fixing hard drive

Well you did a bloody good job of trying to confuse me - and succeeded.

C:\ and D:\ and E:\ and F:\ - but how many ACTUAL hard drives is this? Is this 4 separate physical drives or is it one hard drive with 4 partitions?

As regards [i]"F: is a local drive with operating system and 30 gigs of free space which I wanted as C: drive"[/i] - WHERE did this hard drive come FROM ? If the operating system was installed while the drive was in another computer, it WILL NOT work properly in the new machine, irrespective of whether you change the drive letter or not.

You mention TWO hard drives but initially you described C,D,E and F. How many hard drives do you have?

[i]Can you guess ? - [b]I am confused![/b][/i]

[i]How do I fix or format it to load c: drive[/i]

Insert the Windows Install Disc and format the Partition that you want to use as the C Partition. Stop the install and restart the computer after the format but before it starts the install and restart the install but this time do not format the Boot Partition just chose it to install the OS to. This will set that Partition to the C Partition.

[i]I need to validate my XP pro I bought another disk as the one in there didn't pass[/i]

Well here this revolves around the Product Key being used but if this is a Genuine Copy of XP all that is required here is to rind the Activation Line and explain what has happened and the M$ Representative will provide an Activation Key for any Genuine Copy of XP.

[i]One more question I have a SATA hard drive can i put that in this tower which doesn't have a SATA ribbon just the power?[/i]

Yes you can but without a SATA Controller the drive will not be readable. You will need to fit either a SATA Controller Card to plug a Data Lead into and install the required Software or change the M'Board with one with a SATA Controller Built onto it.

Col

Jumper on the drive that you refer to as F: as Master and connect it to the lowest IDE slot IDE0. Make the second drive a Slave by moving the Jumper. Connect it to IDE1 on the middle of the IDE cable. Or leave it out until you install the Operating System. It may save a bit of confusion. Your CD/DVD is Jumperd as Master and it should be on the end of the second IDE cable that is connected to IDE1.

Perform a clean install of Windows XP and delete the Primary Partition and recreate the Primary Partition on the fly.

1. Start your computer from the Windows XP CD. To do this, insert the Windows XP CD into your CD drive or DVD drive, and then restart your computer.

2. When you see the "Press any key to boot from CD" message, press any key to start the computer from the Windows XP CD.

3. At the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to start Windows XP Setup.

4. Read the Microsoft Software License Terms, and then press F8.

5. Follow the instructions on the screen to select and format a partition where you want to install Windows XP. At this stage you can select to delete the Primary Partition C: Partition1 and recreate it. Then continue with the install.

6. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Windows XP Setup. Install the Motherboard drivers and your Antivirus. It is a good idea to have a copy of your Antivirus to be able to install it before going on the internet.

How to partition and format a hard disk by using Windows XP Setup program

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348

How to install or upgrade to Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316941/en-us

If you have purchased a copy of XP the CD Key should be on the packaging.

Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance. ;) :D