Hi Steve, Dell Hardware as you know is often NOT industry standard. For example I have a Newish Dell Dimension 4700 - P4 3.2 HT 2GIG RAM, however just to get Microsoft XP to work I need to load the following proprietary dell driver just to get it to operate Windows XP.
1. Chipset Driver, Graphics Driver, Sound Driver, NIC driver, all loaded from the utils disk that come with the PC. Then and only then will Windows XP load from original Disk and function. In fact if you don't load even the NIC driver, Windows XP cannot provide a NIC driver and no network interface no Internet. Also Dell Do NOT publish update drivers to Microsoft Update like most all other companies. If they come up with a better driver for their hardware you have to install it from the dell site. Dell Hardware is cheaper because it is specifically designed to Run Microsoft Windows ?? and the ?? will be MS Windows version dependant of the availability drivers from www.dell.com Just because you have a Nice new Dell - Dont ever expect them to load ANY O/S without problems without first loading their utils disk and drivers. Your Dell GX280 has the following information http://searchapj.dell.com/results.aspx?c=au&l=en&s=gen&cat=sup&k=optiplex+gx280&qmp=12&p=1&subcat=dyd&rf=all&nk=f&sort=K&snpsd=A&ira=False&~srd=False&ipsys=False&advsrch=False&~ck=anav which include 4 BIOS update to correct errors of the past. The dell GX280 has 42 Critical drivers just to run Windows XP and another 30 or so to issues with running XP. If they published their driver to Windows Update they would be auto downloaded by the process in the Hardware driver part of the auto update process of Windows/Microsoft update; BUT they don't - you have to manually load them from Dell internet sight and first to get on the net to find the drivers you need to install the drivers that came with the Dell on the utilsdisk. I am having major issues with an old GX 150 and gave up trying to load Linux versions 10.0-10.2 with no luck and I had to install an AGP Video card to achieve the installation program running and it took 8 days and I never DID get it to work. Now I am trying to put back Windows 2000 - for which the PC was designed, with no luck unless I install the dell drivers first. The Video just freezes after boot and the PC lock up- and this is MS Windows 2000. I have learned the hard way - Nothing good it cheap and I have not come across a Dell PC that is rather IBM compatible - in other worlds you need to load proprietary driver as the architecture is NON ISA standard - Your Manual should state that. I mourn with you and I know where this old Dell is going very quickly - and its NOT the recycle bin! Its the Trash! Scott ;-) StephenW wrote: > --- Ken Jennings <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> I tried installing 10.2 on a Dell optiplex GX 280. It booted fine from the >> CD. >> Initial setup and the first part of the software install went fine. However, >> >> after the first reboot to continue the rest of the install it locks up hard. >> >> The grub menu displays, it starts to boot, but right after the suse splash >> appears it locks up. The little lizard logo with the animated dots never >> even appears. >> >> I couldn't find anything on Dell's linux wiki site about the GX 280, so I was >> >> wondering if anyone here had specific experience. > > I have tried and failed to even be able to run a live CD (several distros) on > Dell GX260 or GX270. I have not tried on a 280. I have given up. > > Stephen
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