Dell Vostro 200 Repair

The Dell Vostro 200 was introduced in 2007 as a small business desktop. This system is essentially very similar to the Inspiron 530 in terms of hardware, so many features and parts that are used on the Inspiron 530 carry over the Vostro 200. This can make repairs very economical. However, the motherboards will not transfer without a Vostro 200 BIOS reflash even though the motherboards are essentially the same and share the same model numbers.

The Vostro 200 shipped with Windows Vista, but had an option to ship with Windows XP. The easiest way to see which OS your system came with is to look at the COA and see if the system came with Windows XP or Vista. If your COA is worn out or missing, this information can be found in the System Configuration page on Dell's support page.

Many of these systems typically have XP COA's since these were generally low spec systems, which were not fit to run Vista. However, some systems also shipped with FreeDOS installed. These FreeDOS systems do not have a COA attached to the case.

To pull up the specs of your specific system, look the service tag of the system up on the Dell Support website. All systems are unique and cannot be mentioned here.

• RAM: G33M02 models can only go up to 4GB, even with a BIOS upgrade. G33M03 systems support 8GB with the latest BIOS.
• Hard drive: This system has a SATA II bus implemented on the motherboard, but the BIOS is limited to SATA I speeds. You will need to install a PCIe drive controller to operate modern SATA III hard drives at their full speed.
• Processor: For G33M02 systems, the maximim CPU that can be installed is the E8600. For G33M03 systems, these systems can accept the E8600 and Core 2 Quad processors.

To get support and drivers for this system, go to support.dell.com and enter your system service tag. This will pull up the drivers you need for your system and allow you to view the specs of the system you have.