REFORMATTING PLEASE HELP

[krosangnomelord]

I need to reformatt my computer. Here are the steps I've taken:

1. i put the cd in the drive
2. set bios to boot disc up first
3. restarted, and booted the disc

and then, it asks me if i want to install XP, and i press enter...

then it says

"setup did not detect any hard discs installed. setup must now abort. press F3 to escape"

-----

What the heck? please help me!

[LilGeo]

Which OS? Can you still boot to HDD if you want to? What did the BIOS report as a HDD? Does BIOS see it?

[krosangnomelord]

the only thing i understood what you said was the last part. bios said i could make my C drive the first to boot :-/

[LilGeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilGeo

Which OS? Can you still boot to HDD if you want to? What did the BIOS report as a HDD? Does BIOS see it?

What operating system? Windows98, ME, 2000, XP? Can you still boot to Windows if you take out the CD and make sure the hard drive is in the boot sequence in BIOS? When you open the BIOS, you should see all your drives. Your floppy, any CD/DVD drives, any hard drives. What does your BIOS show for a hard drive?

[VHockey86]

When you first startup the computer, after it shows what processor and how much memory you have, it should list IDE devices. Generally its a list of 4 things... hes asking if a hard drive shows up there.

In the BIOS itself you should be able to view the IDE devices as well... but its rather BIOS specific so its hard for me to direct you.

[krosangnomelord]

i have XP.

and on BIOS, all it lists is the D drive, floppy disc and C drive. i believe so. lemme check one more time.

[krosangnomelord]

yeah, okay.

my boot sequence is:

1. Cd-rom
2. Hard Disk Drive C:
3. And then floppy drive

[LilGeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krosangnomelord

i have XP.

and on BIOS, all it lists is the D drive, floppy disc and C drive. i believe so. lemme check one more time.

Just in case I might know the BIOS layout, what is make and model of your machine? If BIOS sees the HDD, Windows setup should, too. It may be possible that the HDD is damaged. Thats why I kinda need to know if you can still boot to Windows. If nothing else, you can ghet a copy of a Windows95, 98 or ME bootdisk and when you get to an A:\ prompt, type FDISK. Then you can select #4 from the list. This will show you if your HDD is there or not, too. You may need to use FDISK and reformat the drive from there just to wipe it clean if its corrupted.

[LilGeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krosangnomelord

yeah, okay.

my boot sequence is:

1. Cd-rom
2. Hard Disk Drive C:
3. And then floppy drive

Just cuz ur boot sequence shows C: drive as being in the boot sequence, that doesn't exactly mean ur HDD is present on some BIOS. There should be another area in BIOS that shows ur C: drive. It'll show(sometimes) make or model of drive and will show its size in MB, cylinders, heads, etc.

[krosangnomelord]

i have a dell dimension XPS. umm the thing is, i dont understand how it could get damaged....