Dimensions 8400 Hard disc corruption. Reboot disc does not seem containt Drivers

Question

I have an 8400, where the hard disc corrupted while I was adjusting the UPS!! (silly me)  PC packed up and gave error warnings.  Could not reboot, so have tried to reinstall the OEM DELL Reinstallations CD  (I have ALL the original CDs with various references to drivers on them).    I could not get the XP to run and update itself on-line because the internal comms card had no driver.  (I had to reset the order of boot up to disc first) I got an external ethernet card and that worked.  I then let it auto reboot but I then got a screen telling me it could not find the DVD / CD player (that I had used to boot up the first time).  When I used F8 to give me boot options and used the installed version of XP I had (not updated - I cannot get it to update)  and then checked for drivers I found that Video, CD, ethernet etc all had ?? next to them and could not find drivers.  ie the CD did not install the drivers.   I tried downloading some from the DELL site (based on my service code),  again no 'traction'.  so I have spent many hours trying everything and am at wits end.  So here are my questions:   1.  I have no floppy, but seem to be able to use CD to load.  Do I use the 'Reinstallation disc' as the boot disc?  or is there some other one with the PCs drivers.  (if yes I do not seem to have it) 2.  Can I obtain a driver disc for my pc (i have the service code) 3.  What is the correct sequence to boot from scratch for a complete re install?   ps.  My system gets hung up when I initation the update of XP, as it can't find the CD drive + (other drivers).  Screen says.   1st.   Press F6 if you want to install SCSI or RAID drivers then:    2nd  'Stop cannot find a CD-ROM'             Make sure your CD-ROM drive is on and properly connected to your computer (it is I           assume as I can boot from it)             If it is an SCSI CD-ROM make sure SCSI device is properly terminated.  See your SCSI or             computer adaptor docs for more information.  Set up cannot continue press F3 to quite !!             A circle I cannot escape !!   Any advice would be much appreciated.

mombodog · Answer

Enter the bios and change the Drive Controller  to     Raid Autodetect/ATA   save changes on exit.   Now install XP clean without using F6, you do not need Sata drivers now.     http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp  how to clean install XP

mombodog · Answer

'I tried changing the BIOS Drive settings as you suggested, but got a Blue screen telling me that it had shut down windows to protect the computer.'   At what point exactly do you get this BSOD during the installation of XP?   1. Make the change I suggested in the bios, be sure the change is saved on exit of the bios, double check this setting by re-entering the bios and look to see if it is. Boot from the Dell Reinstallation CD,  XP Home edition and start setup.

stevepaulB · Answer

Thank you for your suggestions.   I tried changing the BIOS Drive settings as you suggested, but got a Blue screen telling me that it had shut down windows to protect the computer.  When put back into the original setting RAID auto detect / AHCI it goes back to the original screen saying it cant find the CD ROM drive.   Having read your XP set up i noticed that you said some pc vendors do not provide a reboot disc.  My DELL one states:   Reinstallation CD,  XP Home edition.  It has a small text that sais this CD is not for reinstallation of programs or drivers ???  Sounds like the drivers are not connecting or are now missing.  No other disc seemd to have them and I have them all.   Should I contact Dell to request a reboot disc?? or can I download one via another computer?

Storage, Drives & Media

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