Dell inspiron 1525 can't boot up, keeps on saying hard drive cannot be found. What could be the problem. Tried safe mode and it did not work, tried installing the operating system again without luck, it still says no hard drive

The error indicates that there's a hard drive issue. If it just happened after the hard disk is reinstalled, remove it and reinstall it. It could be a problem caused by loose connection or improper connections. If the same problem repeats, install the hard drive on another system (to verify whether it works on another machine or not and to confirm it still works). If it doesn't work on another computer/system then your only option to run the system is replacing the hard disk. If it works on another computer or if it's detected on another system, then there could be problem with the hard disk, eg. Corrupt Partition, Windows Corrupt etc....
First of all, try booting into Safe Mode. You have to press F8 during the startup to go into Advanced Boot Options. Once you are in the Windows Advanced Boot Options, select Safe Mode using the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard. If it still doesn't work, it's the hard disk issue. Try with another Hard Disk.
But if in case you can boot into safe mode, check the Hard Disk for errors. In other words, run Windows Checkdisk utility. Hope this helps.
Let me know if you need further help.
Good Luck.
Thanks for using FixYa.

That error code is pointing on your hard drive-it is going in Big Junkyard in Heaven. Try recovery console if you have original installation CD. If not,your need to take out stuff that your need and install another hard drive. Good luck and Happy Holidays!

Windows has been corrupted beyond repair - time to reinstall.

Hi, try pressing the ESC key during bootup, this will allow you to boot in safe mode, from where you can reset your operating system to a time before the problem started.
If this dosn't help come back to me for help on re installing operating system.

Hi:
The DST error code 1000-1046 is definitely a failing hard drive. ..I am not sure why your laptop is not recognizing a CD in the drive, but you should go into your BIOS settings, and in boot sequence, make sure that the CD drive is the first boot device. If you can't boot from a CD, you are not going to get very far with installing a new hard drive...

u need to install the OS...boot files r loaded only when the OS files are found by BIOS

have you tried to boot in safe mode?

turn on computer keep tapping on F8 while on dell logo then it will display options choose safe mode then press enter key. wait until it load to windows in safe mode then check if you wioll still be getting error msg.

You need to cheat a little. First try to boot into safe mode by pressing the f8 key as soon as you hit the power (and keeping your fingers crossed on the other hand that it notices your doing this). Before you get too depressed just try booting into safe mode and then reboot normally. That may be all it take to fix it. Try this a few times before getting into the more serious fixes.

If you can get into safe mode you can simply copy your files off to a usb data drive. Those will still work. You may be able to use the wired network card if you select safe mode with network access. But don't count on that. The cd/dvd will not work so you can't burn it to disk. A flash drive will work on the usb while a external hard drive that connect via usb usually won't as it needs drivers.

The other way is to boot using a bootable cd. If you can get a vista install cd you can install over the top of your existing windows and retain your settings. If you don't know where everything is then you need to be a bit creative and use something like the demo Ubuntu cd that boots into a windows like operating system that will allow you to copy stuff over the network to the usb drive or the network.

If you have a friend with the right laptop or desktop you can take the drive out and set it up as a second drive. When they boot normally they then can see your drive and just copy burn or move your stuff. This is what I do in the shop when the existing system is too messed up to work with. There may be the odd thing you won't get access to but you should get most of it.

Sounds like your hard drive may be going out, do a check disc.