unknown partition removed HD not detected

[Clergy]

i have just recently started a new job where i use an engineering program to design blueprints for houses, anyways the computer I get to use was a refurb w/o any documentation or software for it...

so today while i was running one of the programs I have a bsd so i tried restarting the comp with ctr+alt+del to no avail so i just reset it, but once it rebooted I got a disc read error. So i locate a windows xp recovery disk and get to the repair c prompt i attempt a chkdsk but it terminates at 1% so i try fixmbr which gives me a warning about trying to repair the mbr because it is an unknown partition

at this point i decide ill just look at the partition table, so i restart the computer to boot to xp recovery disk and select to install windows xp.

one partition is listed as primary, but file system is listed as unknown but is listed to occupy 19gb or storage. now im thinking wtf why is a windows xp repair disk unable to read the hd which has xp already installed, so my boss tells me he has another copy of xp i can use since i dont have the one that came with the computer.

So i attempt to delete the primary partition with the new xp cd, but i get an error message saying the partition cannot be deleted because it is unknown, i then booted up to windows 95 command line and use a 3rd party partition remover program to delete the primary partition which does so successfully

now i restart my computer and get the error there is no IDE 0 detected and when i attempt to install xp using my start up cd i get the same error.

specs are: (off the top of my head)

p4 celeron 1.3 g
128 ram
amptron motherboard
cant remember anything else atm can list more tomorrow.

any suggestions would help cause at this point i am out of ideas