Why does this Dell machine tell me that there is no hard drive installed?

I'm trying to install Windows XP on a Dell machine with Vista on it. After I boot from the CD it tells me that there is no hard drive installed. I went into the settings and sure, enough it's there. Is this a common problem when downgrading from Vista to XP?Why does this Dell machine tell me that there is no hard drive installed?I encountered this same problem when doing a similar "downgrade" although IMHO, I don't consider going from Vista to XP a downgrade at all! To get into your system BIOS press the F2 key when the Dell logo comes up. Next, scroll down the list to "onboard operations" press "enter" to expand the list, then scroll down to "SATA operations", press "enter" to expand and then change the selection from "AHCI" to "ATA" press "esc" select "save changes and exit" Notes: When you're ready to install XP from disc, you need to have the disc in the drive, then press F12 (in that same Dell start up screen) and select the second choice (CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive) and press "enter" and then when prompted, press any key to boot from the CD to start the installation. Also, before you start, make sure that Dell has XP drivers available for your particular unit. I hope this helps... SteveWhy does this Dell machine tell me that there is no hard drive installed?You need to change the drive setting from AHCI to ATA in the system BIOS

I encountered this same problem when doing a similar "downgrade"

although IMHO, I don't consider going from Vista to XP a downgrade

at all!

To get into your system BIOS press the F2 key when the Dell logo comes

up. Next, scroll down the list to "onboard operations" press "enter" to expand

the list, then scroll down to "SATA operations", press "enter" to expand and

then change the selection from "AHCI" to "ATA" press "esc" select "save changes

and exit"

Notes: When you're ready to install XP from disc, you need to have the disc

in the drive, then press F12 (in that same Dell start up screen) and select the

second choice (CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive) and press "enter" and then when prompted,

press any key to boot from the CD to start the installation. Also, before you start,

make sure that Dell has XP drivers available for your particular unitWhy does this Dell machine tell me that there is no hard drive installed?Your computer is almost certainly built with a SATA disk drive. The Windows XP installation CD does not have a device driver for SATA drives, so you will need to download one from the manufacturer (Seagate, Hitachi, whatever. Your BIOS should tell you who made it.) and update the driver from a floppy disk. If you don't have a floppy disk drive, you might have to buy one just for this. Almost all SATA motherboards still have a plug for a floppy cable, and the drives are cheap enough. It is, however, a very annoying problem.Why does this Dell machine tell me that there is no hard drive installed?
Reformat your machine, then install windows Xp.