Dell Resource DVD will not start during Boot-up.

My Dell resource Disks only contain drivers and applications, not the operating system...

Are you sure your resource disk is bootable?

Am I missing something here....did I not ready throughly....as far as I now, unless I haven't picked  up on it...the Resource disk is NOT bootable.... it's installable after you install Windows XP.... but it is not bootable..

You can download / order replacement boot disks from Dell.

You should have a OS reinstallation disk that came with the system in addition to the resource CD.  That is what you need to reinstall the OS.

If you did not order the OS CD/DVD with the system (misplaced etc) then you will need to purchase one.

Hello Michael,

If Dell sent you the new hard drive they usually ask you if you want it with the system partition on it or not. If it is on it, all you need to do is to start the computer and to restore to factory settings Press on CTRL-F11 while on the Dell Logo screen.....

If you bought the hard drive somewhere else, you should have an Operating System CD with XP on it.....If you don't, usually a call to Dell will get them to send you one....sometimes, depending on the model, it's for free.... other times you need to pay for shipping and other times..... you need to pay for it full.

The resource CD is only for installing the drivers and other software.

Hope it helps.... :-)

I was assuming you meant you were using the disk that says Reinstallation CD, it should say Operating System clearly across the top.  If this is just the Resource cd, you're not going to get very far...like everyone else indicated, the Resource CD typically only contains diagnostic software, drivers, and documentation...there is no OS on the resource cd.  

If you didn't have a system crash you could simply transfer your OS from the old disk to the new with the drive manufacturers transfer program.

Now you need the Dell Restore or Reinstallation disk. If you have Dell support you can call them, but if you are not on support it might take you quite a while on hold to get to the right person who will help you. If you are willing to spend $20 or $30 you can try a place like PacificGeeks.com and get one of the Dell disks there. Make sure you get the same version as you COA (Certificate of Authenticity) on your computer.

Another problem you may have is just the size of the disk. Unless you have an install disk with  Service Pack 2 (SP2) you cannot have a boot partition more than 137 GB. The original release XP install disk (and upgrade disk) has this limitation. This may be the problem you are having with the upgrade disk you are using. You could install XP with your upgrade disk onto a 137 GB partition and then use a partition expander to add the rest of your capacity to the boot volume. Or you can create a new "slipstreamed" version of the install disk. Slipstreaming is a process that allows you to add new drivers to an original installation disk.

It also sounds like you already have the most of the disks you need to create a new slipstreamed installation cd. You will need to have a working computer with a CD burner and download Windows XP SP2 (or SP3, which is newer) from Microsoft.com. Then Google "Windows XP Slipstream Paul Thurrott" and you will get beautiful instructions from the winsupersite. Follow them and you will have no more problems reinstalling XP. This solution may take some time, but you will have the latest version of XP on a bootable cd that you can use anytime.

Response from the author?  Lots of suggestions here...

I apologize for the delayed response, Ive been away from my computer yesterday afternoon. It used the incorrect term when posting on my post.  The disc Im using is a Reinstallation DVD Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. I have tested the disc on other machines and it pulls up on boot-up just not on the computer Im trying to fix. The disc works on the machine if I loaded Win 98, but it only goes through the first part of the installation. When Windows installation reboots and tries to continue the install, it crashes due to the computer not booting the DVD. The only way I got Win 98 to install was from using a Win 98 Start-Up floppy disc to start the installation. Ive even tried using full versions of Win XP DVD or CDs and nothing pulls up from starting the computer. I only had success using the start-up floppy disc to use the CD drive, but it will not read DVDs.

Another note, when using the Windows XP CD via Win 98, I get the same results as using a DVD.

It seems that you have a bad CD/DVD drive.....It's a very easy replacement. You might want to run a  test by "borrowing" one from another computer.

I actually have two seperate drives on this machine (one DVD Rom and DVD RW) and the same thing happens to both.

Are both DVD drives using the same cable to connect to the motherboard? If so....try plugging the drives to another cable.

Also, can your drives read any other CD's? If so, then try copying the original XP disc....it might be slightly damaged (scratched, warped)......

I've tried using different cables for the motherboard with the same result. I've tried three different copies of CD's/DVD's with the same result. I don't believe it's a scratched or bad DVD/CD issue.

New hard drive is 500GB. I need to research what service pack the reinstallation DVD is. It doesn't state it on the front of the disc.

One last comment on CD drives. They have jumpers for master/slave and can be pluged into the first or second receptacles on the cable. If this jumpers or plug position is incompatible with your bios settings the drive may not be bootable. Try making sure your CD/DVD is the only drive on the cable and is plugged into the last receptacle on the cable. If the hard disk is on the same cable be carefule that both the hard disk and CD don't have the jumpers set to Master. With some BIOSes only the Master drive will boot, but you can't have two masters on the same cable.

Try repartitioning this hard drive. Make one partition 100GB and take it from there. You can use Fdisk for this.

Since you do have a Startup Floppy.... fdisk should be available to you.

That's a good idea, I'll try making a 100GB partition and test.

If the new drive is 500 GB try installing xp on a 137 GB partition. Leave the rest of your disk unassigned and it will be easy to expand the partition later. I would bet money that your install CD/DVD is the original version, without any service packs.

I should have posted a little more on Fdisk.... I'm not sure that you are familiar with it.

Startup your computer with the floppy startup disk.

run the following from the command prompt:

fdisk /mbr

fdisk

Once inside the program..... just delete all the partitions. Don't forget that NTFS is a non-DOS partition.

Lastly just create a new partition and test.

If you are using the Media Center features you will want to get that version re-installed.  
If you install XP from the upgrade disk you can reinstall it again from the Media Center DVD.

Be sure to install Service Pack 2 or 3 BEFORE you make the boot partition larger or you will be back where you are..

You still have an unresolved problem with your CD/DVD. Since you have two DVD drives, try unplugging one (or just disable it in the BIOS.) If it will boot now then you have a conflict with the jumpers.

Well, here's the latest. I tried the FDisk and repartitioned the drive for 135GB and it still didn't work. The only thing I haven't tried was replacing the DVD drive and memory for testing. The owner of the machine has decided to go ahead and purchase a new one. Thanks for all the great ideas, but sadly I didn't get it worked out.