replace HD on Inspiron Desktop 530S

We need to know at least what operating system you are talking about, and it would help if you would describe the process you are trying to follow in more detail.

Installing the operating system is the first thing you need to do.  You start by booting from the Windows installation disk (assuming you are using Windows), creating a partition on the drive, and installing Windows into whichever partition you want to use, normally the first and labeled C:.  You would then install the drivers as follows:  Desktop System Software (If it exists for the operating system you are using), Intel Chipset Driver, Video Display Adapter Driver, Network Interface Adapter Driver (for the Ethernet port on the rear of the computer), and Sound Adapter Driver.  Other drivers may be installed in any order.

If you are using Vista you should be having no trouble doing this because Vista should have an appropriate driver for the SATA drive used by the 530s.  If you are using Windows XP you will have more trouble because very few Windows XP installation disks have drivers for SATA.  If that is your problem you will need to either change the controller to an IDE compatible mode (for some machines this is labeled RAID Autodetect/ATA, others just say RAID Off) or you will need to learn how to slipstream the SATA drivers into a new Windows installation disk that you will make using the files from your existing disk combined with the SATA drivers from the Dell support page.

thanks for the response.

well it is Vista and it has not been easy.  I have tried installing the sata drivers from dells site but they will not take.

put in the OS CD it starts to install, stops asks for cd/drive/path for drivers.

I've downloaded the latest from Dells site and nothing works.  it will not take any driver.

it repeats please find a newer version of the driver.

Dell's service sucks since I can not ask a simple driver question without being charged.

This should not be that hard. own a dell - hd crashes - buy hd from Dell - install.

I have the disk that came with the pc, i thought that they would work for replacing a hd.

Did you format the new hard drive before you started the Vista installation?

You may want to read these instructions for manually installing Vista.

Ron

ron thanks for the response,

i did read the instructions, i do not see steps in the link about performing a format on the drive. a good idea.

the steps are followed insert os disk, it begins goes thru the date and time then asks for drivers and will not accept a driver.

maybe that would help, what would be the easy way of formatting the drive?

Start the Vista installation and work through the options until you get to the one that asks on which partition you want to install Vista. Click the button at the bottom of the screen that says "Format". Format as NTFS (if there's a choice).

NOTE: the SATA driver that's available for download from Dell is a zipped file. So it has to be unzipped before it can be installed, which is probably why you can't get it to run during the Vista installation.

Ron

i no longer get the option to install the OS.  not sure what happened here.

boot from cd:

spins for awile then - bootmgr is missing  ctrl-alt-del

it is the same OS cd i've used before.  f12 and go to hd - nothing (i know, nothing is installed) or try F12 and select cdrom and same. even reveived

no boot device available - press enter to retry

sata-0:installed

sata-1:installed

sata-4:none

sata-5: nonee

not having any luck booting with anything or to anything,

Hi Ron;

Would he be looking in the Custom installation option?  If format is needed he needs to first make sure that there is a partition, and I think that button would lead him to the place where a partition can be created.

Sounds to me that it's trying to boot from the hard drive rather than from the Vista DVD. Reboot and press F2 to open BIOS setup. Change the boot sequence in setup to put the DVD drive first. Save the change, and with the Vista DVD in the drive, exit setup and see if it boots from the DVD now.

Have a look at these screen shoots and explanations on where to find the option to partition and format the hard drive.

Ron

thanks, tried that.  even removed the hd from the boot sequence and no luck

Ok, a couple more things to try.  Go back to system setup and set the hard drive to be first in the boot sequence.  Restart it and try using the F12 menu to boot from the installation DVD.  If that doesn't work, try resetting the NVRAM and then go back through the F12 menu to try booting again.

thanks. did the first with the f12 to boot from the install dvd - no response from it.

resetting the nvram - from looking at post on dell community t here are a couple of ways - load defaults -Press ALT + F- reset pins - reset the cmos chip  any way better than the other ?

thanks,

I'm with JackShack. Pulling the battery is a lot easier than messing with those teeny tiny jumpers.

Power off, unplug and press/hold power button for ~15 sec. Open the case and remove the motherboard battery. Press/hold power button again for ~30 sec.

Reinstall the battery (right-side-up!) and you're done. You'll know BIOS got reset because the date and time will be wrong.

Ron

I usually pull the back-up cell, but except for being sure that the reset took place, I don't think one method is any better than another.

thanks, that was easy.  no luck still.  dell is suppose to be sending out an different OS disk.  i am hoping that is that only thing holding me back at this time.

odd that i one point i was getting the OS window to install windows/drivers, now with the same disk/drive i can't get past no bootmgr found.

i can get the boot to cd: prompt and it will sit there forever.  if f12 - cdrom (or anything else "no bootmgr found ctl-alt-del")

not sure how i made things worse when it would not take any (up to date)drivers from dell.

Do you have any other bootable CD or DVD to test? Maybe the optical drive failed...?? :emotion-7:

Ron