"Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration"

[Hoof]

Hello, I am brand new to the forums, and a class A computer noob.

I am attempting to install a valid copy of Windows XP Home edition on a brand new PC. My computer reads the disc, but hangs up on the screen that reads "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration" and does not change. There is no visual/audio activity (lights flashing, sounds) going on inside the tower, and the disc just stops spinning in the drive. I entered setup, but haven't the slightest clue what to do in there and am worried about changing any settings.
The master drive is an SATA drive, which I am unfamiliar with- in setup, it does not list an IDE primary master (for this same reason). I don't know if this has anything to do with my problem necessarily, but I read about someone online who had a similar problem remedied by replacing the SATA drive with an IDE drive.
Additionally, if I have a 320 GB slave drive that was partitioned by a previous PC and still contains lots of (vital!) information, would switching the pins to master and installing Windows XP on the smallest partition erase the info? Is that even possible?
Sorry about the long (and convoluted) post, and thanks in advance!!!

 

[muckshifter]

Remove the IDE drive, just by unplugging its power cable, and try again.



Welcome to the forums.

 

[Hoof]

Thanks for the response.
Tried that, no avail. Tried removing the SATA drive entirely, nothing happened. Did some experimenting in setup and enabled RAID on SATA port 1, where the drive is located; don't have a clue what this does, but it lead me to a new error. I hit a blue screen that reads that windows has been stopped to prevent damage to your system, etc etc, run CHKDSK/F to check for viruses/corruption in the drive. I receive this same message no matter which of my two blank drives are in the PC. Disabling the RAID leads to the same error.
Is my new hard drive corrupted? How do I run CHKDSK/F without a prompt of any kind? There is an option as windows begins setup to press F6 concerning RAID drivers that I haven't tried- is that related?
Soooooo confused and frustrated at this point.

 

[muckshifter]

You should not need to use any "drivers" for RAID as far as installing onto a SATA drive if you have no intention to use RAID ... you only need XP SP1 or above (XP SP2)


I will need more info on the hardware.

https://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-3185892.php

 

[Hoof]

The SATA hard drive inside of the computer is a Western Digital 80 GB WD800JD
The IDE drive is a Western Digital EIDE 320 GB WD Caviar SE
The motherboard is an ASUS M2N-E with an Athlon X2 Dual Core 3800+ CPU

What is RAID by the way? Should I return it to the original setting (disabled?)