Hard drive not found on

The problem is being caused by a Missing Seek of the HDD controller to the HDD drive itself. Many times this can be caused by the drive not being shut down properly when you turn off the PC or when it is placed into sleep mode.

Really what is happening is the drive motor is not spinning up to the correct operational speed therefore the system fails during the seek synchronization stage of power up. Another cause can also be caused by the actuator head not moving properly from the outside of the platters to the hub. There are times with the electromagnets in the actuator arm get "stuck". Another problem with the drive is the drive motor might be dead altogether. If this is the case, you're pretty screwed with resurrection of the drive other then sending it to a data recovery centers like Cherry Systems in Atlanta, GA.

Cherry Systems is one of the oldest and MOST trusted data recovery centers in the world. They have been doing this type of work since the early 1980's. They are expensive, but how much is the data on the drive worth to you?

http://www.cherrysystems.com/home.html

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING FURTHER:

1) Do you hear the HDD motor spinning when you turn the PC on? If so does the sound it makes sound like it always has since you have owned the computer?

2) If you have not changed anything in the system BIOS, I would not worry about changing anything in there. Unless you have had to replace the CMOS backup battery the settings do and WILL NOT change on their own.

3) Has the computer been moved lately from one place to another? If so, something like the power connector may have come loose or the connector is broken. On many cheep cases and powersupplies, the pins in the power connector housing are not well made and could be the whole source of your problem, especially if you do not HEAR any noise from the HDD.

4) As a last resort, carefully remove the HDD from the computer case and give it a QUICK SNAP of your wrist. Hold the drive like you would the lid to a jar of pickles, with a FIRM grip on the drive, just give your wrist a quick twist. This will sometimes free up the drive motor (if the bearings are getting worn out) and will free up the head actuator. Plug the drive back into the computer, connect the drive data cable and power cable to the HDD. With the computer case still off, turn on the computer and listen for the HDD to spin up to speed. Watch your screen for the message. If the unit boots up to your OS, Windows or Linux, IMMEDIATELY begin a data backup to a DVD or similar device. This might be the ONLY time you have to create a backup of your data files. Program files are replaceable, but data files are NOT.

Once you have completely backed up all of your data files, get out and buy yourself a new HDD and get it installed.

Get in the habit of making a backup DVD of all of your personal data files on a weekly or at least monthly basis. A DVD costs 50C and takes up no space in a file drawer. I wish you the best on getting your system back up and running. I hipe these steps help you understand what has happened and how to try and recover.

Cheers,

Keith

after coolhandan's recommendation, if it dowsn't work, open the case and (after turning the PC off and removing the power cable) and disconnect the power cable and data cable to the hard drive. Reconnect them again and try.
If it doesn't work, please post the exact message for further assistance 

Try going into the bios and changing the hhd to auto that should solve it and also look in the device maneger to see if it shows up and scan for hardware chnges i hope this helps

How did this happen? Did you do anything to the laptop?