XP Home Edition Reinstall - NO HARD DRIVE FOUND

[ryanp]

I have a Dell Dimension 8400 bought in 2004
I am running Windows XP Home Edition, Pentium(R) 4, 3.2 GHz, 1GB RAM...
and I have Service Pack 2 installed

I am having problems with a few things...
(a) when i got a new version of yahoo messenger a while back... it no
longer works.. it opens for a split second and disappears
(b) when i got a new version of iTunes/Real Player recently... it now
longer works... it opens for a split second and dissappears... overall
windows seems to work fine... its just more and more as i install new
versions of applications, they won't open!!!
(c) When i log onto safe mode all i see is a black screen... no start
bar or anything
(d) when i log onto windows using directory restore mode or whatever..
i can use itunes and realplayer...

I decided to reinstall Windows using the operating system disk Dell
Provided with my once-new pc...
(a) i went through the process hitting f12 or f8 (i forget) and clicked
enter to "install windows"... ... however... when i get to the part
where i am supposed to pick a hard drive... a hard drive is not
found....
(b) my hard drive is the only hard drive connected to my machine....
and it is in proper working order... its the hard drive that i can
still log into windows with.... i just want to reinstall windows over
it... again i am booting from my CDROM drive so i dont understand why
im getting a HARD DRIVE not found error... is it my boot order? driver?
device conflict?

THANKS FOR ANY HELP!!!
RYAN

 

[jockemup]

I don't understand why people don't use their bloody boot disks to
reformat! First off, you shouldn't have purchased a Dell! Try using a
98 boot disk to delete partitions, and reformat. Create a new Primary
DOS Partition, and reinstall XP on that partition.

 

[Guest]

Why would they want XP on a "DOS" partition?

 

[Guest]

Using Dell PC Restore by Symantec
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8400/en/om/U70350LRs.pdf
Use Dell PC Restore by Symantec only as the last method to restore your
operating system. PC
Restore restores your hard drive to the operating state it was in when you
purchased the computer.
Any programs or files added since you received your computer—including data
files—are
permanently deleted from the hard drive. Data files include documents,
spreadsheets, e-mail
messages, digital photos, music files, and so on. If possible, back up all
data before using PC
Restore.
NOTICE: Using PC Restore permanently deletes all data on the hard drive and
removes any applications
or drivers installed after you received your computer. If possible, back up
the data before using PC
Restore.
To use PC Restore:
1 Turn on the computer.
During the boot process, a blue bar with www.dell.com appears at the top of
the screen.
2 Immediately upon seeing the blue bar, press <Ctrl><F11>.
If you do not press <Ctrl><F11> in time, let the computer finish restarting,
and then
restart the computer again.
NOTICE: If you do not want to proceed with PC Restore, click Reboot in the
following step.
3 On the next screen that appears, click Restore.
58 Advanced Troubleshooting
www. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m
4 On the next screen, click Confirm.
The restore process takes approximately 6–10 minutes to complete.
5 When prompted, click Finish to reboot the computer.
NOTE: Do not manually shut down the computer. Click Finish and let the
computer completely reboot.
6 When prompted, click Yes.
The computer restarts. Because the computer is restored to its original
operating state, the
screens that appear, such as the End User License Agreement, are the same
ones that
appeared the first time the computer was turned on.
7 Click Next.
The System Restore screen appears and the computer restarts.
8 After the computer restarts, click
OK.http://support.dell.com/support/top...1A&journalid=79FC472B794D11DA93591585B9D20254

 

[jockemup]

Why would they want XP on a "DOS" partition?

You have to create a bloody DOS partition to install ANY operating
system!

 

[Guest]

You bloody well don't know what you're talking about then!!