[joreel]

I have an old computer running Win98 SE with a 80gb Western Digital HD. It was running great but turned it on and it won't recognize my HD. During the boot up process it scans for IDE devices. I get the following:
Primary Master None
Primary Slave None
Secondary Master I get the number for my CD drive
Secondary Slave None

I have only one HD and one CD drive attached.

Broke out a spare HD and computer recognized it right away. Had to reformat and put Win98 SE on and spare hard drive works great.

What could have caused the computer to suddenly stop recognizing the original (installed 2001) HD but it will recognize the back up HD I put on it.
No power surges that I know of. Computer is plug into surge protector and everything works but the WD HD. If I put in the backup HD and computer boots up every time and everything works; floppy, CD drive, the programs that came with Win98 SE.

It's a backup PC to play on but I would like to know what the problem may be.