HDD upgrade problems

[StevenMailman]

I have a Dell Optiplex150 and I'm trying to upgrade from a 20gig western digital hdd to a 80gig. when i put the 80 gig in the dell logo comes on, boots, then when xp would boot next, it just goes black and stops.

Compatibility issue? how would I know? is there a site for hdd compatibillty?

Or is it my Bios?

[patio]

Brand new HDD's have to be formatted before they are used...did you recieve the utility CD with this drive ? ?
If so all the utilities you need are on there including a very nice "clone" feature which will clone your 20G to the new HDD and make it like new.

After that you can format the 20G and use it for storage space.

[StevenMailman]

Guess I should've clarified. The 80gig i bought is used, the gx150 only supports 1 hdd at a time, i didn't get a utility cd with it.

[patio]

Travel to Western Digitals site for the Data Lifeguard tools...

[GX1_Man]

You have to format the drive and then you have to install Windows for it to function. Do you have a real Windows CD or what? What version?

[StevenMailman]

oh my bad guys it's windows 2000.

but the thing is, this computer can only be hooked up to ONE hdd at a time. the one i have on it now or the other one. when i put the 80gig in, the dell screen comes up, boots, then when for example when a OS bootscreen would pop up, it just goes black and stops

i should be able to format and install windows on the 80gig without using another hdd. this is what i'm trying to do.

[GX1_Man]

Put the Windows CD in the drive and restart the machine. Press any key when it says "Press any key to boot from CD".

[StevenMailman]

what i'm saying is it doesnt get there. when it should, it just goes black, and stops.

[GX1_Man]

Go into the BIOS (F2 when you see the Dell logo) and make sure that in boot order CDROM is listed before the hard drive. While there, make sure that the hard drive is listed correctly.

The machine was functioning fine before this? And the brand new 80 gig is the only drive is the machine?

While inside make sure all connections are tight as sometimes things can get pulled loose when working inside the case.

[StevenMailman]

It was listed, I don't know what was wrong. I used WD Data Lifeguard and wrote zeros on the drive and it worked.

Thanks guys.

[GX1_Man]

Glad you are fixed up and thanks for posting back.