diskette Drive
5. USB Flash Device
6. System Setup
7. IDE Drive Diagnostics
8. Boot to Utility Partition
Enter a choice: 1
You can configure the system to always attempt to boot from a USB
device before the hard disk drive (HDD) by hitting F2 when
you power on the system and the Dell logo appears to enter the BIOS
setup. Under Hard-Disk Drive Sequence, you can put "USB Device"
at the top of the list, if you wish by using the "+" or "-" keys to
rearrange the order in which the BIOS will choose boot devices. You will
need to put "USB Device" prior to "System BIOS boot devices" to have
the system attempt to boot from a USB drive first. You can select
"USB Device" and use the minus key to move it to be entry 1 in the list.
| 1. USB Device |
| 2. System BIOS boot devices |
| 3. Hard disk drive (not installed) |
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Dell Latitude D505 Display Power Problem
I had to replace the motherboard on a Dell Latitude D505 laptop.
The display would blank unless pressure was put on the center control
cover near the power button.
[ More Info ]
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Dell 4700 Hardware Drivers
I had to replace a disk drive in a Dell Dimension 4700 PC. Perhaps not
coincidentally, the disk drive in another Dell Dimension 4700 PC also
purchased in December 2004 died the same week. The drives were 80 GB
Maxtor drives with model number 6Y080M0. It seemed odd that both systems,
which though purchased from Dell at the same time were at separate locations,
should suffer a drive failure in less than six months of use.
Dell shipped a replacement drive that arrived the next day. I told
the Dell support person I spoke to that I only needed the drive, not
someone to install it.
I was able to recover the users' files in her "My Documents" folder,
but there was no backup for the system, so I had to reinstall the
operating system and applications. Unfortunately, Dell apparently did
not provide all of the drivers needed for the system on a CD with the
system. So, though the user had a CD for Windows XP Pro, Microsoft Office
2003, Sonic RecordNow, and CyberLink DVD, there was no CD with the needed
Network and Video adapter drivers nor was there one for the modem driver,
which would make it difficult to obtain the needed drivers if no other PC
was available to use to download the drivers.
I was able to download the needed drivers with a laptop, however, and
transfer them by USB key to the 4700.
[ More Info ]
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