I can not install the driver disk that came with my motherboard. I put the disk in but it is ignored, I press escape for boot menu, select the CD drive and it then takes a few seconds but loads straight to ubuntu. I have tried switching the IDE lead and ive gone into BIOS to select the CD drive as the first bootable device. Nothing has worked so far. Any help would be much appreciated.

Just boot from a Windows install disk (put the cd in, press the boot selection key and select the cd unit) and allow it to run: the first step in the process is selecting the drive (select C), the second one is formatting of the drive - select the regular one, not the quick. After that just pull out the Windows disk or let it continue.

Shut your computer all the way down. As soon as you turn it on, start hitting F8 about 3-4 times, that will take you to an advanced options menu. Select "Last known good configuration" and that should work

Put the install disk in the cd-rom unit, reboot and when the boot screen appears press F12 to select the boot device: select the cd-rom and the install procedure will start.

Press either delete or f2 during the boot up process to enter BIOS the scroll down to advanced bios features press enter change your first boot device to cd,press escape then press f10 to save to cmos to restart

Hi, you will need to set up your hard drive first. During initial boot fase press the F8 key which will take you to the BIOS. Select boot device and change primary boot device to CD Rom. Insert XP Cd into drive, select save changes and reboot. Select boot from CD when this appears by pressing any key. Allow files to install, when this completes you will need to delete any previous operating system, partition hard drive and then format hard drive. Once this sompletes reboot, ignoring boot from CD this time and XP will start to install.

Find a windows install disk, put it in the cd, reboot, when the option to select the boot device appears on the screen take it and select the cd as boot device, ignore the second one (you're already on the cd) and then follow the instructions on the screen.

You have a memory chip lose. Here is where you get your drivers.http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dfh&cs=22. You need to select your model or put in the service code on the back of the laptop. Be very careful updatinf the Bios. You can permanently destroy tjr motherboard if not done properly. The message you get is from a lose memory chip. Unscrew the memory cover on the bottom of the laptop and reseat the memory. A little trick is to use a pencil eraser on the memory contacts to clean them. Wipe off any residue with an alcolhol wipe and reseat the chip. If all else fails contact me [email protected] Phil

OK. Well the error appears because the installation process doesn't recognize your hard drive device. And from the error I suppose it is a SATA HDD. You have two options: 1. Enter Bios, look for hard drive settings and change the mode from AHCI to Compatibility 2. Put the Motherboard CD into the optical device, insert a diskette, boot from the CD and select from the menu the option that is says something like "Sata drivers" or something like this. Restart the computer, insert the Windows XP CD and press F6 when it ask you if you want to install a new hard drive. Select to install the drivers from the diskette and continue the installation as normal
If you need further assistance, just leave a comment.

Offcourse! first of all insert CD into CD ROM then boot from cd. Select your CD drive like d: or e: or f: etc and then press enter. Now give a commond format c:/u/v and press enter. After the formating drive you can install windows 98 so now reboot your system again. Then boot from CD once again and choose your drive and install windows.
2nd way, If everything could not be possible then you should boot from CD again then select your CD drive and type a command fdisk and press y or enter 2 times. Now you choose 4 number and press enter and check the drive format if it is not FAT32 its mean that you should press 3 and then press 4 and now press enter then press escape. Then press three button at a time Ctrl+Alt+Del now your system will reboot now once again Boot from CD and choose CD drive and type fdisk and choose 1 then choose1 and now press enter and once again press three button at a time Ctrl+Alt+Del now your system will reboot. Once again boot from CD and select your CD drive and now you can install windows 98 now insert CD into CD ROM then boot from cd. Select your CD drive like d: or e: or f: etc and then press enter. Now give a commond format c:/u/v and press enter. After the formating drive you can install windows 98 so now reboot your system again. Then boot from CD once again and choose your drive and install windows.
Thank You

This problem is very simple.... Using RAID in booting in cd/dvd cannot be done in this kind of processing. you have to change the setting of Hard Disk and CD/DVD to IDE in BIOS . To change the setting in the BIOS you need to press the Delete After you power on the computer.. In Main menu in the bios you will find the hard disk or cd/dvd settings to IDE, SATA, and RAID. change both hard disk and cd/dvd to IDE configuration. make sure the first boot in the Boot menu is the cd/dvd, where your windows cd installer is inserted. Save the settings by pressing F10 key in the keyboard.. I have the same problem as of you because i try it to change SATA, RAID but cannot boot to cd and cannot detect the hard disk when installing OS, but in IDE settings its okay.. and it works perfect.. after you installed the windows properly, you can change the Hard Disk or cd/dvd configuration to SATA or RAID. TY

HOPE I CAN HELP