Q: Dell 8400 XP Hard drive has been basically running since Feb.2005. Last night it "died" and I've tried everything to reinstall windows, but it says that "SATA Drive (#) is not found, Press f1...." I did all that f1, f2 crap but nothing. Reset the BIOS back to the factory settings; made sure that the only SATA was the maindrive, etc...etc.. I took the drive out and gently shook it and I could hear the arm spinning when I turned it. Did the same thing with an exertnal drive that died on me last year and it was a very similar sound. Is my hard drive dead? Unfixable?
A: Sounds like its time to replace your hard drive, as it most likely unfixable