Dell Laptop Can't find C: drive?! Can't boot!

[Guest]

I tried uninstalling Office 2007 trial and something happened to my laptop. I
am stuck in a vicious cycle of contant re-booting because the laptop can't
find the c: drive to boot to. I don't know where my boot disks or recovery
disks are.

This is the error message I get (in some DOS program, not Windows):
"Start DST Short Test
Test results - Fail
Error code - 1000-0141
Msg - no drive detected

Can anyone help?? I'm running WinXP.

 

[Jim]

I tried uninstalling Office 2007 trial and something happened to my laptop.
I
am stuck in a vicious cycle of contant re-booting because the laptop can't
find the c: drive to boot to. I don't know where my boot disks or recovery
disks are.

This is the error message I get (in some DOS program, not Windows):
"Start DST Short Test
Test results - Fail
Error code - 1000-0141
Msg - no drive detected

Can anyone help?? I'm running WinXP.

I would first determine that the BIOS can see the drive.
You follow the instructions in the fine manual to get to the BIOS (which
some people call the system setup).

If the BIOS cannot find the drive, you have a hardware problem.

If it can, then perhaps a reinstall is in order. You will regret not
keeping track of those disks.

Jim