During POST (Power On Self Test), the BIOS attempts to obtain information about all coins connected to the system. After checking the processor and RAM memory, it checks for current things like hard drive, CD-ROM, etc., and displays them on the screen with messages like ‘detecting IDE drives…’ and Found Primary Master.. .’ etc. Sometimes your BIOS just refuses to recognize your hard drive, basically rendering it useless; there is no way for Windows to recognize your hard drive if the BIOS doesn’t. Let’s see why this happens:

The most common reason is a loose or poorly connected data cable. Make sure the data cable is properly plugged into both the hard drive and the motherboard. The same goes for the power cable, so check that too. Also, make sure that the red lines of the data cable and the power cable are adjacent to each other.

Once you have ruled out any cable issues, check the jumper settings on the drives. If there are two units connected to a port, make sure one is set to Master and the other to Slave, or both are set to Cable Select.

Next, make sure your drive controllers on your motherboard are not disabled. These drivers control IDE devices, and without them, the BIOS cannot detect the drives. Go to the BIOS setup and in the On Board Peripherals menu make sure that ‘On Board HDC’ is enabled for both primary and secondary channels. Also make sure all drive types are set to AUTO in the standard CMOS setup. If you are not comfortable changing the BIOS values, simply reset the BIOS to factory defaults.

When all else fails, your hard drive must also be sent to a technician for repair.