Windows XP Formatting

[bwbw]

Hey there, New to the forum but looking for help (we've all to start somewhere)


When I try to format the computer I get to the Windows XP (Professional) setup screen and it says "Setup did not detect any hard disks installed within this machine" (or something to that effect) and as a result of this it won't let me continue with the setup. Also sometimes when I'm trying to install it it is coming up with the dreaded blue screen of death with the error STOP 0*00000007 and everytime I get to this point again it does exactly the same thing. It's kind of urgent as I'm trying to format it to get rid of it for sale as I'm mostly using my Laptop.

Spec of the PC is as follows;

AMD 2600 XP (2.1Ghz)
768Mb *DDR* Memory
120 Gb Hard Drive (Maxtor)
128mb GeForce4 Graphics Card
Sony DVD Reader
Pioneer 4x DVD-RW Writer
TDK 52x CD Writer

Many thanks for help

 

[topps999]

are u tryin to reformat?? if so put in ur disc then reboot ur pc, then wen its comin back on, press f7 or f8 (not sure which 1) and it will bring u to a boot men from there boot ur disc and reformat ur pc easily.

 

[bwbw]

Nah mate, Can't do that there's no option for that and there's no operating system on the computer. It goes straight into the set up screen and then proceeds with "set up can not detect any hard disks installed on this machine"

 

[captaincranky]

You have to establish a dialogue with the ****thing

If there is no OS, then the machine should boot directly to the BIOS menu.
This assumes NO disk in the CD/DVD drive. With the XP in the drive, you would need to keep pressing F2 right after you hit the power. In windows, pressing F8 is booting into "safe mode". No need for that yet. When you get the BIOS screen up, use the arrow keys to navigate the screen along with "enter" (use judiciously until you get the hang of it. Use "Escape" to get out of any screen. On the advanced tab you'll see Hardware. This is where you'll find which HDDs the system recognizes. First thing to check is whether the HDD mode is set to "IDE".
Even if you have a "SATA" drive, you must run it as IDE. If you tell the system you have SATA it will ask you to install RAID drivers. You don't want this. If the computer BIOS tells you that there are no drives detected, then you will need to reset the CMOS. Why don't you try to get the feel of navigating in BIOS (Basic Input Output System, If you care). Then tell us what you've learned. It's only of minor importance, but this post might be more appropriate for the "Windows OS" forum, or maybe "Other Hardware".