Windows 7 - BIOS doesn't recognize hard drive but Windows does

First post, long time reader. Hopefully someone can help me with the following:

I just recently got a hold of an older PC that I wanted to use for test purposes with Windows 7. The problem is that the BIOS on the PC does not recognize the Hard Drive. Upon startup I get the following message:

Primary hard disk drive 0 not found
Primary hard disk drive 1 not found
Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility

Now get this, although the BIOS does not recognize the hard drive, Windows 7 and XP recognize it just fine (displays the correct size and everything). I have never seen or heard of this happening before. Usually it's the opposite (i.e. BIOS recognizes the drive but not Windows).

Windows 7 displays the following error link under the "Where do you want to install Windows?" dialogue box:

Windows cannot be installed to Disk 0 Partition 1. (Show details)

Upon clicking on the error link I get a pop-up window with the following message:

"Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computer's BIOS menu.

Details on the computer:
Dell Dimension 8200
Pentium 4 Processor
512 MB RAM
80GB Western Digital

Also to note: the hard drive is in good working condition as I tested it in another PC. The only thing that I can think of at this time is the mobo. However, everything else works on the mobo (i.e. floppy drive, both DVD drives, USB ports).

Thanks in advance for any help. I can also provide more detail if need be.

JT

Just taking a shotat this . . maybe a bad ribbon cable.

Have you hit F2 to enter the bios? If not, maybe you should. Once there see if there is an auto-detect option for the hard drives.

If you have done so already, does it reset itself and display the error message on every boot? Also is the bios date and time correct and holding on each boot? If not then you're going to need to change the motherboard battery; should be a CR2032 and available anywhere watch batteries are sold.

Let me ask you a question.
Did the pc work before window 7 was installed.?
Ken

I have gone into the BIOS and it still shows up the message. The BIOS shows that Primary Drive 0 and 1 are unknown (the drive is installed on Primary 0 and nothing is on Primary 1). There is an auto-detect option and it is turned on.

CMOS battery is OK too, as the date and time are the same even if you unplug the computer for a while.

I'm pretty sure it's not the ribbon cable as I just tried it with one that does work and still no luck.

The thing that is really odd about this is that Windows recognizes the drive but the BIOS doesn't. So that should mean that the drive is readable, writable, viewable, etc.

Thanks for the help so far!

Let me ask you a question.
Did the pc work before window 7 was installed.?
Ken

I haven't been able to install Windows 7 on it yet. It gives me the error message stated above in my first post and I can't install onto the drive. It had Windows XP previously installed, however, I got the computer without a Hard Drive and put this one in instead. The HD does work, as I've tested it with other PCs it just seems like it doesn't want to work with this PC. So I guess I could answer that question with a yes and also a no, as I haven't been able to install Win 7. I also cannot install XP or Vista for that matter, although they too recognize the drive.

I guess the next step could be to try a different hard drive and see if anything changes.

Wouldn't happen to have a cd/dvd drive on the same cable as the hard drive would you? If so spllit them up and put one on each IDE controller, and set them as master and see if the bios detects it/them properly.

Nope different cables. Different controllers. I also tried switching between the two cables to see if that would help and nothing changed.

I can format, delete partitions, etc via the Windows Install routine. With Windows XP I can get to the point where setup finishes copying files and then restarts, but since the BIOS doesn't detect the hard drive that's as far as I get.

Just for fun, have you checked the jumpers on the hdd? . . . They should be set to Cable Select

Just checked it. It was in the middle and I moved it to the far right, as it was on another hard drive I had. Problem solved, BIOS recognizes it along with Windows.

I'm kind of curious as to why the HD was working a couple days ago for my friend, unless he changed the jumper which I doubt he did. Who knows.

Thanks for the help everyone!