installation cd and partition info needed for 4600

when installing a new, single partitioned hard drive in a dell 4600 will the
dell installation CD automatically partition my drive so it can put the dell
diagnostics crap on the drive while it reinstalls my OS. or will it just
install XP home the way i would prefer? also, do the diagnostic lights in
the back of the pc get their info from the partition that hold the
diagnostics software. if so, will this cause any issues? i have an 80 gig
drive that i want to use in my 4600. are there any hidden surprises that i
need to look out for. hopefully, all i have to do is simply install the
drive. change the boot sequence in bios to boot from cdrom first. then
install xp. but, something tells me i am about to get fooled.

in addition, i have been lurking and asking questions in this group for
about two weeks now. i have been impressed with the Q&A i have seen so far.
FWIW i am satisfied with my 4600. i haved owned several other "brand name"
pc's in the past and have built my own systems. the one frequent topic i
keep seeing in this group is talk "complaints" about dells technical
support. although, i havn't used their service, i doubt i ever will. i
believe that most of my issues can be solved in this group by the many geeks
that reside here. i admit that many proprietory measures that some pc makers
use are a pain in the ass. but, this attitude is here to say.


thanks for reading and/or responding

 

No, the little partition is impossible to recreate. The Dell installation CD
is just an XP disk, nothing special, other than it will not require
activation as it is aware of the Dell BIOS.

If you need the diagnostics, just boot the Resource CD.

That said, the little partition sure is handy. I don't believe it drives
the flashing lights.

Tom

 

thanks tom

 

That said, the little partition sure is handy.

What can you do with it?

 

When you boot and see the Dell logo, press Ctrl+alt+d

It invokes the diagnostics. If a component fails the diagnostics, Dell, in
my experience, sends you a replacement with no more questions and no more
troubleshooting.

Tom

 

Searching the support site turned up these documents about diagnostics.

http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?dn=1082859

http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?dn=1064314

http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?DN=1034504

http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?DN=1040310

http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?DN=1060629 (screen shots)

 

<snip>

You should be able to boot to the CD by simply pressing F12 at num lock and
arrowing down to the boot device you want.

Stew

 

thanks for all the help. managed to install new drive without conflict.
still happy with the 4600 so far