I have an XPS 400 that is having a bad day. A person brought this to me after it was "worked on" by somebody trying to "fix" it, who broke the plastic bracket off the data side of the SATA connection. The rest of the HD is fine, and the copper connections on the data side are in good shape. But without that bracket, it doesn't make firm contact, and doesn't properly transmit data. Here are my options that I see:

1. Put a new bracket on.

Not sure if I can do this, where to get one or if it would even last. Any suggestions on this? I have only old/surplus IDE drives lying around, so nothing to break and attempt to use as a replacement.

2. Order new HD control board.

Its a WD 80 Caviar drive, but there site does not sell the boards and I have been unable to find any sites that do. Anybody got a link to one?

3. Order new HD.

Probably what I am going to have to do. Priced him a 250 and 500 gig. But here is my problem with this. He doesn't have all of the original Dell CDs, and the big one is the OS. I have the Key on the box itself, but no CD to install the OS from. Can I use an OEM one off TPB, or will Dell sell you one or anything like that? I don't want to pay $100+ for one that has a new key as I already have a damn key. We only use XP Pro at work, and I'm pretty sure that his key wouldn't activate Pro on his computer, or I'd do that. Any ideas where to pick up a CD? BTW its all out of warranty, so I doubt Dell is gonna help with a damn thing. Thanks for the help.

2/4/2008 11:15:23 AM

1.) try to ghost data off the drive by hooking it up externally (you might be able to arrange it just right so that it'll stay in contact for the duration of the copy)...if that works, ghost it all back onto the new drive and so you don't need to worry about having a CD

2.) use an OEM from TPB...try the serial on the computer...it may or may not let you use it...if it doesn't, install with whatever key, get into windows, change the serial, and then use AntiWPA (i think the latest version is 3.3) to activate (after all, you're not doing anything illegal)

2/4/2008 11:28:58 AM