Comes up saying performing automatic ide configuration enter syatem password but does not recognize my keyboard i'm using a usb keyboard and was going to try ps2 one but no port on computer for that can you help? its a dell special build and my brothers so not sure of all that was installed

The most likely cause is that the keyboard needs a new battery in it, inserted on the underside. After that it may be that the small keyboard comms dongle in a USB port is not making proper contact. Pull that out and insert it a few times.
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When you removed the battery your computer lost all of it's configuration settings. You have to go into the set-up menu and and select the devices that are installed on your computer. Such as floppy drive, CD drive, DVD drive. Also have to set date and time.

Press f2 to enter the BIOS while you see the Dell start up screen. Once in there you shoudl see an option to load BIOS defaults. Load defaults. This should take care of the issue. Are you sure that you replaced it with an approved CMOS batter, You cannot use a watch battery, even though they are the same size it won't work.

REPLACE THE LITHIUM BATTERY ON THE MOTHER BOARD IF THAT DOESN'T HELP LOOK AT THE FAN IN THE BACK OF THE POWER SUPPLY TO SEE IF THE FAN IS SPINNING IF NOT YOU WILL HAVE TO REPLACE IT

when a person goes install windows xp they encounter the problem of not being able to find any hard disk drives installed as if they weren't connected. The hard drive is detected with no problem in the BIOS and also on start up POST, able to boot up Linux Live CDs but the hard drive is just not being detected in Windows setup. Here is the exact error message.

Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer.
Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program.
Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3.This problem is quite a common one and is simply due to the fact that when Windows XP was created, the SATA chipset itself and SATA hard drives weren't available to the masses, so support for it wasn't included in the XP setup process. As most computers within the last decade or so have some form of SATA controller, if you try to install Windows onto a SATA drive, XP won't recognize it because the drivers aren't present on the installation disc, so they need to be loaded manually for the drive to be picked up.
Thankfully there are a few ways to get around this problem and enable Windows XP to be installed onto a SATA hard drive so you can enjoy the extra performance and other functions like hotplug/AHCI etc. Setting the BIOS Correctly
The first and mos obvious method is to change the SATA Mode to IDE in the system BIOS. Most BIOS's for several years have included a fallback mode to enable a SATA drive to behave like an IDE drive, and therefore makes it visible to XP during setup. The problem with this setting is it comes under several different names and can be found in different sections within the BIOS. It depends entirely on the computer or motherboard's make, model and manufacturer to know which setting you have and where it is. If you have a manual, it's certainly worth reading.
The most obvious thing to look for is a setting which can change the SATA controller to IDE or PATA mode, with options such as AHCI -> IDE or SATA/RAID -> IDE etc. Basically any option you come across to reduce the SATA/RAID mode to IDE/PATA should be the correct one. Don't confuse this option with a similar one which will disable the SATA controller completely. Here's some names we found it could be under in a few motherboard manuals we looked at:
Integrated Peripherals > SATA Devices Configuration > SATA Mode > [IDE]
Integrated Peripherals > Serial ATA Function > Base
Storage Configuration > SATA Mode Selection > Emulated PATA Mode
SATA Configuration > SATA Configuration [Enhanced] > Configure SATA as > IDE
Integrated Peripherals > South OnChip PCI Device > SATA Controller > IDE Mode
Using a Floppy Disk
If you're unable to change RAID mode to IDE or disable SATA in the BIOS, then the next option would be to download SATA/RAID drivers from your motherboard manufacturer's website, extract the drivers to a floppy disk and then insert the floppy into your computer during Windows XP installation. This method obviously gets around the problem of XP not having the drivers on the install CD by you providing them manually.
Windows XP setup won't recognize USB flash drives, so you need to have an internal floppy drive available, many USB floppy drives will also work though. As you can see in the image below, it clearly states that the SATA RAID driver is for use on floppy drives. You need to make sure any drivers you download are explicitly designed for putting onto a floppy and not a generic driver, usually the file will be around 1MB or lower which is a good sign it's likely to be the correct driver.
Insert the Windows XP CD and boot it up. You should see a message that says "Press any key to boot from CD..." Simply hit any key and it'll start to boot from CD. Pay attention to the next blue colored windows setup screen. When you see a message that says "Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver..." at the bottom, immediately hit the F6 key.
After loading some files, you will come to a screen that says the following:

Setup could not determine the type of one or more mass storage devices installed in your system, or you have chosen to manually specify an adapter. Currently, Setup will load support for the following mass storage devices(s):
< none >
* To specify additional SCSI adapters, CD-ROM drives, or special disk controllers for use with Windows, including those for which you have a device support disk from a mass storage device manufacturer, press S.
* If you do not have any device support disks from a mass storage device manufacturer, or do not want to specify additional mass storage devices for use with Windows, press ENTER.Make sure the driver floppy is inserted and press S. It will present a list of drivers which it read from the disk earlier. Select the appropriate driver and continue the Windows XP installation. The setup will continue and this time it will recognize the SATA hard disk drive in your PC. This problem is quite common when trying to install Windows XP on newer computers because most if not all are using SATA hard drives. After installing Windows XP, you can easily and automatically install all required device drivers using the DriverPack Solution disc.
If you thought it wasn't possible to use a USB flash drive instead of a floppy drive to load the drivers during the F6 phase, we have a solution that could !!!

Hi friend,

You need to install your keyboard drives ...then it will work

Try to find application that load the CPU at 100% by seeing TASKMANAGER.

To start TASKMANAGER press CTRL+ALT+DEL on the keyboard, select PROCESSES TAB, click on CPU to order by CPU load and find process that come near to 100%.

Press ctrl alt del together then try to enter your password. If it doesn't work. restart your computer by holding down the power button for 10 seconds or until the computer turns off. Restart and tap F8 repeatedly as soon as the light comes on. Choose 'Last known good configuration' using your keyboard. Then press enter. Try if you can login now.

if it can boot up windows, then the harddisk is not locked(anymore, after entering the correct password),
a slow performance of windows can be sped up by performing a harddisk defragmentation (open windows explorer, right-click onto harddisk, switch to properties,´then 'extras', perform a defragmentation for drive c:, give it time to finish)

to fix the arkward dvd/usb prob:

again open up win explorer and see if cd-rom drive is available, therefore recognized by windows at all.. if yes test-insert Original CD again, see if it can open it(does the CD/DVD-drive LED flash green several times and do you hear any noise from it?)

if not, shut down and enter BIOS while booting hitting either the Del,F1 or F2 button and look if under IDE devices the CD-is recognized by the laptop itself...
if not, set auto detecton for IDE- devices, go
through available menus until u find USB legacy support, enable as well, exit saving changes, reboot.
Again enter BIOS then change
BOOT DEVICE order sothat CD-drive is 1st,
any 3.5'' floppy drive second and harddisk 2nd or 3rd, exit saving changes again.
reboot and let windows come up again. check for cd/dvd-drive again(see procedure as described above), check if windows does recognize your usb-device(mp3 player) now.

if that does not work and during booting you get message'bad CMOS checksum error' you will have replace the CMOS button-battery on
the mainboard, for it may have gone flat...

this means disassembling the laptop
if that is the case, see a technician to work for you or come again with another query.

hope i could be of help

i have forgot my o2 XDA stealth password. how can i break it now