Dell Inspiron 640m Dual Boot

[GNCSUX]

I was given a computer many years ago. It was a Dell INspiron 640m. It came with windows XP. No upgrades have been done to the computer hardware. The software however my friend got the computer from someone who closed their business. He put Linux on it so you can boot in either windows our linux.

I was told that these are great computers to use as a chromebook.

I would like to maybe upgrade the memory and upgrade to windows 7 and have a dual boot mode with google chrome as the other boot.

Has anyone done this before?

Just curious on how hard it would be to do. I have watched some youtube videos to no avail.

[lacoster7]

It is extreamly hard. Any comp from Dell or HP has a hidden Partition on HD allowing to restore operating system. It have also special instructions in the Bios, to boot to such partition if normal partition is corrupted or to be modified.
Fastest way is take out HD to a standard comp, and use Hiren BOOT to delete all partition on that HD. And possibly partially install win XP first and linuks later on separate partitions. Then mount back HD in the dell or HP comp, and finish instalations.
I avoided using Dell and HP and IBM comps, best way is to use standard comps with standard Bios, it allows to mount anything possible without any hassle.

[Terryl]

Some older computer systems can't be upgraded to W7, if it was built for XP and does not say compatible with windows Vista, then forget it, the W7 install will/may fail.

This because it can't detect a usable hard drive, to see if this is the case download the windows 7 upgrade advisor to see if the system can support the upgrade.

All this because the newer W7 OS can't load or detect the old motherboard drivers for the SATA or IDE hard dive.

I have tried this many times on older systems, just left them on XP.

Now if it's Vista compatible then you may be OK.

[Ric]

teryl is correct ..... if its old school & has no " bios " update it will cost you more money trying to track down old memory ... OLD Vs New is the same price for stalking purposes ....

best way is to check out the computer itself .... it will have a product # ..... check to see if win7 was ever installed .. put the same copy in it ..... eg: windows 7 home 32 bit ....... vs what you have windows 7 ultimate ..


& i know i am mis-spelling ch!t on purpose because i can & i don't care..... i did win the B 10 years in a row ..... LoL ;D ..

& it was me who had 6 degree's under there belt when they were 16 ..... it wasn't you ..... have a nice F ing day !

[dishuser]

Some older computer systems can't be upgraded to W7, if it was built for XP and does not say compatible with windows Vista, then forget it, the W7 install will/may fail.

This because it can't detect a usable hard drive, to see if this is the case download the windows 7 upgrade advisor to see if the system can support the upgrade.

All this because the newer W7 OS can't load or detect the old motherboard drivers for the SATA or IDE hard dive.

I have tried this many times on older systems, just left them on XP.

Now if it's Vista compatible then you may be OK.

it came with xp and then later vista
I use mine with linux mint

[Terryl]

If it was upgrade-able to Vista then it should work with W7, the only problem ones I ran into were ones that came out a few years before Vista came to being.

Take a look at the Dell web site to see if there any BIOS and MB updates for W7, if so your in luck.

[Terryl]

This may help..


https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/inspiron-640m/drivers