2 HD problems

[halem111]

i recently bought a maxtor 160gbdrive to replace my 80 gig one. my sister wasn't using her computer so i just stuck it in their for safe keeping. Now i have a lot of files to back up and wanted the 80 gig hd for a backup, i would stick all the big files on it and when i format i just put it in and transfer them. However when i put it in, it says please insert system disk. So i tried putting in a boot up floppy for win 98, that didnt work, so then i tried putting a cd in for win xp and that didnt work. does anyone have any ideas what the problem is with this one?
the second one is my sisters 40 gig one, when the 80 didnt work i thought well i will jus have this one instead. So i put it in and when it is detecting hard dirves at the start it doesnt detect it ,even if i go into bios. Instead it stays on the detecting hard drive screen with the 40 gig HD making the popping noises it makes. it goes pop pop pop quite fast and then just stops and then it repeats it. does any one know what the problem with this one is?
thanks for any replies

athlon 2500
512mb corsair xms 3200
radeon 9800np
80 gig hd

 

[Crashman]

Wow, uh, so can you just put it in steps, like:
A: I did this
B: I did this
C: this happened?

BTW, those noises indicate the drive is no more, remember him well.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[halem111]

ok i stick hard drive in and the comp doesnt recognise that it is there. at the start when it is tryin to find what hardware is present it doesnt recognise that the HD is connected, also the same in bios.
it then asks me to insert system disk.
so i put floppy 98 startup disk in.
it goes as if it is goin to set up win 98
but then says that there is no harddrive to copy files onto.
is the HD screwed?

athlon 2500
512mb corsair xms 3200
radeon 9800np
80 gig hd

 

[skinnyjoint]

rofl crashman thats the exact same thing i was thinking lol im like whoa headache