Dell Dimension

niceguyrichy · Nov 20, 2005, 12:28 PM

Dell Dimension 5100

my mother in laws comp, refuses to install any game that uses 2 discs or more.

It gets to the point where it asks for the second disc, and when I put it in, the drive does nothing. doesn't spin or anything.

I'm in the process of updating all the drivers, and then the next plan was to swap the dvd drive.
virus scanned, adware scanned, spyware scanned etc.....
the comp is brand new, never even been connected to the net.

it plays everything else just fine, dvd rom games, single cdrom games etc.

anyone any ideas???

just so you know:

3.4G P4
1G ddr2
x600 256
xp home edition
2?/3?00G maxtor

edit: forgot to mention that every time I start the comp up it asks to install "Plug and Play BIOS Extension". don't know if that's important or not.

Randomletters · Nov 20, 2005, 02:48 PM

Create an ISO or a bin/cue of the second disk and use daemon tools to mount it

niceguyrichy · Nov 20, 2005, 03:04 PM

so like i said, i upgraded all the drivers.
no probs, until I did the chipset driver last, restarted the comp, and got the dreaded BSOD.
you know, that 'windows shut down to prevent damage' one that usually means you really f**ked up.

anyways, tried to boot to safe mode, and it did! (i'm never usually that lucky)
used a recovery tool to rewind the drivers back to before I started, and I'm back to 'normal'.
guess it didn't like that chipset driver.

other interesting thing was, it wouldn't let me update the dvd drive driver, just said i wasn't allowed or something.
suppose I'll try one of my dvd drives in, see what happens

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randomletters

Create an ISO or a bin/cue of the second disk and use daemon tools to mount it

yeah, but that's a last resort.
it's my mother in laws comp, mostly used for her grankids to play games on, which means that they'll want to be able to install games as well.
So I have to find out what's wrong and fix it, rather than just working around it like I would if it was my own comp.

soloz2 · Nov 20, 2005, 03:16 PM

Ok, here's what you've gotta do with a Dell when you first get it.

1. reformat the hd
2. install a fresh copy of windows. You can use the cd that came w/
3. install the Dell drivers/utilities disc
4. only install the drivers/utilities that you actually need

This will give you a much cleaner installation, and free up space on the hd. It will also run smoother, and it will accept updated drivers.

If you are still having problems with the DVD drive then either call or email Dell tech support. They'll tell you to do a couple useless things... do them just to humor the technicion, then tell them that it didn't work and you need a new drive.
Dell will give you the option of installing the drive yourself or having them come to do it. since it's a piece of cake to swap out just tell them you'll do it. Dell with overnight a new DVD-ROM to you, put the new one in and pack the old one up and send it back to Dell postage prepaid.

Dell is usually pretty good about stuff like that.
I had a drive in one of my Dells that kept giving me a data redundency errors no matter what drivers or anything I did so the sent me a new one. fixed the problem.