Thanks.  I have the XP reinstallation CD but my computer will only look to the floppy drive for the boot disk.  The only message I can get is "No boot device detected.  Insert system disk and press f1 to continue."

If you mean the XP CD, you can either borrow one from another Dell owner, or buy a copy of XP at retail - Dell won't replace the CD.

Check the BIOS (F2). Is the hard drive detected?