This is about a Dell Inspiron 530s running WINDOWS XP Home Edition SP2. I have the re-installation CD. I got a virus and after trying just about everything else I could I tried to do a clean installation of Windows XP. It got about half way through, wiped the old installation and was reinstalling when it said that it couldn't find some of the files. I tried to restart the re-installation but now when I tell it to boot from the CD it says "No boot device available
SATA-0: Installed
SATA-1: Installed
SATA-4: None
SATA-5: None".
I'm not sure what else I can try to do. I don't know if I can just get a new hard drive or if there is a way to get a new Windows XP install CD, or I just have to get a new computer. Any help would be great, since I don't have the money to take it into a repair shop. Thank you.
1) You should be using SP3 not SP2 (which has nothing to do with the problem you're facing, but I'm just saying.....)
2) Do you have the sata drivers for your hd?Since I don't know what the sata drivers are, I'm not sure.
I have a CD that says the contents are device drivers and diagnostics and utilities.  I thought that I had to reinstall the operating system before I could install any of the drivers.
And now that I've been searching the web for a way to fix my PC I know that I should have installed SP3, but my installation CD is for SP2 and I don't know where to buy just the Windows XP OS anymore.
The SATA drivers are actually on the MBoard Driver CD that came with the machine.
Very early on in the install process of XP you will see a prompt "Press F6 to install additional Drivers"...
Do so then insert the MBoard Driver CD.....it should auto-detect and install them.

Best of Luck.

PS SP3 is available as 1 DLoad so you can grab that and do it after the XP install finishes successfully.I never saw the prompt to press F6 and I never got a CD that is labeled MBoard Driver. I insert the XP installation CD and press F12 to get the boot menu  and tell it to boot from the CD. Then it gives the following message,
"No boot device available
SATA-0: Installed
SATA-1: Installed
SATA-4: None
SATA-5: None"Is it an original XP CD? If so, set the cd drive as the first boot OPTION in bios and boot to the XP CD. You shouldn't have to press any keys. Travel to your MBoard manuf. site and grab the appropiate WinXP SATA drivers.
If you have a floppy drive put them on a floppy...otherwise burn them to a CD.

It's interesting that the XP CD won't boot.....what does it say on the cover ? ?
You may not have the CDROM set as the 1st boot device in the BIOS which would need to be done 1st.The XP CD says, "Operating System, Already installed on your computer, Reinstallation CD Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2. The software is already installed on your computer. Only use this CD to reinstall the operating system on a Dell computer."
It is an original XP CD, it came with the computer when I bought it.http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/index.htmSet the optical drive as your first boot device in bios.I tried again to boot from the XP re-intsallation CD. This time it started to run the setup. Setup had 64% of the files copied when the screen said "setup cannot copy the file: syssetup.d11". I told it to retry twice and got the same message. can I skip this and still try to finish the setup or will that make the setup not work? Why can't it copy the file? It gave me the same message for file: tapi32.d11 and when I told it to retry it worked. Is this something wrong with the XP CD?Possibly...try cleaning it with a lint free cloth.....do NOT rub it in circles rather from the center outwards.These issues seem to indicate a problem with the hard drive.  If the Dell setup doesn't offer an option for testing, get the drive MANUFACTURER's diagnostics here:  http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

You might find the Dell Utility partition accessible a number of ways:  http://www.goodells.net/dellutility/index.htm
How can I run any tests when there is no OS on the computer? Should I take the risk and just buy a new hard drive or should I buy a new computer that will come with new installation CDs?