Can't find hard drive

I have a Dell Dimensions XPS T500. I reformatted the hard drive using Dells hard drive utilites disk. It performed the format. The problem I have now is that I cannot install software because the hard drive cannot be found - only the CD-ROM. The drive is visible to the Dell utility disk...I've tried letting the system find mass storage devices and I've tried to locate it manually with no success. Any suggestions?

well since it is a dell system i would recommend your oem which is most likely dell.

It's beyond warranty and I'm out of money so I was hoping to find a more economical solution. But that may be the final solution. :(

when formatting, did you keep the system files?
and what os did you have before

Orig was NT Workstation. The format program did not have an option to save system files. The C drive is formatted with FAT. I ran the format program a couple times and it sees the drive. I tried to re-install NT using the floppies. That's where the problem arose. Upon reaching the 3rd and final NT install floppie disk, it says cannot complete setup because the hard drive cannot be found. When I try to use the CD, it wont run setup although it can read the directories.

what are you trying to reinstall? nt or xp...
you can try booting from the CD (see your cmos instructions or ask here)
..

Installing 2000. I was trying to install NT then 2000 on top of it because I couldn't get it to run from the CD. Your suggestion worked though. Thank you very much.

:D no problem..
hay this is thread 11111 ahahaha

Cool... I'll try playing it in the lotto. Wonder what mega number I should pick?

11111 :P

I had to boot from the cd (after formatting) to do a recent install of windows XP Pro on my laptop, as well... upgrading from XP Home, since a simple upgrade ended up with the PC booting over and over! Go figure...

Very luckily for me that was one of the first few things I thought of trying. :rolleyes: