I have an old Dimensions 8400 hard drive that I tried to put into my current computer, when I turned it on it tried to start, but then bluescreened and restarted. I'm wondering if there is an easy fix. I've done a little bit of research, and I think it has something to do with the BIOS? And also something with a clean OS, and I don't have a CD for it readily available, and don't want to buy one. Is there any fix? The sticker on the Hard Drive says WD2500 WD Caviar SE.. Serial ATA Hard Drive.. Western Digital.. That kinda stuff. I'm not sure what I can do to fix it, so someone please help. Again the problem is that it bluescreens on startup and then restarts. Thanks!
You can try mashing F8 before Windows starts booting, and try the safe modes and stuff. Basically the problem is that the drivers and settings on the hard drive are not compatible with your current computer. The typical fix for this is to boot from the install cd and repair the OS.
If you don't care about Windows, you can just install a free operating system. There are a multitude of options out there.
you can't use the same operating system installation as was on the dell, you need a fresh installation
Boot from the install CD.. So basically I have to go find one, then put it in the disc drive, and let it boot? Like with the new hard drive in it?
Yeah, you should have the option to repair an existing installation when you boot from the Windows installer disc. It will detect the operating system on the new hard drive (make sure it is the only one plugged in) and basically fix it I guess. I haven't done this in a while so I'm not familiar with any more detail than that.
Bump?
Boot into safe mode, then do a clean sweep of all the old drivers and you should be dandy.
So basically I should either A. Boot in safe mode and find a way to delete all the old drivers (need more info) or B. Get a new installation disc to put it with the 1 and only hard drive on startup, and install a new Windows OS thing fresh.. Considering I dont have a CD (bought PC used) I need to boot it in safe mode.. But I dont know how to delete the drivers.
You have 2 drives that have boot sectors, select f12, (usually), during first start sequence, select the hard drive you need to boot from, I.E., original drive, let it boot, copy anything you need from the 2nd drive to c:, then blow the whole disk, turn it into a storage only disk, reformat....