Dell crashed,I think..Hard drive-0 unknown upon startup

Hi,
My friend has a DELL Desktop. He is not that computer literate, and sometimes I can hold my own, although I do not have a DELL, but a Compaq. He said that when he started his computer up, it sounded like an airplane.

I’m guessing a hard drive. He says he sees the DELL start up, then a prompt for F1 or F12 , Menu is gray. Then sees “Hard drive-0. Unknown.” But no Blue Screen. Can not use the mouse and tower is making a ticking noise.

I asked him if he could get to Help and support to maybe go back to system restore,but he can not.

Before I go over there, just wanted to know what tasks I should try to get his computer up and running properly again. He has all his work projects, and Quick books that he’s afraid he lost, and understandably freaking out. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! 🙂