Dell Oem Windows XP version

[aresgodofwar]

I got a dell about 2 years ago. well i wanted to upgrade the cpu and motherboard. so does anyone know if i will be able to install with the dell oem xp cd? i have heard that dell has some kind of bios checking, and if it isn't a dell bios, then it will not install.

if this is the case, does anyone have a workaround? i would really hate to call dell tech support and get some indian guy that i can barely understand and won't be able to help me with this problem.

thanks for any help!

[newdles]

That's the mistake you made Buying a premanufactured pc like that is an extremely bad idea. Reason I say this is because they make it so that you can only update your system in certain ways. Memory, Hard Drives, Video Cards, Cd/Dvd Drives, Power Supply. Cpu can be used on another motherboard but you can't upgrade the motherboard you have now to a bigger cpu.

My Gateway (I made a mistake too) was ready to upgrade from a 1.6 ghz to a 2.4 ghz and I bought the processor. Come to find out, I needed a BIOS update for my motherboard to support the new processor. No big deal. Intel released the necessary BIOS for the upgrade. However, Gateway didn't. Their BIOS upgrade versions only allowed a 2.0 ghz processor which, to me, was a waste of my time.

Anyway, I ended up frying my board trying to make it work with the new processor and after that I bought all new parts. After next day delivery on all parts from newegg.com and some various parts and accessories from Microcenter right by my house, I had the new pc built, setup, tested, and running by the end of the day

newdles

http://www.webzila.com

[XtremeMaC]

i agree

if u're buying a desktop do some research and buy the components yourself, and learning how to put them together is something to learn as well, though its not hard. as long as one doesn't push the cards to the slots too hard!

[Exodia]

Check your I386 folder on that dell cd for a file called "Bchk32.exe". I know that on a win2k dell cd, this file is responsible for checking the bios, its a good possibility its the same for xp.

When you run setup, it launches bchk32.exe. Bchk32 checks the bios creates a .tmp file and writes either "+++" or "---" into it. "+++" being a confirmation of the dell bios. Simply deleting bchk32 doesnt work, im guessing some other .exe's checks that .tmp but i dont know which. So, the easiest way around the problem is to hex edit bchk32, find where it stores the "---" and then change it to "+++" so that no matter what bios it finds, it will always write "+++" to the .tmp file.

Heres what to do...

1) Load bchck32.exe into your hex editor

2) goto offset/location 1F92 (hex) or 8082 (decimal)

3) you should see "---" at this location, just change it to "+++"

4) save the edited file and replace the old one with the new one

Remember, this is originally for win2k so i dont know if it works for winxp. If you try it and it works, let us know.

BTW, this is not my work, i came across this some time ago, dont remember where though.

[Exodia]

Im at work right now and i checked one of the Dell oem WinXP cds we have here... it doesnt have bchk32.exe on it, so i guess the method i explained above is out the window now.

I did however find out that if setup is run from windows, it does not do a bios check. A bios check is only done if you boot from the cd. So, you could load an older version of windows (if you have one) onto your comp and then run winXP setup from there. Its an extra install process, but at least you dont have to do any hacking.

[XtremeMaC]

i'm not sure about this, i dunno if oembios.bin file checks it but, i think at some point gosh's method works.

well instead of guessing why don't u try and see if it works or not

just make a new install. either install it to a second partition (so u can go back to the other if u want)....

and if the oembios.bin is checking the bios? replace it with a retail version?

[FthrJACK]

Ring Dell and demand a proper Windows XP cd.

If you bought your PC a long time ago odds on you wont get it though.

Still, you paid for it, you should have it right?

[Bilou_Gateux]

I tried to install OEM XP CD by Compaq on a PC of another brand. I noticed that the copy of the files on the hard disc booting with the CD occurred correctly. After the 1st reboot, a program checks that the BIOS comprises the strings of the manufacturer well and refuses to settle if this string do not corresponds. The file in question is setupldr.bin in the i386 CD directory. Try to obtain from a friend having regular Microsoft XP CD the file setupldr.bin.

It will be necessary to burn new XP CD with the file modified by making an image of your DELL Recovery CD, to replace the file with an editor like UltraISO and to burn the image with a software like Nero.

If the case of your dell and the motherboard is standard ATX, you can without problem upgrade the motherboard and the CPU and maybe PSU and Memory modules.

You will have to re-install Windows XP with modified CD as explained.