I will start off by saying that I am not good with computer hardware, but I know my way around a tiny bit, at least well enough to follow simple instructions. With that being said, I will provide you with as much info as I can about my problem.
My friend works at a bookstore/pawn shop, and a customer brought in a computer he wanted to get rid of (Cicero with an AMD Athlon 64 Processor). My friend gave me this computer to me because I'm looking for a computer that doesn't suck nearly as bad as my laptop! (Keys are missing, adapter is screwy, etc.) So he brought the tower over to my house, and he had to leave on some other business. So I hooked everything up and it powered up just fine.
I immediately attempted to do a clean install of Windows XP on the computer, and then it would go on to say that it didn't detect a hard-drive, when there is clearly a SATA drive in there (I opened the side of the computer). Now I have no idea what's wrong with the drive but I know that's the problem. I ensured that all the cords were hooked up and nothing was loose.
I then attempted to boot the "BBS-0(RAID):ST3250823AS" (Clearly the hard drive) from one of the menus. It then showed an Ubuntu logo with a frozen loading bar. I knew then everything was frozen. So whoever owned the computer last had attempted to install Linux onto it, and it just doesn't work. I attempted to format the hard drive using a Windows Vista boot disc but it wouldn't let me.
The HD is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 200G Serial ATA
This is how it looks in the Standard CMOS Features (with everything set on auto):
Primary IDE Master: Not installed
Primary IDE Slave: Not Installed
Secondary IDE Master: SONY DVD RW DW
Secondary IDE Slave: Not Installed
Current boot sequence:
1. CD/DVD-0:SONY DVD RW DW-D22A
2. BBS-0(RAID): ST3200826AS
3. BBS-1 (Network): Intel UNDI, PXE-2.0 (build 082
Try other boot devices: Yes
I can also see that there are no floppy drives installed onto this computer.
My main objective here is to format the hard drive that's in there, and do a clean install of Windows XP so I can begin using it, but I have no idea what the last owner did to the drive!
Any help would be appreciated! Sorry if I'm being unclear about everything, I'm a huge noob and I don't want to spend any amount of cash on it being repaired just yet.
My friend works at a bookstore/pawn shop, and a customer brought in a computer he wanted to get rid of (Cicero with an AMD Athlon 64 Processor). My friend gave me this computer to me because I'm looking for a computer that doesn't suck nearly as bad as my laptop! (Keys are missing, adapter is screwy, etc.) So he brought the tower over to my house, and he had to leave on some other business. So I hooked everything up and it powered up just fine.
I immediately attempted to do a clean install of Windows XP on the computer, and then it would go on to say that it didn't detect a hard-drive, when there is clearly a SATA drive in there (I opened the side of the computer). Now I have no idea what's wrong with the drive but I know that's the problem. I ensured that all the cords were hooked up and nothing was loose.
I then attempted to boot the "BBS-0(RAID):ST3250823AS" (Clearly the hard drive) from one of the menus. It then showed an Ubuntu logo with a frozen loading bar. I knew then everything was frozen. So whoever owned the computer last had attempted to install Linux onto it, and it just doesn't work. I attempted to format the hard drive using a Windows Vista boot disc but it wouldn't let me.
The HD is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 200G Serial ATA
This is how it looks in the Standard CMOS Features (with everything set on auto):
Primary IDE Master: Not installed
Primary IDE Slave: Not Installed
Secondary IDE Master: SONY DVD RW DW
Secondary IDE Slave: Not Installed
Current boot sequence:
1. CD/DVD-0:SONY DVD RW DW-D22A
2. BBS-0(RAID): ST3200826AS
3. BBS-1 (Network): Intel UNDI, PXE-2.0 (build 082
Try other boot devices: Yes
I can also see that there are no floppy drives installed onto this computer.
My main objective here is to format the hard drive that's in there, and do a clean install of Windows XP so I can begin using it, but I have no idea what the last owner did to the drive!
Any help would be appreciated! Sorry if I'm being unclear about everything, I'm a huge noob and I don't want to spend any amount of cash on it being repaired just yet.