Thanks. I downloaded the Diagnostics and they did not detect the HDD at all. As I understand it the machine was operating properly when it was shut down. THe user then tried to restart it at a later time and it would not boot.

THe BIOS does not let me select the HD section, Floppy Drive, or CD ROm. THey appear in Blue, modifiable areas appear in black.

Any thoughts on how I can get it to search for the HD?

 

 

As I replied to your other thread, you have to get the hdd seen by the BIOS.  In the Boot Order, hilight the MBA or PXE and I believe hitting spacebar unhilights it and takes it out of the enabled boot list.

All you can do is reseat it into the notebook.

Reseating the drive does not seem to have any impact. In the BIOS the CDRom is listed but is not modifiable, is that normal? The CD and floppy both work. As far as the HD, is it possible that the problem is OS related? As far as I know there was no physical damage to the PC that would have possiblly damaged the machine. The user was having problems with Spyware but the machine was running pretty well.

As long as the hdd connector is on the drive, it sounds like it is not spinning up.  If that is the case, and that would mean it is bad, you can take it and put it flat on the table, put one hand on top of it (palm it) and pick it up that way, and give it a few sharp horizontal twists - you are trying to spin the disc(s) inside to free the bearings.  Try one more time in the notebook to see if it will spin up and be recognized.  If it is, back the drive up right then.