Recovering an *old* Dell PC (2007)

[marcplante]

I'm trying to recover and olf Dell Deimension E521 for my 85 year old next door neighbor. He checks his AOL mail. He checks his AOL stock summary and his wife plays solitaire from time to time.

The Windows Vista install got cranky and Blue screenish, and I figured I might pop in some RAM (4 Gigs) and install windows 7...No dice...The processor takes a full 24 hours to unpack the bits and things don't work.

So I looked to a factory refresh...at least it will run with the Vista factory image given 400% of the factory RAM (Maybe 340% if its 32 bit)

The documented boot menu commands to get to the recovery partition do not seem to work.

There is a D: Drive with 10+ gigs of information on it. Is that critical mass to reinstall Vista?

Is there any way to save this device? or do I need to find another box?

Thanks,

Marc

 

[postmortemIA]

use windows easy transfer to backup all user data, and do the fresh install. Is Vista OEM?

 

[marcplante]

use windows easy transfer to backup all user data, and do the fresh install. Is Vista OEM?

Yes, oem, and I can't access recovery partition using documented methods. That's the problem. Only sw I have in hand is win 7 and the machine seems too old to run it.

 

[LTC8K6]

Have you checked the Dell support site to see if there are Win7 drivers for it?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Is the HDD hosed? If it's still on the original HDD, it might be bad by now.

Edit: Just saying... the BSODs might be hardware failure, and not just a software problem needing a re-format.

 

[postmortemIA]

Yes, oem, and I can't access recovery partition using documented methods. That's the problem. Only sw I have in hand is win 7 and the machine seems too old to run it.

All you need is some Vista installation DVD. Does not matter which version. All versions for Vista were available on the same media.
It is also easy to pre-activate OEM computers with retail or upgrade discs.

 

[marcplante]

I can install win 7...sort of. The install takes about 24 hours since it takes so long to unpack the files. Vista install bits are awkward to come by, though I've gotten spoiled by downloadable media, and Vista was dvd only. I'll look online for Vista discs. When win 7 is installed it is very slow, even with 4 gigs of ram installed. It seems the processor is just too slow

 

[Fardringle]

The processor takes a full 24 hours to unpack the bits and things don't work.

That tells me you have a hardware problem, not a software problem.

I installed Windows 7 on an ancient Pentium 4 Celeron 2ghz processor with 1GB of RAM recently, just to see what would happen. It only took a little more than an hour.

Have you tried running the Dell Diagnostic tools? (Press F12 when you see the Dell splash screen after turning the computer on.)

 

[VirtualLarry]

That tells me you have a hardware problem, not a software problem.

A bad HDD could cause that.

Have you tried running the Dell Diagnostic tools? (Press F12 when you see the Dell splash screen after turning the computer on.)

Good idea.

 

[MongGrel]

That tells me you have a hardware problem, not a software problem.

I installed Windows 7 on an ancient Pentium 4 Celeron 2ghz processor with 1GB of RAM recently, just to see what would happen. It only took a little more than an hour.

Have you tried running the Dell Diagnostic tools? (Press F12 when you see the Dell splash screen after turning the computer on.)

A bad HDD could cause that.

Good idea.

+1

But I guess not really needed.

HDD sounds suspect to me.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I agree, sounds like a bad hard drive to me.

 

[marcplante]

+1

But I guess not really needed.

HDD sounds suspect to me.

Thanks for the hardware votes. I stopped in a spare 120 gb drive and located some Vista bits...though I'm thinking I should just upgrade him to win 7 to facilitate some level of support.

 

[marcplante]

Dropped, that is...handset auto correct...

 

[Steltek]

You might want to look at the used Core2 desktops here. They aren't as cheap as they were, but you can still pick one up much cheaper with an OS than even an OS upgrade would cost. Plus, as it comes with Win7, it should qualify for the Win10 free upgrade.

If you have a Vista recovery disc, you might be able to use this process to gain access to the Dell recovery partition.

 

[Ketchup]

You might want to look at the used Core2 desktops here. They aren't as cheap as they were, but you can still pick one up much cheaper with an OS than even an OS upgrade would cost. Plus, as it comes with Win7, it should qualify for the Win10 free upgrade.

If you have a Vista recovery disc, you might be able to use this process to gain access to the Dell recovery partition.

I know that these are probably just leftovers or refurbs that someone is trying to unload, but man what a price! You put an SSD and maybe some more RAM in those and you would have one fine basic machine on the cheap.

 

[marcplante]

I bought 4 gigs of ram from China for 14 and dropped in an old hd. I have spare licenses for win7, and don't think my neighbor will ever need win 10. I got him up and running again. Thanks.

Marc