ide not installed

Clarifications

If so, when was that?

"[i]..finally after checking everything is connected ok[/i]" - yet your BIOS reports 'Primary IDE not installed'?

This is not something that you can INSTALL - it is telling you that it cannot see your hard drive(s). You should check the cable connecting the hard drive to the motherboard.

Try changing the cable for a new one.

What is the model of this HP computer?

Based on what you've written, I'd unplug the dvd/cd drive. Power and ribbon cable, and try rebooting the system. Sounds like that drive has gone on holiday and won't be back.

It sounds like the IDE interface is not getting the proper drive identifications from the jumper settings.

If the HDD and the Optical are on the same cable, disconnect the CD?DVD drive and see if the computer boots.

With it's Makers Testing Utility. You can get the Makers Testing Utility from here

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

The Drive will be made by Seagate, Western Digital, Fujitsu or someone else not HP.

It could be a bit difficult if your Optical Drive has gone to [b]Silicon Heaven[/b] but if you can boot from a USB Device you can use a Thumb Drive with the Drive Testing Utility on it.

Also if you have a SATA HDD int his computer you need to set the BIOS to Native not RAID and remember to save the settings as you exit the BIOS.

Also you could try another Power Supply as if the one in your computer is going off slightly that will produce problems that could cause things like this to happen. Power Supplies produce several different Voltages and just seeing Fans Run is no fool proof way of saying that they are working properly. They normally produce a 1.5, 3 5 & 12 V DC all with different Currents available and if the Voltage is too High or Low or the Current too low the PS needs replacing before it does any damage tot he M'Board, RAM, CPU or Drives. ;)

Col