Dimension 4600C

Hi, My wife's PC is on the fritz. At first we were getting an error message that I can't remember now....very helpful I know. But we were able to to do a web search for the error message and found some info that directed us to go to the recovery(?) option on the install disc I believe. Anyway, to make a short story longer...now all I get is an error message saying "Primary drive 0 not found Strike F1 to continue or F2 for setup utility" The machine is a Dell Dimension 4600C, Intel Pentium 4 2.66 GHZ, running Windows XP home edition Okay, before I started to type this I inserted the system disc and now it's in Windows Setup mode? I guess I'm going to let this run and see what happens. I'm sure I'll be reposting with new error messages or options for which I do not know the correct choice. Or...okay it looks like it locked up on me....ARGH! I've got a blue screen that says Windows Setup and at the bottom it says setup is starting windows....but it doesn't look like much is happening. Sorry, I'm a mac user (please don't hurt me) and I'm a bit lost when it comes to PC's. I've seen on the forums that it could be a bad hard drive. But I am not getting the clicking sound of death. Is there anyway recover the disc or the files? Many thanks in advance for your help!!! Thanks, Paisios