If it is a SATA HDD you do not need to do anything except change the faulty drive and then change the Boot Order in BIOS to reinstall the Factory Supplied Software.
However if it is a IDE Drive you need to open BIOS and make sure than the HDD is being seen by the BIOS and it is able to be read by the BIOS. With IDE Drives you [b]Can Not[/b] just fit anything that takes your fancy and expect it to work BIOS has a Upper Limit on the Size of HDD that it can address so you need to fit a drive smaller than your Bois's upper Limit otherwise the Drive will not be usable or if is is seen by BIOS it will be unreliable.
When you are sure that you have the correct size Drive open BIOS and make sure that the HDD is seen and correctly Identified by BIOS and then Exit BIOS Saving the Changes you have made. You should also change the Boot Order to Floppy First, Second Optical Drive and finally the HDD if you do not have a floppy you move the Optical Drive [CD/DVD Drive] to the first boot device and the HDD to the second Boot Device.
Then with the Dell Recovery Disc inserted in the Optical Drive start the computer and if asked to press any key to Boot Off CD press a key on the Keyboard and follow the prompts. If this is a new HDD you will need to format the Drive before installing the OS but this is included in the Dell Recovery Disc.
If you do not have a Dell Recovery Disc for this computer and you have a SATA HDD you need to make s Slipstreamed Install Disc and include the SATA Drivers by following the directions here
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6150784.html?tag=rbxccnbtr1
Download the PDF file of the same thing from here
http://downloads.techrepublic.com.com/abstract.aspx?docid=172974
Or use a product like nLite to make your own Slipstreamed Install Disc
http://www.nliteos.com/download.html
If you chose to use nLite to achieve this make sure that you read the directions listed under Guides on their Web Site here
http://www.nliteos.com/guide/
If your Optical Drive is no longer working and this computer supports the ability to Boot from a USB Device you need to alter the Boot Order in BIOS to Optical Drive then USB and finally HDD and [b]Save the changes when you Exit BIOS.[/b]
On a different computer you need to copy the contents of the Install Media to the USB Thumb Drive but [b]Do Not[/b] copy this into a folder you need to copy it to the Root of the USB Device so it is bootable.
If you can not figure out how to change the Boot Order in BIOS and save the changes when you exit you should see a DOS Prompt when the system stops going any further something like [b]A:>[/b] what you need to do here is type [b]CD D: and then press enter[/b] where D is your Optical Drive letter if there is no formatted HDD the Optical Drive will be listed as C.
When you see the D:> Prompt you need to type [b]DIR/W[/b] and then press enter and you should see a complete listing of the contents of the Media in the Optical Drive. At this point you need to type in [b]Setup and then press enter[/b] to start the setup procedure. The same directions apply to using a USB Thumb Drive as well.
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