H2 reinstall XP after "C" drive crash

My '04 Dell XPS "C" drive crashed, taking the OS with it. I plugged in new Seagate 500GB hard drive, loaded Dell supplied OS/XP install CD and during boot (F12 function), message returns stating machine cannot detect any hard drive.

Prior to "C" crash, system had 2 SATA drives installed and working - "D" drive untouched. Why can't XP install disk find at least one now? I've checked the cables and everything seems in order.

Cannot install 3rd party SATA drivers (F6 detour during start-up) as the system looks to an "A" (floppy) drive for drivers, and there is no floppy disc (drive only came with CD....)

Am stuck at this point.... Any clues???????

I have inserted the setup disk that came with the hard drive (Seagate), but w/o an OS installed, I can't read it / find it / address it.... that I know of. I tried the F6 interrupt during boot to install 3rd party SATA drivers (see above) to no avail as they don't come on a floppy..... bottom line, how to install hard drive.... without an OS? BTW - what's "ubcd" - a boot utility?

BIOS has to detect the drive before ANY OS will detect it. What port do you have the drive connected to? Did you ensure that the port it's connected to is turned on in the BIOS? Dells are a pain in the @$$... if you turn on a port and a drive isn't there, it will nag you that there is no drive detected. However, if you have a drive connected and don't have the port turned on... it will never find the drive or auto configure it.