Primary hard disk drive 0 not found

I need to know if  my hard drive needs to be replaced or can it be saved?  Please help.

My computer is a Dell Inspiron 9200 purchased Feb2005.  It has been in good working order until the other day when I started to get the  message

Primary hard disk drive 0 not found

The circustances leading up to this message may help.  I left my iphone  synced to my computer while iTunes downloaded the latest OS to the phone.  In the meantime, I fell asleep and left  it running.  When I woke up I had a black screen with a message ( I don't remember exactly what it said) but the gist was a device was installed on the computer that did not belong.  So I thought that it was just that I had left the iphone plugged into it.  So I unplugged the phone and restarted the computer.

When the computer was booting, I got near the end of the boot and then another black screen appeared with the message No bootable devices-strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility. When I tried F1, I receive the same message over and over.

I've tried to troubleshoot this myself , the attempts which are listed below.

I tried booting from the WINXP CD and after it goes through most of the setup, I come to the screen to choose Setup Windows or access Recovery Console. I tried both and receive the message below every time regardless of what I selected.

Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected and that any disk related hardware configuration is correct .Setup cannot continue.

I tried to boot from the CD several times in different  ways. On two attempts, I received the message below.

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to computeronly the time is available to change.  The Primary Hard Drive reads None.

The problem seems to be caused by the following file : partmgr.sys

Page_fault_in_nonpaged_area

If this is the frost time ... Restart computer. If this appears again follows these steps Check to make sure any new hardware or software installed is properly installed. If this is new installation ask hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.

If problem continues disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components restart your computer press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options and select safe mode

Technical info

Stop: 0x00000050 (0xf7ab94ab, 0x00000000, 0xF7ab94ab, 0x00000000)

Partmgr.sys - Address F7AB94AB base at F7AB7000, datestamp 00000000

I tried all that the above message instructed to do ,but F8 does nothing, either during boot up or after I get the message Primary hard disk 0 not found.  I tried to access the BIOS to disable through F2 ( only way I know how) and 

F11 does nothing, either during boot up or after I get the message Primary hard disk 0 not found.

During all of this troubleshooting the hard drive (at least that's what I think it is) makes a slight clicking sound.

I don't know what else to do .  Please help!!

F12  Diagnostics gives me Start DST Short Test. Fail