What model Dell do you have?

Do you have RAID on in your system setup?

Did you press F12 when you rebooted so you could choose your CDROM drive to boot from?

 

If RAID is enabled in the system setup, you will need to load the SATA/RAID drivers from a floppy disk during the XP install. You will need to download the Intel or nVidia drivers from the SATA section of the Drivers & Download page for your model. During the XP install, you will see a message at the bottom to press F6 to load 3rd party scsi or raid drivers. If you're not using RAID, disable it in your system setup by setting RAID Autodetect/ATA (XPS 400 & 410) or IDE (Inspiron 530s).

 

During the XP install when you select the partition you want to install it on, you can delete the C partition, then create a new C partition and format it before the XP installation continues.

I couldn't find an Inspiron 520 in the list of Manuals are you sure it's not a Dimension E520?

 

If you could find  your manual and look in the System Setup section, you'll find if your system has RAID capability. The Dimension E520 does have RAID capability under Drives / SATA Operation. If you do have the E520, go in to system setup (F2) at boot up and set the Drives / SATA Operation to RAID Autodetect/ATA so you don't have to load the drivers during XP install.

 

When you selected to boot from your CD, the XP CD should have shown a message like "Press any key to boot from CD....". You have like 5 seconds to press any key so it continues to boot.

I have Dell Inspiron 520.
I don't know how to tell if I have that RAID thing
I even pushed F12 to highlight and select BOOT from CD

I dont have a floppy disk drive

Ok good.

Then in your system setup under SATA mode, make sure it says IDE save and EXIT setup.

Try booting again from your XP install CD.

 

EDITED: I didn't read your last post. If the CD is not being detected for you to boot from make sure you're trying to boot from the Dell XP CD. Maybe try another bootable CD to see if it's the CD media causing the issue. Otherwise, I'm not sure what to tell you.

I apologize Its a Inspiron 530
Spelling error I apologize

Yeah but the thing is. There is no where that says Press any key to boot If i did that i woul know where to do what to do. I even changed the boot sequence and nothing helped. I had a Dell person come and Replace my CPU this morning and he did everything correctly and placed everything back in place. i ruled out the CD itself cuz I can access the Recovery CD from my desktop but I can't boot it to reformat

Mshgaw

See if Dell's reinstallation guide here, can help.

If you have two optical drives installed, try using the other drive.

Bev.


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