Dell Dimension e520

I have 2 Dell Dimension e520's, one with

Intel Pentium D Dual Core 3.0Ghz Proc
4gb Ram
250gb Sata HD
Intergrated Graphics
Bios 2.3.2

The other with

Intel Pentium D Dual Core 3.0Ghz Proc
1.5gb Ram
80gb HDD
Intergrated graphics
Bios 2.3.2

I am able to boot, and do clean installs on both, but when the files are done copying/ expanding, and they reboot, it just sits at the "Starting Windows" screen. They have never actually booted into the GUI and allowed me to log in/ use the machine. Both do the same thing. And it isnt necessarily "frozen" because the 4 colors light up and dim at the "starting windows" screen. I left them going at work and when i returned the next day, there they were on the same screen. What gives? Thanks in advance!

I used to have an E510 which is from the same era. Those should run Vista/Win 7, but probably only the 32 bit version since they have less than 4GB (the big plus for 64 bit OS is it will address more than 4GB of RAM).

What OS are you trying to install? XP?/Vista?/Win 7?

Resetting the BIOS may help. Easiest way is to power off the PC, open the case and remove the CR2032 CMOS backup battery for at least 10 minutes. This may enable the floppy disk drive in the BIOS, but Press F2 to enter the BIOS and you can disable it.

The correct install sequence for a Dell is (1) Install Windows (2) Install Dell Desktop System Software (3) Install motherboard chipset drivers (4) Install device drivers including Video, DELL Sound driver, Ethernet, etc.

I wouldn't use the 64 bit version. Won't do anything for you with the memory you have and could even cause problems.. I have Vista 32 bit on my E510 and it worked OK.

Reinstall one of the systems with the 32 bit OS version and see if that will work.

And where did you get your install media from ? Is it retail , oem ?

This is just to build an image. i can and will add plenty of ram if these machines are indeed deployed to users. The install is from MS volume license center website. this is for my company. 32 bit is an option, but it is a last resort. I want all my machines on the same platform. Most of the machines are newer than these, but these are the ones that are out of service and i have them available for building an image. Thanks for all the ideas guys. I am going to start off trying the BIOS fix and will report back. I am just going to go ahead and update them and see if that works.


Also, i updated the original post with the processor info and BIOS version.

******UPDATE********

I am back, after updating the Bios from 2.3.2 to 2.4.0 i am having the SAME PROBLEM! At this point i am only working on the 4gb RAM machine, and when i go into the bios to verify the processor is 64 bit capable this is the information that comes up.

Intel Pentium D 3.0GHZ
Bus Speed 800Mhz
L2 Cache 4mb
Multiple core? Yes (Dual)
Hyperthreading? No
64-Bit Technology? Yes (EM64T)

I am at my wits end here. I understand that 4gb is not a lot of memory, but i am simply doing an initial install, and would expect it to atleast boot. Are the intergrated graphics the problem? I have some older video cards i could try to install, but i dont know much about the WDDM stuff.

This guy was able to go from win 7 32 to 64bit on his machine with only 2gb of ram loaded and a pentium D930 proc during the initial install. What the heck is so different with me?

Pentium D 930 & Windows 7 64 Bit. Please help!


***Another update***

I have a couple of newer machines that i use as Kiosk machines here that currently run XP. I believe they have intel core duo processors in them, instead of the pentium D. They were likely built for windows vista, so maybe they have a better chance of working. I will try and install win7 32 on the two that are giving me trouble, and if still no dice i will go back to XP. Regardless of which OS i get on them, i will replace the kiosk machines with these and hopefully i can get 64 to load on them. So no solution to my original problem, but i am done wasting time on it. Thanks for the input guys.