Windows 7: Windows 7 & Dell Dimension 3000

From personal Experience, having one of the best PCI cards you can get, (or close to it anyways), the max ram for the system, (2 GHz), And an 80GB hard drive, you figure you could get by with it right, since the minimum graphics requirement is 512mb Video Card, and 1 GB RAM? WRONG!!!

Unless you want to constantly Reboot your System, trying to get the Delled thing on, Then don't even bother. The latest Bios is Revision A03, released in 2007, which is the Era that Vista came about, The premature seed of Windows 7.



Therefore, until they decide to Revise the BIOS for the Dimension 3000 to fit the standards of Almighty 7, We are stuck with either XP or Vista.

Hello techaninja, welcome to Seven Forums!





I would think if you can run Vista, you should be able to run Windows 7, are the issues you're having "installer" related or something else, please be specific so we can help you.

What? There are tonnes of people out there running Windows 7 on Dimension 3000.

The only issue is that the Dimension 3000 (being a six year old desktop) uses Intel's 865G chipset for which WDDM drivers dont exist, hence no support for aero. You can either use the system without aero, otherwise upgrade the gfx card.

As for drivers, look up on the Dell support site. Most XP drivers will work with Windows 7 straightaway or if required, installed in compatibility mode.

Techaninja, Welcome to SevenForums
What is this PCI card that you speak off? If it is your graphics card tell us we maybe able to help you find a driver that works with it. Seven works very good with just about any old pc. Let us help you

"The only issue is that the Dimension 3000 (being a six year old desktop) uses Intel's 865G chipset for which WDDM drivers dont exist, hence no support for aero. You can either use the system without aero, otherwise upgrade the gfx card."

Actually, it was manufactured in 2005, And Aero Glass support Runs just fine on Geoforce 8400 GS. I Kept getting I/O Error every time I would go to boot Seven, but it took a few tries, and it would finally start. I did some research and they said it was a problem with the BIOS. From My Guess of Instead of doing a Clean install, just trying to Upgrade to 7, and seeing what happens.

What version have people been known to run, Just Basic, Premium, Ultimate, ETC? Please Let me know because the version I have is directly through my School, and it is the full version of Windows 7 Home Premium Edition.

Also, I think the Boot Sector could have been corrupted, from trying to do a clean install instead of a custom, and going straight to Windows 7, I will try starting from the ground up, using the System's OEM Disk, XP, running Vista now, and I will try upgrading to Windows 7, and I will post the results.

If you mean to do an upgrade install from XP to Windows 7 there is no path to do so, it will fail.

No, Like I stated, From XP To Vista, From Vista, To 7. And it Worked!!! Thanks for the Encouragement guys. I've had no problem whatsoever with a cold boot now. I'm a happy geek, and my sister won't get aggravated when she sees that it is working correctly when she tries to get on the PC now.

BTW, if you have the GeForce 8400 GS, it will run the Aero Glass Perfectly, and if you are running World of Warcraft at the Lowest setting, you can't tell the difference, (as there is no shading), and it runs pretty well, even in Un'goro Crater.

Just make sure you have everything set to performance on the card and not Quality. I figured that's what had happened was a corrupt MBR, as if you were to do a clean install, 7 runs off of NTL, instead. I could have just spent a little more money and built a higher end system, but I just wanted to work with what I had. Overall, it cost roughly $198: ($96 for the 2GB RAM, $53 for the card, $24 for the Dual Blue LED Fans, $25 for the plexiglass for the case mod). Not Bad for a lower end system, but could have spent another Benjamin and Built a new system. (As if I don't have enough parts laying around already

Well I'm glad to see you got it sorted, thanks for the update.

techaninja, Good deal you got a good install. Sounds like you have a nice mod going there. Hope that you hang around a let us know how your Windows seven install is treating you. Lots of good info in the tutorial section and more good stuff too!
Windows 7 - Tutorial Index

I solved the video issue w/ Windows 7 and the dell 3000.......now.....how about the audio? Any suggestions?
cdan