Hard Disk not recognised by BIOS

[#1]

Would you believe it. I'm still trying to solve my HP Compaq PC problem and now I have another problem.
I have returned the hard disk with the XP OS on back from the HP Compaq pc to the pc it came from originally and reinstalled XP on it (from my genuine XP CD).  The old pc I returned it to also had a second hard drive, which after reinstalling XP on, the returned hard drive was visible to the BIOS and also usable by XP.
However, I had yet another hard drive that had been used as a second drive in an even older PC I have just scrapped, but I needed to get at data that was on it. Therefore, I moved this hard drive across to the pc I had returned the XP hard drive to, and connected it in as the second hard drive instead of the second hard drive that had worked.
Now I find this particular hard drive isn't recognised by the BIOS - during POST it comes up with "Type F4 to skip" but ignores F4 when I do try that, and just sits there. I have checked the Master/Slave setup on both the XP disk and this, and they are correct. I have tried swapping their positions on the ribbon cable. I have moved this second hard drive to where the CD drive is normally connected. Whatever I do with it, the BIOS doesnt seem to be able to see it.
Unfortunately, I need to get this data back. I thought I had copied it to another pc, but it seems not.. I cannot afford to just scrap this disk, so if anyone has any suggestions how to get this disk working again, please let me know.
Thanks

[#2]

First move is to put it in a pc on its own and see if the bios sees it. If you can do that in 2 pc's and the bios cant see it in either then its duff broke knackered. You could check there is no pins bent and the power is on ok (does it spin up ok) Failing that you could search online for the specs if its not on the drive and enter those directly into the bios instead of doing auto or detect this may work.
Ever thought of taking up a new hobby less stressful like sky diving?

[#3]

Quote from: samuria

Ever thought of taking up a new hobby less stressful like sky diving?

Or dumping Compaq? 
I have a distant recollection that they were in some way non-standard???
Possibly even keeping some start-up info on disk - but I'm really not sure about that...
It was a very long time ago

[#4]

I've sort of solved this problem. I moved this hard drive and the hard drive with XP on it to another PC - my old Dell GX200 which will take two hard drives. The BIOS recognised both disks, and all I had to do was a Repair of the XP because of the change of PC. Most things seem to be working now, with one exception (there has to be one, doesn't there).
I can get the USB ports working with a memory stick, but I cannot persuade the USB port to work with a USB wireless dongle hanging out of it. The symptoms are I cannot get it to start looking for wireless networks.
Control Panel/System/Device Manager/Hardware shows that USB2.0 WLAN has a question mark, but all other things appear okay.
Finding drivers for the Dell chipset seems to be a pig. Dell often supplies more than one driver for a task, and I dont know how to work out which drivers are required.
If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be grateful to hear them.
Thanks

[#5]

A PCI slot wireless adaptor is superior to USB. 

[#6]

If it has a yellow mark the drivers are wrong or some other fault did you install the drivers before plunging the drive in? Remove it from device manager and reboot install the drivers  then plug it in. use the software that came with it  as windows wireless  probably not work

[#7]

Like the twit I am (oh you'd noticed) I had used the wrong software (Netgear s/w with a Belkin dongle) . I've uninstalled the Netgear s/w, and loaded the Belkin s/w instead, and now I can at least see the link, I just cant use it. I am looking for the problem - I think it may be the firewall, but I could be wrong.
Thanks for all help.