The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.

Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

New HDD, no OEM OS... problem or no?

Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by davidjewlian, Jul 3, 2008.

davidjewlian Newbie

Reputations:

0

Messages:

7

Likes Received:

0

Trophy Points:

5

Hi,

So, I'm getting given a Dell XPS M1330 from a family member, but it doesn't have any hard drive in it, and doesn't come with the original Vista operating system disc.

What I do have is a regular ol' Windows XP install disc (no relation to Dell or anything else), which I would load onto a new hard drive I would be buying.

My question is, will everything on the computer work even though I don't have the computer-specific OS? The microphone? The camera? The fingerprint scanner? Obviously, I know little about these sort of things on computers, so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
David

davidjewlian, Jul 3, 2008

#1
X2P COOLING | NBR Super Mod

Reputations:

3,179

Messages:

5,361

Likes Received:

4

Trophy Points:

206

Yes as long as you install the proper drivers, drivers make components work, the os hosts and controls the drivers.

X2P, Jul 3, 2008

#2
stewie What the deuce?

Reputations:

3,666

Messages:

2,174

Likes Received:

0

Trophy Points:

55

I read for Dell you have to install a special Dell software first before installing the other drivers. I'm not 100% sure, but you should check out this XP installation guide from the Dell section.

stewie, Jul 3, 2008

#3