I am helping a friend who has been having trouble with his Dell Dimension 2100 computer. It is almost 4 years old and had slowed down enough that he felt it was time to reformat. We tried using the 40 gig hard drive that came with the computer. It would not not do either a full or a quick format. After some discussion, I suggested we get a new hard drive. Bought a Western Digital 80 gig and installed it into the computer with no problem. After a couple of tried, we were able to get the 80 gig hard drive formatted. Since then it has started the process of installing the necessary files for Windows Setup but it goes just so far and then it freezes. We have tried over and over and the Windows Setup goes just so far and then stops. There is a disk that came with the Western Digital Hard Drive. Would it help to put the disk in and see if it can help with the installation of Windows. The Windows XP disk we are using says it is for reinstallation with a Dell PC only (which this is) Any and all thoughts would sure be appreciated.

You probably have to go to the Dell site and download a utility that will set up the new hard disk. Dell creates a hidden partition on their disks. Do yourself a favor BACKUP!

Hey I am A+ certified, and I would think first thing that your RAM is bad. I am uploading you a program that you need to put on floppy and boot with. It will test everything on your system At the A: prompt type in checkit and follow instructions Good luck