Let me explain my dilema, had a hard disk crash and disk was defective.
Wanted to run xp home edition on new disk . Added the disk to my dell pc and formatted disk to NFTS . Try to load xp home edition using CD rom drive. Windows setup says that it finds no hard drive in PC. At boot up system says that the drive is recognized. Windows Install all programs for installation but when I hit "Enter " to continue this is when it tells me no hard drive found in PC. What am I doing wrong?
This is a home built PC and has been working for about 8 years. Has 1200 speed AMD processor, 1Gig of memory, Abit motherboard, Thanks in advance for any help.

You probably need to format your new hard drive as they are not formatted out of the box.

During the install process, you will be prompted to setup partitions and format them. Make sure you select NTFS (and not FAT32). You can certainly setup the HD as one big partition and that is how virtually all store bought computers are setup. But since this is a new HD setup, let me tell you how I partition all my drives. Depending on the skillset (and tolerance levels for PCs - ) of the intended user, I setup the HD with 2 or 3 partitions as follows.

For example purposes, assume new HD is 250Gb (can easily be 80 or 500).

User 1 (General user - thinks of computer as another appliance/communications device in the house that is expected to work with little or no maintenance)

2 Partitions

Partition 1. 245Gb - This will be C drive and will contain all files and programs. All program will be installed here using the default installation settings placing all programs somewhere in the Program Files folder.

Partition 2. Remaining drive (about 5Gb) - D drive. This will contain the Page File only.

User 2. (Advanced user/Computer enthusiast - thinks of computers as an extension of own arms and is eager to spend extra time fussing over it)

3 Partitions

Partition 1. 15 Gb (10Gb if using XP and will never migrate to Vista with this drive). Label this volume System. This will be the C drive and will contain Windows and hardware drivers only.

Partition 2. 230Gb. Label this volume Apps & Data. This will be the D drive. It will contain My Documents, all downloaded files, and all programs will be installed here (except HW drivers which go on C drive). This requires moving My Documents and requires using the "custom" install of every installed program in order to tell the install program that you are installing somewhere other than c:\program files.

Partition 3. Remaining drive space (about 5Gb). Label this Page File. This will be E drive and will contain the page file only.

Putting the Page File on a partition itself ensures the page file always has sufficient space to work in and it ensure the page file never contributes to fragmentation issues. It is better yet to put the page file in its own partition on a second hard drive, if one is available. Once Windows is installed, setting up the page file (PF) on a different drive/partition is a simple one time, set and forget, task.

I much prefer the second method with 3 partitions because if something should happen to my Windows installation, and I am forced to take drastic last ditch efforts and reformat C drive and reinstall Windows, all my data and downloads will remain intact on D drive. Moving My Documents is easy too - you simply right click on the existing My Documents, click on Move, then follow the necessary steps to create a new My Documents folder on new partition.

While we are here, this is when I go into Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management. Then I right click on my CD drive and select Change Drive letter and change it to Q: drive. I do the same for my DVD and change it to V: drive. In this way, if I ever add or remove a drive, such as memory cards or external drive, the drive letters for my optical will remain the same and not get shifted.

Something to think about.

"Added the disk to my dell pc and formatted disk to NFTS . Try to load xp home edition using CD rom drive. Windows setup says that it finds no hard drive in PC. At boot up system says that the drive is recognized. Windows Install all programs for installation but when I hit "Enter " to continue this is when it tells me no hard drive found in PC. "

Did you format the entire disk as one partition? Was this done during the install process, or seperately by some means other than the XP CD?

Have you ensured that the hard disk jumpers are correctly set? (ie; Master, Slave, Cable Select. Do you have more than one hard disk?)

Thanks to all for your answers, found that I had a defective IDE slot on motherboard moved HD to another IDE slot on Motherboard and everything working ok now.

Outside of a broken or bent pin, one slot being bad and the other good is unusual. Assuming the pins are all there and straight, I would suspect you had a loose connection, or the cable, especially if using the common flat ribbon cable that drive makers toss in the box. Those are very low-tech, mass produced, not very rugged and do fail. I never use them. Instead I swap them out with round cables of a more appropriate length. Not only are the round cables generally of superior quality, but they also have a much smaller impact on desired front to back air flow. Plus, they come in assorted colors which makes tracing cables in the crowded rat's nest of cables is much easier.

If the pins are fine and the cable is fine, then that points to the controller and a failing controller would not be good - generally that means new motherboard time.

At the very least, I strongly recommend you do a complete backup of all your critical data now - and frequently thereafter.