Right after you power on PC the DELL screen should show, starting pressing the F2 key. You can enter setup. Using arrow keys on keyboard select OPTIONS then DRIVE CONFIGURATION. If you could write down all of the information in DRIVE CONFIGURATION and post here we can tell if the hard drive is being recognized. Were you able to boot the WINDOWS XP install CD or the DELL restore CD. Don't do a restore just to see if PC will boot from CD/DVD drive?
Below is the sequence suggested by DELL at
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/syst…p.htm#wp1055545
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Overview
Use system setup as follows:
* To change the system configuration information after you add, change, or remove any hardware in your computer
* To set or change a user-selectable option such as the user password
* To read the current amount of memory or set the type of hard drive installed
Before you use system setup, it is recommended that you write down the system setup screen information for future reference.
NOTICE: Unless you are an expert computer user, do not change the settings for this program. Certain changes can make your computer work incorrectly.
Entering System Setup
1. Turn on (or restart) your computer.
2. When the blue DELL™ logo appears, press immediately.
If you wait too long and the operating system logo appears, continue to wait until you see the Microsoft® Windows® desktop. Then shut down your computer and try again.
System Setup Screens
The system setup screen displays current or changeable configuration information for your computer. Information on the screen is divided into three areas: the options list, active options field, and key functions.
Options List — This field appears on the left side of the system setup window. The field is a scrolling list of features that define the configuration of your computer, including installed hardware, power conservation, and security features.
Scroll up and down the list by using the up- and down-arrow keys. As an option is highlighted, the Option Field displays more information about that option and the option's current and available settings.
Press to expand or contract each of the main option fields.
Option Field — This field contains information about each option. In this field you can view your current settings and make changes to your settings.
Use the right- and left-arrow keys to highlight an option. Press to make that selection active.
Key Functions — This field appears below the Option Field and lists keys and their functions within the active system setup field.
System Setup Options
NOTE: Depending on your computer and installed devices, the items listed in this section may not appear, or may not appear exactly as listed.
System
System Time
Lists system time in hours, minutes, and seconds.
System Date
Identifies the date as formatted: Weekday Month
Drive Configuration
Diskette Drive
Identifies and defines the floppy drive attached to the FLOPPY connector on the system board as Off, USB, Internal, or Read Only.
Primary Master Drive
Identifies the drive attached to the PRI IDE connectors on the system board, and lists the capacity for a hard drive.
Primary Slave Drive
Identifies and defines the slave drive to the primary master drive on PRI IDE. Can be turned Off or set to Auto (to detect the drive) and if present, lists the capacity for the drive.
Secondary Master Drive
Identifies the drive attached to the SEC IDE connectors on the system board, and lists the capacity for a hard drive (lists n/a for optical devices such as CD/DVD drives).
Secondary Slave Drive
Identifies and defines the slave drive to the secondary master drive on SEC IDE. Can be turned Off or set to Auto (to detect the drive) and if present, lists the capacity for the drives (lists n/a for optical devices such as CD/DVD drives).
IDE Drive UDMA
Identifies whether or not to enable UDMA (the Ultra Direct Memory Access mass storage interface).
Hard-Disk Drive Sequence
Identifies the device types that are in first and second priority for booting the system.
* System BIOS - devices such as hard drives and CD/DVD ROMs as listed in the Boot Sequence section of this System Setup program
* USB device - a device such as an external hard drive or USB memory key
By default, System BIOS boot devices is first (in position 1), followed by USB device. To change the order, select an option and press the + or - key to move the selection up or down in priority.
NOTE: If you insert a boot device and restart the computer, this option appears in the System Setup menu. To boot from a USB memory device, select the USB device and move it so it becomes the first device in the list.
Boot Sequence
Lists the drives in the order by which they boot.
* Floppy device - Identifies and defines the floppy drive attached to the FLOPPY connector on the system board. If there is no installed drive, it appears as Floppy device (not installed).
* Hard-Disk Drive - Identifies the hard drive. The drive is listed by its drive letter (such as Hard Disk Drive C:).
* IDE - Identifies and defines the optical drive attached to the IDE connector on the system board. If there is no installed drive, it appears as IDE CD-ROM Device (not installed).
An included device displays with a checkmark next to its listing. To remove the device from the boot sequence, use the spacebar to clear the checkmark. To change the boot order, use + or - to move the listing up or down.
RedCar
