Need help troubleshooting laptop

Hi. I just joined this site. I apologize in advance if I posted this in the wrong section.

 

I have a Dell Inspirion 1420 that was given to me.  In an attempt to start with a clean slate I used DBAN to wipe the system.  It seems it worked too well and now the computer doesn't even recognize it's own hardware.  I know all the hardware is still physically intact.  I took out the hard drive, connected it to my other computer and installed a fresh copy of Windows XP.  Unfortunately when I placed the hard drive back into the laptop and started it up it wasn't recognized.  The CD drive is also not recognized so I cannot try to do any repairs via a disk drive.

I'm pretty stumped here. I'm not sure what to do.  I tried installing the inspirion drivers onto the hard drive when I installed Windows XP and everything was fine.  Yet when I reconnected the hard drive to the laptop nothing happened.

 

If anyone has any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

dban wouldnt have broken anything it just nukes the hdd. Sound like there is a hardware or connection issue in the unit.

Worth a shot but take it apart so you can take the cmos battery out (leave it out for a minute or so), put it back in. Along with the hdd etc, then try booting it up.

Ok I'll try that.  Incase it helps: I also ran a system diagnostic test.  When this was run the computer said all systems were working correctly and recognized all the hardware.  That is why I think this is some driver issue.  Maybe I need to install the motherboard driver but can't since I have no way to start up beyond the BIOS screen and can't use the CD drive.

I removed the cmos battery and hd. Left it out for a few minutes.  When I put it back in all that happened it I needed to tell the computer the date and time.  I connected to HD to my main desktop and installed windows that way but when I reconnect it to the laptop and start it up I get the screen where it says "Windows".  The loading bar appears then it blue screens on me.

Ok I fixed it.  I guess somehow along the way the CD drive died and I don't know how.  I ended up making a bootable USB with windows XP on it and was able to do a fresh install. Thanks for the response :)

Glad its sorted mate. All the best :-)