computer wont read hard drive.

[Adam Mcintosh]

Hello, i recently was given a pc to see if i could fix it. first thing i noticed was that the hard drive (running windows 8) had failed. I tried unplugging the power cable and the sata cable and attaching it to a windows 7 hard drive that i know works but it still did not boot(saying the hard drive wasnt a boot drive or had failed). Any suggestions?

 

[yoji]

While it quite possible that the Win 7 would not boot.. if it was indeed a fully/properly configured HDD .. it should be recognised as bootable.
But don't cut corners.. just put in a HDD and reinstall Win... if the initial problem was just a bad HDD.. you will be fine.
HTH
Cheers

 

[Adam Mcintosh]

While it quite possible that the Win 7 would not boot.. if it was indeed a fully/properly configured HDD .. it should be recognised as bootable.
But don't cut corners.. just put in a HDD and reinstall Win... if the initial problem was just a bad HDD.. you will be fine.
HTH
Cheers

it wont even pick up a usb with windows 7. i seriously have no idea how to fix this problem

 

[yoji]

You not explaining what you doing.. so I have no idea if you are doing it right in terms of setting up boot orders etc.
But it should not be difficult to diagnose.."Do I have a HDD problem.. or do I have a BIOS problem"
You say "it wont even pick up a usb with windows 7".. have you checked the USB actually had a bootable image? have you tested on another machine?...
TBH.. you don't seem at all organised in your approach (or at least how you explaining your problem to us). May be you are just out of your depth?
Cheers