The condition of this fault is that the system can abnormally recognize the hard drive. If the system does not recognize the hard drive, users can refer to the content above for troubleshooting. The issue "System unable to boot from hard disk" generally relates to system power supply, BIOS settings, motherboard, IDE interface, etc. Users can first carefully check all BIOS settings and see if the hard drive information in STANDARD CMOS SETUP is accurate. Users can use AUTO DETECT.. to automatically detect the hard drive settings once.
If the inability to boot is caused by a power supply failure, it will usually also prevent booting from a CD-ROM. To confirm whether it's a power supply issue, it's best to try replacing the power supply. If the power supply is normal, further checks on the motherboard can be performed. To determine the scope of the fault, try booting from a CD-ROM to see if it succeeds. If the CD-ROM boots up normally, it suggests the problem may lie with the hard drive interface; check if the IDE slot contact is good.
If the CD-ROM cannot boot either, it indicates the problem may be with the motherboard control circuit or control chip. In this case, you can try an external disk interface adapter card, such as a multifunction card. However, before using the multifunction card, you must modify the CMOS parameters and disable the use of the motherboard’s (NO BOARD) IDE interface by setting these items to "Disabled". If these diagnostic steps are still ineffective, then the only option left is to try replacing the motherboard.
Original article from Hefei Data Recovery Center: http://www.cndr.cn/hydt/10907.html