I have very limited PC know-how (never reloaded windows,  or flashed BIOS, or edited registry,  or anything like that.  no engine or transmission overhauls, just routine change oil kind of stuff) - scared enough to not be sure what to do.....Here's what i was able to get out of machine one of the few times recently that Windows did work/start up....

Machine:
Dell Dimension DV051
Dual Processors Pentium 4 3GHZ
2 GB RAM
2 ea. 160GB Internal Sony Hard Drives
Floppy Driver (that doesn't work, i think)
Phillips DVD RW
Sony DVD-ROM


Software:
Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002, Service Pack 3
BIOS:  Dell - 7 Phoenix ROM

Misc:
Norton AV
ZoneAlarm Firewall


This part i'm not entirely sure about, going from memory...

Array RAID1(Mirror)

Problem: started getting system resources using 99% of memory about 3 or 4 months ago about 5 minutes into powerup (svchost.exe if i remembe correctly).  i could terminate process, but 5 minutes later it would start again.  process viewer didn't help me to find problem (suspected virus/trojan, but  Norton scans, Ad-Aware scans, all came up empty).  finally used a Norton tool from website for getting read of bad/hard problems, which scanned the bootup process, and FOUND something, which was subsequently remedied by tool.  seemed to fix things for a while (about a month), but then, started getting random blue screens for no apparent reason (not sure if blue screens related to CPU usage or not), each blue screen usually with a different reason (nothing obvious, usually hexadecimal gibberish).

Now at point where PC will only start windows properly about 1 every 50 boot attempts, and then might only work for 5 minutes, or could work for 5 hours, before crashing.  i tried using system re-installation disk that came w/machine from Dell (never opened it before), but i can't get it to work or boot into the windows options for repair, installation, etc.  only thing that happens is splash screen for DELL, then tries to load Windows, but i get error:  Windows cant find the following file....(can't quite remember what it says, something like can't find system32, or config.sys, or something like that), with the Press R at restart, etc.  I've tried system re-install disk in both drives multiple times, but i can't get it to start (it does have boot files, on it right??).  anyways, just a big circle - restart, splash screen, windows can't load, try repair/restart, etc.

my question:  why won't Dell windows re-install disk work or start?  if i get into the array set up configuratioo utility (which i've managed on a couple of occassions), should i revert the RAID setup back to normal hard disk setup (which will erase everything on disk, i suspect), will that help?  i did get most of my files out of PC (family pics, taxes, etc.) and backed up to an external terabyte drive, so i can do a complete re-install of windows if i WANT (if i can get to that point), although i've never manually loaded drivers, or modems, or any of that stuff, so i'm real scared i'm going to break machine worse than what it might be (i suspect it might still be an easy fix, so i don't want to totally screw things up and erase everything if i don't have too...)

posting this at work, because, obviously, can't do it from home PC.

thanks in advance for any/all help advice....
Here  is a post about three years ago on the Dell site. Sounds like you. The post was never answered. Was that you?

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/p/19304398/19589173.aspx

Have you ever had the thing working good with just ONE SATA drive, not in a RAID configuration?

You said you have full backup of important stuff. If so, try a normal install with just one drive in a normal configuration. That will help identify issues that not part of the RAID setup. Or did you already try that?*censored*, that sounds EXACTLY like my predicament, to even include the bought refurbished/scratched part,  it sounds like he has the exact same machine.  but no, that wasn't me or my post. how EERIE.  i didn't have any problems until just the past few months.  too bad it never had a follow up or answer.

anyways, i'can't get the system disk that came with my machine to start or initiate.  i think i'm going to re-configure the RAID set up to a normal setup, and then hopefully i can get the windows operating system disk to start, so i can reload windows.  i probably would reload windows right now, but no matter what drive i put the disk in or what boot order i use, i can't get the disk to boot into the windows install or repair options.  i'm hoping the reverting the RAID back to normal will at least allow the windows disk to start.

does the above course of action sound prudent?  am i in danger when i erase the drives (by virtue of changing the RAID configuration back to normal) of not having the system start at all?  just wondering....Depending on  a number of factors,
the standard Windows XP CD will not start unless it finds:
A. A PATA drive marked as a basic MS DOS type.
B. Said drive must have either free space or be FAT32 or NTFS.

That is documented somewhere.  It is inherited from NT.  If all drives are full of an unknown  format, it can not start the install. This is to prevent the Install from corrupting a drive setup up for Unix, BSD or something else. There has to be 8 MB free. And the NBR must be understood by XP.

Once you have a PATA drive Windows likes, you can do an install. Even if the install is to another drive.

As I recall, this is the way RAID drives have to be brought up in Windows XP. Just find any OLD PATA drive you have and plug it in. You can use a tool like GPAPRT to boot from a CD and erase the drive, set it as MSDOS, and format it to FAT32 or NTFS.

Not to suggest the GPART is a safe tool, but it can be used to alter the disc flags and delete the partitioon(s). Or boot a Linux Live CD that has GPART or some other generic fdisk tool.

This is from my memory. The KB article is hard to find. Just do it, ask why later.not that anybody was/is probably worried about this, but the conclusion to my original post/problem is that i had memory start to go bad (I had 2G of memory, for which one of the strips/cards began acting up).  this was diagnosed by computer help/geek guy i found on craigslist.  he replaced memory, and got me up and running again.  that was about a month ago.

sorry for the delay in reporting this.  i don't think this topic was still open, but just in case it was, i just wanted to say thank you to any and all help i received.