New to the forum; have BSOD 7B STOP err

I got my Dell Dimension 8400 in July. So nice and fast and error-free, I thought.
--BUT--
I can't get to the Recovery Console (RC) [just in case some day I have to].

If I try to go to RC via the Win XP OS Setup CD, all goes well until I press R to go to RC:
"Setup did not find any hard drive installed in your computer. [This is NEWS TO ME!]
Make sure any drives are powered on [HD, CD, DVD are internal] and
that any disk related hardware config is correct [no yellow or red in System Manager].
This may involve running manufacturer-supplied diagnostics or setup program."

Neither Dell diagnostics nor the "Hard drive diagnostics" boot option [F12] find errors.

I installed RC as a boot option, but I always get a BlueScreen that says:
"A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer."

Then it advises to check for viruses [NAV found none] and run CHKDSK /F [no problems found], but also:
"Remove any new hard disks or controllers to make sure they are properly configured and terminated."
I don't know what I'm supposed to do about this last thing.

Since everything else SEEMS to be fine, I can't figure these errors that occur ONLY when I try to go to RC.

I do NOT want to reinstall XP!! I have my data backed up, but ... I just don't want to go there. Yet.

Any thoughts? Thanks,
Dave Slomer

Dell tech support spent an hour with me last night, and the guy really knew his stuff. He tried everything he could think of, then put me on hold to ask someone else and -- it still didn't work. So he put me on hold again and ... here's the workaround.

My drive is SATA /IHCI. The Bios SATA operation was set to "if signed drive, RAID auto / AHCI." XP works fine with this [default] setting, but couldn't get to Recovery Console [RC] because of blue screen STOP error 0x0000007B.

He had me try setting SATA operation to "Combination SATA/PATA" [my CDs are PATA; guess that's why], and I got into RC! YAAAY!

But not XP. BOOOO! [I'm laughing now, but right then, I thought I was gonna pass out.]

But by rebooting and putting SATA operation back to default mode, I'm back in XP. YAAY!

And if I need to get back to RC ever, back to Bios. Yay?

It leaves me a little apprehensive, but I'm good for now. Ya?

Dave Slomer