DV4-2145DX - Hard Disk Not Exist - BIOS issue?

Hi all.

On a HP DV4-2145DX, I'm getting a Hard Disk Not Exist. The drive is new, and works in my USB enclosure on another system. It's partitioned and formatted, but not recognized by the DV4. The original Toshiba 320GB HDD was fried, and this replacement is a WD Scorpio Blue 500GB. It is my friends machine. He installed the new drive and got stuck when it wouldn't boot. I've thought it through and here's what I've come up with and where I'm stuck. Any help appreciated!

Possible issues:
1) The BIOS. It doesn't seem to have any visible HDD settings, so...can't tell if there is a config issue. It for sure does not recognize the drive. How to tell if BIOS settings are the problem?

2) The mobo. The drive does not sound like it is running at all, so may not be getting power or commands. I do NOT have another 2.5" drive to swap in, but again, this drive is good in my enclosure. How to rule out the mobo?

3) the mobo HDD connector. Looks like the connector is cracked and pulled apart a few millimeters (likely due to the ridiculously tight fit of the HDD chassis and undue force applied in the removal/install). The pins all look good, but maybe there is a broken conductor or solder joint? How to test?

4) The new HDD speed. Saw on another forum that somebody had to slow down their new Seagate HDD in a DV4 by putting in a jumper. WD seems to have the same pin assignments, so I tried the jumper but no joy. I need to dig further into the specs on this if the BIOS and mobo are ruled good.

Simple right? :-)

thanks for any help!

- Mike