e-machine hdd problem

[SilverJock]

Ive got a friends e-machine (horrible thing) Celeron 1.1 128mb
20Gb hdd Pheniox Bios, It needed a format and uninstall so i used the restore disk, it failed halfway(disk scratched), i can't copy disk but i did put hdd onto my pc and installed xp pro (NTFS Partition) but when i put back into e-machine it wont recognise drive, i have tried bios settings, even tried manual setting but wont let me change no. of heads. I wonder if i should have made it a FAT partition? I don't want to change board ...Please help i am out of ideas

Thanks

Steve

 

[ski]

Is the HD jumpered as either Master or CS(cable select), and connected to the IDE 1 channel?

Is the IDE 1 controller enabled in BIOS?

Is the IDE cable correctly and securely installed?

Did you try a different known working IDE cable?

Did you try connecting a different power lead to the HD?

Also, if and when the HD recognition problem in BIOS is resolved, it's possible that the O/S on that HD may not work properly because it may get confused since it's now seeing a whole bunch of different hardware.
If this happens, then you may have to go back to square 1 and reformat the HD with it installed in the problem system.
And it Windows XP was not previously installed on that HD, then some of the hardware in the problem system may be old enough to be incompatible with the O/S.