Dell Precision issues

[phatgroovn]

The 100mhz bus is correct. The Xeons run on a quad pumped 100mhz bus to equal 400 effective mhz.

The hyperthreading thing is odd. Did you order ECC RAM for it? If not, dual Xeon systems on non ECC ram can be buggy at best. I'm running a dual Xeon 2.0 homebuilt with 1 gig of ECC RDRAM, on Windows 2000, with hyperthreading enabled (detects as 4 proc's :buttrock: ) and it's rock solid.

[phatgroovn]

And about the proc's, the Xeon is the multi-proc capable version of the P4 core. It's basically a P4 with extra cache, multi-proc capable, and hyperthreading.

[twilight]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I ordered it with ECC Ram, no doubt about it.

The version of windows xp is OEM, since it was pre-installed by dell. Would it be advisable to install a normal copy of windows xp pro? I've already installed SP1.

[phatgroovn]

hmm. The OEM copy is XP Pro and not XP home correct? I can't imagine Dell selling a 530 with a home O/S in it.

Reinstalling may help, but you'll likely have to format first. The first thing i always do when setting up an OEM machine is to wipe it and set it up the way i want it, without all the junk software and settings.

Reinstalling is your choice, maybe contact Dell first, but they will likely tell you to quick messing with the BIOS settings. :annoyed:

[twilight]

Ok
Thanks again for all the support!
I'll contact Dell, maybe it's a known issue... won't hurt to try.
You're right about formating... there is some odd software installed by Dell and there's a file named Dell.DSR on the hdd root folder. I'll ask Dell about it too.

Thanks mate.
keep well!

[GregHess]

I'd have to say the default OS installs that Dell does is some of the worst setups imaginable. You'll notice an instant increase in speed if you wipe the drives, repartion, and install a fresh os. (I'd still recommend Win2k over XP)

Especially their laptops. You wouldn't believe how much faster they are once you get XP off them.

Its like a different machine.

[twilight]

Whoa!
Now, that's something i wasn't expecting to read!! I was afraid to remove the original Dell drivers and even windows xp because i thought this was an optimized setup...
wrong again...
About the windows XP / 2000 choice...
i was very happy with xp first time i installed it in an older machine... but that didn't last long... and i went back to 2000...
I think i'll do the same with the Dell.
I guess the "don't believe everything you read" applies to the "Designed for Windows XP" sticker on the case, right?

In your opinion i should format the hdd from the windows 2000 setup cd and ignore any Dell specific driver, is that it?

Thanks for the great suport!

[phatgroovn]

Originally posted by twilight


In your opinion i should format the hdd from the windows 2000 setup cd and ignore any Dell specific driver, is that it?



Yes. You may want to assemble a cd of the drivers for the video card and sound card etc in your system first, to make installation a little easier/faster. If you are teetering on 2K/XP, i might recommend a dual boot. I prefer 2000 but didnt want to reformat when i need to go to XP someday, so i have 3 partitions....1 system partition for 2000, 1 system partition for XP, and a data partition. The machine then prompts you upon startup which OS to boot.

[twilight]

Cool.
I won't setup a dual boot though. W2K is enough for me, as long as the system is rock solid.
I'm trying a new method on this machine: installing the minimum amount of software! The very least i need to work.
i'll do the usual experiments on my old Dual PIII 933... that tends to keep things tight and running smoothly...

:)

[GregHess]

If its a Dell laptop...you have to be careful. The Laptops with ATI accelerators in them have driver support determined by the OEM producing the laptop...not ati. This means of course if dell doesn't want a laptop to support win2k, its possible for them to not produce ATI drivers for the video card in the laptop.

There is a way around this, but it involves forcing driver installs, and having a CRT around to bypass the LCD screen detection.

Normally with dell's I just use the win2k cd and delete all partions and then just install normally.

I don't forsee there being any reason to switch to XP. By the time applications start specifically coming out for it, the next microsoft OS will be available, and hopefully it will use about 50% less resources then XP and be more on par with win2k's streamlined performance.

[twilight]

Ok.

It's not a laptop. Are there any dual xeon processor laptops? I thought not...

I'll switch to w2k a.s.a.p.

Thanks again for all the help!

[phatgroovn]

Originally posted by twilight


It's not a laptop. Are there any dual xeon processor laptops? I thought not...


Nope, no dual-anything laptops. I can't imagine the battery life on a dual-xeon laptop, much less the size of it!

[GregHess]

Actually....

Supposedly there is a flexatx Dual something or other coming out in the near future. It wouldn't take too much more to design a lowerspeed config to run in a laptop.

I was just pointing out information on wiping dell laptops. :)

In case anyone else was reading this thread with a dell machine.

[Gyan]

Originally posted by GregHess

I don't forsee there being any reason to switch to XP. By the time applications start specifically coming out for it, the next microsoft OS will be available, and hopefully it will use about 50% less resources then XP and be more on par with win2k's streamlined performance.

Except if a reliable hack comes out for HT on current C1 stepping CPUs. :-)

[CarlCampbell]

I got the same WS, cept I got me a 1 gig ram and Wildcat 3 6110. I really wanna format, but I've been warned that this sometimes messes with the pre-installed shite on the system. Will it hurt to format? Say if I installed w2k.....?

Carl :beer:

[GregHess]

Deja Vu.

First off....

Make sure you can replace all the software installed on the system yourself. (Aka that you have cd's and licenses).

Second...make sure all the hardware in the system has win2k drivers.

Third...backup any files you had been working on, cause they will most likely be lost.

Then just boot to the win2k cd, delete all the partions, repartion, and format.

If you haven't ever installed win2k before, I recommend checking on how to do it. Its pretty easy, but if you have a non standard controller card, you could run into issues if you don't have the drivers on a 3.5 disk.

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