[Totally Dubbed]

Right well this is interesting:

PC was originally a VISTA PC, but was downgraded to XP - so now I'm putting VISTA on it, and it seems to be going fine!
 
haven't formatted the drive yet, but might do so

 

[hdufour]

The Dell xp cd is an oem branded disc - a generic oem will also work fine, but that is strictly for the license key on the machine so it will activate properly.  A Retail based disc OR corporate edition (volume license) will not take your existing key, so you'd better have one of those key types handy if you're going to use it.
 
You cannot change the drive controller type without having the proper drivers installed in the OS - so if it was RAID/IDE leave it that way.  If you want to set AHCI you will then need to reformat so the drivers are installed.
 
A BSOD at boot like that is usually a corrupt file on the drive.  If you can get to a command console (boot from the OS disc, then press R at the first screen) you can run "chkdsk /p" with no quotes to check the drive for errors.  changing /p to /r will also check for bad sectors and will take a LONG time to finish, but may prove worthwhile if your drive is failing.
 
If you have another pc, you can take the drive out of it and connect it there NOT AS A BOOT DRIVE but as a second drive.  Then you can use check disk within the other PC's windows to check it for errors - sometimes works quite well as a fix.
 
Also, BSOD's can be figured out by looking for the mini dump file that the blue screen leaves.  Those files are located at C:\windows\minidump and you will need WinDbg to analyze them (or someone who can read a crash dump file).  that will help pinpoint the critter that is giving you problems.
 
As always, I hope you have a backup before you go trying reformats unless you don't need data off of that drive.  Good luck!

 

[Totally Dubbed]

Quote:

The Dell xp cd is an oem branded disc - a generic oem will also work fine, but that is strictly for the license key on the machine so it will activate properly.  A Retail based disc OR corporate edition (volume license) will not take your existing key, so you'd better have one of those key types handy if you're going to use it.
 
You cannot change the drive controller type without having the proper drivers installed in the OS - so if it was RAID/IDE leave it that way.  If you want to set AHCI you will then need to reformat so the drivers are installed.
 
A BSOD at boot like that is usually a corrupt file on the drive.  If you can get to a command console (boot from the OS disc, then press R at the first screen) you can run "chkdsk /p" with no quotes to check the drive for errors.  changing /p to /r will also check for bad sectors and will take a LONG time to finish, but may prove worthwhile if your drive is failing.
 
If you have another pc, you can take the drive out of it and connect it there NOT AS A BOOT DRIVE but as a second drive.  Then you can use check disk within the other PC's windows to check it for errors - sometimes works quite well as a fix.
 
Also, BSOD's can be figured out by looking for the mini dump file that the blue screen leaves.  Those files are located at C:\windows\minidump and you will need WinDbg to analyze them (or someone who can read a crash dump file).  that will help pinpoint the critter that is giving you problems.
 
As always, I hope you have a backup before you go trying reformats unless you don't need data off of that drive.  Good luck!

Many thanks for the suggestions mate
 
I went ahead and backed all the data, and then did a full format (might as well) and re-installed VISTA
I say re-installed as vista was originally on it, but got downgraded to XP.
 
I now have it running operational, and on VISTA, with everything "almost" working.
 
All i need to do is sort out the sound issue - its not playing any sound, and that's mainly due to something with the drivers (it had this problem before)
 
its a dell dimension 9200 - business PC
 

 

[hdufour]

Sund drivers are simple....  Http://support.dell.com and click on get drivers. Use the service tag on your pc to narrow down the search and it should be right on top of the list of available drivers. 
 
If you keep vista, be sure to install sp1 and sp2 ASAP. It will help with numerous issues. I find it simplest to just download the network/offline installation files and install them versus running windows update for hours and hours. Simply google vista sp1 and vista sp2 to find them. Make sure also to get the version that matches your install if it is 32 or 64 bit. 
 
 

 

[Totally Dubbed]

Quote:

Sund drivers are simple....  Http://support.dell.com and click on get drivers. Use the service tag on your pc to narrow down the search and it should be right on top of the list of available drivers. 
 
If you keep vista, be sure to install sp1 and sp2 ASAP. It will help with numerous issues. I find it simplest to just download the network/offline installation files and install them versus running windows update for hours and hours. Simply google vista sp1 and vista sp2 to find them. Make sure also to get the version that matches your install if it is 32 or 64 bit. 
 
 

yeah for the drivers i think i sorted it - i knew it was driver related, but it seems to not like it when i disconnect my earphones or speakers from the PC - as in a pop up comes up and the sound icon gets a bar across it - not normal IMO, but hey if it works whilst plugged in, that's all i care about!
 
SP1 and SP2 - i'll check, but I installed ALL the windows updates + the CD came with SP1
 

 

[Totally Dubbed]

Another update: Solved the audio problems and connected to TV - thanks for all the help guys, the PC works fine and is fully up-to-date!