primary IDE channel no 80 conductor cable installed

I'm trying to reinstall Windows XP on a computer that belongs to a friend of mine. When the computer boots I get this "primary IDE channel no 80 conductor cable installed" message. It recognizes the hard drive though. However, when I try to format the hard drive during the Windows installation, it won't do anything. It just sits there at 0% of the formatting done. I reset the bios to auto detect for the hard drive, but it didn't help. My question is is it the cable or the hard drive itself? I'm leaning more towards the hard drive, but I would like another opinion. Any words of wisdom?

 

More than likely cable.

You need an 80 wire, or 80 conductor IDE cable.