If you know a bit about hardware you could go out and purchase a new motherboard and CPU (you should be able to get an upgrade kit) and then install it yourself by pulling the computer apart and replacing the old one, however if you don't know how to do this then i recommend taking it to an IT professional to do if for you, They will usually give you a warrenty for it and this eliminates the chances of you voiding your existing warrenty so it is definetly worth the extra cost if you don't want to risk it.
If you wish to do it yourself then simply remove all PCI or similar cards from your motherboard, IDE, Sata, etc cables from motherboard and the power, reset light, etc cables. Then unskrew the old motherboard and put in the new one (somtimes you may have to remove the powersupply to be able to get into it.) Then reattach the devices into the new motherboard carful to put it all back into the same places you took them out and follow the motherboard manual if you have any troubles working out what goes where.
After this install the new drivers which came with the motherboard and your good to go ;).
However you cannot just replace the CPU and not the motherboard if the new CPU you have is not compatible with your current motherboard. In most cases when upgrading you need a new motherboard too.
take out cmos battery for 2 min
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.sys.pc-clone.dell/browse_thread/thread/aefede5738759d22
Yes. You can upgrade your Dell XPS 400 Intel Pentium D to Intel core i7.
yeah I would depending on how much money it would cost, and what kind of processor you have?
The Dell Studio is a logical upgrade, but you could also consider a low-end XPS such as the XPS 16.
According to Dell, the computer has a very good processor given the size of the laptop. The processor is called the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor with 2 GHz.
The Dell XPS M2010 comes standard with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a 20.1 inche screen, eight speakers with subwoofer, a wireless mouse and a wireless keyboard.
Nope. Max RAM is 2 x 1GB.
On ebay - Dell XPS 630i - Price US $165.00
The Dell XPS 400 is not a laptop computer. It is a desktop PC designed for gaming, meaning it has powerful graphics and sound ability. It contains two hard drives totaling 410 GB capacity and runs an Intel Pentium D processor.
From the Dell website
The Dell XPS 8900 has an Intel Core i7 processor, up to 32GB of RAM, various storage options including SSDs, and a dedicated graphics card. It also features multiple USB ports, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, and supports wireless connectivity.