BIOS does not find HDD upon boot

Everytime I turn on my PC the HDD is not found. If I go into BIOS and select Auto detect, it finds it and I reboot and my OS comes up fine. If I turn off my PC then the HDD settings for Auto is not saved, so I have to go in and reauto detect everytime I want to use my PC. All other settings are saved including my CDROM and CDRW on the 2nd IDE controller. I put in another HDD into the 1st IDE controller and still the same result, changed ide cables even the cmos battery. Dumb founded is allI can say. Help!! Please!!