Computer Not Seeing Hard Disk

Ok... so i got this dell P.O.S. from one of my friends to fix... and by the way if you know how to get the case off of one please enlighten me... but anyway i boot it up and im getting the error: "Cannot recognize hard disk 0" any ideas as to what it could be? thanks

 

Case comes off like this; (Usually on Dell anyways)

Left side (when looking from the front) should be held by a screw on the back side of the chassis. It should be only to unscrew it and the side slides out backwards. That gives you access to the inside. If you want further inside... the front panel holds the top and right side together. It does so by a sort of hinge-like function. If you look between the front panel and the two sides (top and right side) you can see some plastic pieces going through, about 2-3mm down in between. They are locks and must be pressed down in order to release. Since the space is limited, use a screwdriver to get in there. Start at the bottom and snap off one at a time, while at the same time gently pull the front panel outwards. Last you should open the front panel like a door - 90 degrees angle, then it comes off. From there you can easily remove the top and right side. Also be careful with the cables to the power switch and the LED's that goes to the front panel.

It's a bit tricky but instead of useing voilence, try to understand it's function, it's much easier that way

As for the hard disk error I'd initially guess it's a hard drive crash, or a BIOS setting error. Try the BIOS first, see if it recognizes the drive when searching for it. (In Standard BIOS Settings) If it does not, take the drive out and try it in another computer. If that works maybe you need to change the IDE cable or just double-check all cables are in place etc. You can also try another drive from another computer (that you know works) and see if that drive works in the Dell computer.

Another possible scenario: Have you changed drives recently? Swapped the original one for a new, larger one? That could be the problem due to the motherboard not being able to handle larger drives. Depending on how old the Dell computer is it may have limits on 2, 4, 8, 40, 60 (and so on) GB's so choosing a drive that exceeds the limit makes it not recognizable. There's a small chance a BIOS update would eliminate this but my guess is there are none. Dell usually don't admit they've ever been wrong.

Hope that gets you started!
/Pht