To me this is weird. As often as i've swoped hard drives.

My problem is that the only computers i have access to are HPs. My computer was struck and the motherboard went bad. As far as i know the HD is still ok.

I've tried setting up my HD as Master, Slave, Cable Select and the computers WILL NOT boot.

Last, i set it up on Secondary IDE port along with the CD-ROM Drive and it didn't even read the HD.

I don't understand this.
Someone told me that the CMOS drivers are preventing it from booting on the HD. to me that makes little sense since i've done this often with non-brand computers and also a NEW HD would not have the CMOS setting on it either.

I tried different positions on the IDE cable. this i didn't think made a difference but i did it anyway and it didn't work.

I tried it as slave on the same IDE port as the original HD and as master without original. also on secondary IDE as slave with and without CD-ROM drive.

Another factor i might mention is that the Original drive is Win2000 and my drive is WinXP. I didnt think much of this since they are both NT file systems. I don't know if that contributes to the problem. however, the issue here is that the computer would NOT BOOT UP at ALL! It read it in BIOS but did not boot.

I just need help. I've exhausted all my ideas. Does HP and other manufactures do something to keep one from being able to add other Hardware or am i just lacking in knowledge?

Thanks!!

My computer was struck and the motherboard went badPhysical or electrical strike or ... ? And how did this affect both computers?

If the HDDs are correctly detected in the BIOS setup then the jumpers and cables as well as the slave/master positions should be OK but this would not mean that the HDD was still OK in itself (and bearing in mind they are sensitive to shocks of any kind).

If detected in the BIOS setup then you may be able to test a HDD with a bootable diagnostic floppy from its manufacturer's website; and maybe not - it all depends. Failing that try testing the HDD as a slave in a known working PC.

Double-check the IDE cables,the position of the drives on them (slave in the middle) and especially the jumpers. To make things easiest just use one HDD at a time on the end of the cable and jumpered as master or master w/o slave (if the latter setting appears there) or as cable select.

Even if these were provided for HP they should work on other PCs. What make are they?