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I was testing a hard drive from another computer so I had to take out the hard drive from my working computer but unfortunatley when I returned the hard drive to my working computer now the computer does not boot. The hard drive was fine until I took it out. I have connected it to the hard drive power supply cable and attached the p5 connector. I am not sure why this system is not detecting the drive any suggestions? I am really hoping I havent ruined anything.

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Just to describe this more I am getting four long beeps then two beeps and the screen is black when I turn on the machine – mleland Jun 30 '10 at 4:21
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It is very easy to bend the pins when putting the PATA cable in, or you zapped the controller board with static when you were handling the drive. My first rule of repair: take everything apart that comes apart easily: memory, cables, daughtercards and put it back together; you may have knocked something loose. – msw Jun 30 '10 at 4:44
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We need to know the model number of the PC... or better yet, the model number of the Motherboard. The BIOS beep codes mean something. Unfortunately the meaning changes depending on motherboard/BIOS. – James T Jun 30 '10 at 5:07
I took everything apart and put it back, I am still getting four beeps then two beeps with a black screen does that mean i ruined my hard drive:( – mleland Jun 30 '10 at 7:17
@James the computer is a Dell Dimension 1100 Windows XP Home edition with foxconn motherboard. – mleland Jun 30 '10 at 7:28
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Here are the beep codes for that model, it will be a series of 3, not 2

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim1100/EN/SM/adtshoot.htm#wp1056471

remove and reinsert the memory modules.

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If you don't have any faulty/broken hardware, than my guess is if you put it back into a different cable than before (or booted your computer up in between), your computer may have given it a different harddrive designation and may be attempting to boot something different. Make sure that your bios is still set to boot to that harddrive. Next, get the windows disk and repair the MBR. Perhaps the bios is booting the right MBR, but if it is passing off different designations for the harddrives than it was before, the MBR may be attempting to boot the wrong drive.

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The first time I started my machine after putting the hard drive in it said something like h1 hdd not found press F1 to enter setup I didnt know what it was talking about so I just unplugged it and then when I plugged it back got the beeps and have been getting them ever since four beep then two beep with black screen so I dont know how to tell if its hardware or bios? – mleland Jun 30 '10 at 7:24
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