Hi there -

My mother has a Dell Dimension e510. She downloaded a virus which I guess corrupted important system files because now it fails to boot. The last time she had a virus I was able to restore the system to the factory install by holding CTRL + F11 when booting. Now when I attempt to do the same thing I get the following error:

Setup did not find any hard disk drives on your computer. Make sure any hard disk drivers are powered on and proerly connected to your computer and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve having a manufacturer supplied diagnostic or setup program.

I've tried using the other option such as the Ghost but unfortunately system restore points were never made while the computer was functioning. I even tried reformatting with an old copy of Windows XP. When I get to the blue Install Windows XP screen and attempt to install, I get this message:

Error Ec950025: Cannot find a factory recover point on this computer

Is there any way I can fix this? All I want to do is reformat this thing but I've run out of options. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks,

Ron

Have you tried F12?

Documentation

F11 works and gets me to the screen where I can select amongst several options such as restoring to factory installed settings, using the Ghost program to go back to a restore point, etc. It's when I actually select the option to reset everything that I get the "Setup did not find any hard disk drives..." error.

If you enter the BIOS Setup is your hard drive detected?

Last I checked, yes. I don't have my mother's computer in front of me but I will be checking later tonight. If the hard drive is detected, what would be the next step?

Here is a Dell interactive diagnostic on the topic:

Dell - Support 5150/E510&ServiceTag=&contenttype=-1&os=-1&component=-1&lang=-1&doclang=en&toggle=false&dl=

Thank you. I will take a look at this tonight and hope for success. I appreciate your help.

No problem. Let us know if we can help further.