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My computer won't boot from hard disk but it can boot from usb or dvd.

When I'm at the installer screen of Windows, it can't see my hard drive, but my BIOS displays it correctly. My computer is a new Dell 3400 workstation.

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  • You tried to install Windows 7? Was it running Vista or XP beforehand?
    – Ivo Flipse
    Aug 4, 2010 at 8:58
  • Or is the hard drive even formatted originally?
    – Ivo Flipse
    Aug 4, 2010 at 9:06
  • Try changing the drive type in the BIOS from IRRT or RAID to SATA or ATA.
    – LawrenceC
    Jul 13, 2016 at 14:14

2 Answers 2

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It sounds like Windows Setup doesn't have the driver for the disk controller. Here is a link to Dell's driver download page for your T3400.

Use another computer to put the driver on a USB disk, then when Windows Setup asks you to choose an installation drive, insert the USB disk and load the driver. Then Setup should be able to find your disk!

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A couple of things

If it's a new Dell workstation you should have the ability in the start up to do some kind of system restore

If you're trying to install a different OS than the one that came with the dell box. - I've had a problem like this in the past where the install cd didn't have the correct sata drivers. I had to go in to the bios and change a setting (I think for sata emulation)

Ak

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