Someone gave me this PC but first wiped the drive. Now I can't get anything to recognize the C drive's existence. I checked cable connections. Tried fdisk: says "no fixed disks." It won't format until I fdisk. Can't run a virus rescue because the drive doesn't exist. Any suggestions? Or throw it out?

What does the machine's bios say? Is the hard disk recognized correctly?

Hi f-orth. Make sure the hard drive is set on Master. You may have to go into your computer's BIOS and change some settings. Here is a site that has instructions as well as pictures. http://www.build-your-own-computer-tips.com/install-a-hard-drive.html Take care, Linda

Try downloading and running DelPart. It will remove any current partitioning. Fdisk sometimes has problems with drives formatted by systems other than win9X.

Dan is on the right track. If the drive shows up in the BIOS then You may need to use a disk utility from the drive manufacturer. If the drive doesn't show in the BIOS that still doesn't mean the drive is dead. Settings, cables or jumpers may be set wrong. You may need to actually look to see if the disk is present. If this computer disk was using a file system that Fdisk doesn't recognise then you may need to use a utility like Delpart to remove the partitions from the drive. Find Delpart here: http://radified.com/Files/

Well, you guys won't believe this, but now I can see the drive in the BIOS. What did I do to get it back? I have no idea. I fiddled with the cabling a bit, so it might have been that--but it had seemed solid all along. I tried (before this restart) to run fdisk and format, but as I mentioned that never got started. Whatever it was, thanks for all your help and I'm sure I'll have a chance to use what y'all have taught me--someday! Best to you, Shelley

Hi, Replace the IDE ribbon cables Replace the BIOS battery Check the hard disk and other disk jumper settings. Check in BIOS that the IDE channels are all set on Auto. hth Ceri