[Conservative Gato]

I remember running in to this before but it was awhile back now that I remember. Here is where I found the answer, the quote and source:

At this point during the installation it is needing the SAT drivers installed. The drivers are on the Dell Drivers disk that you received with your computer. You can also follow the steps below.

You will need to install the Sata Driver. On one of the setup screens is an option to install drivers on the lower right side of the screen. Choose this option and put the Dell Driver disk in. The driver it is looking to install is the Intel Matrix Storage Driver. If you need to download this driver and put it on a disk you can click the title below.

Another way to complete the install without first installing the driver is to change the bios setting to ATA. To do this restart the system and press F2 to enter setup. Once there you can TAB down to Onboard Devices and hit Enter. Then tab down to SATA Operation. You will then see at the top of the screen on the right side ATA and AHCI. Change this to ATA. Save the changes and exit out. Once the system restarts you should be able to complete the install. After the install and you have loaded the drivers you will need to go back into the bios and change the setting back to AHCI.

Intel Matrix Storage Manager - Notebooks

Thanks, Dell-Jesse

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-windows_install/black-screen-with-cursor-after-reinstalling/330993b6-e99d-44df-b3b5-cfd8d86a528c?auth=1

[Zeneta]

I’m going to bail out on my second attempt to “Install” Vista from the disc.

Even though it seems I’m further along than my first attempt, an hour plus of a black screen makes no sense.

I’m going to attempt to boot up this machine with the Dell “Drivers and Utilities” disc with the hope that I can re format my hard drive from there.