MoBo/Harddrive problems?

[benzin]

Okay, I got a computer from a friend a few days ago and before he gave it to me he took the ribbons and the harddrive out. So I'm guessing he had some important information on it. The thing is, I've tried using a few harddrives to get it to boot up but it gives me a blue screen that says error with harddrive or something like that. Also, when it doesn't have a harddrive in it says "ERROR, CABLE MAY NOT BE CONNECTED" and counts to 50 and says restart PC and does it all over again. Does anyone know what the problem might be? If so, post back or IM me on AIM, my SN is Caboose SHS.


Thanks!

 

[CJ1]

Have you reformated the hard disk and installed a new version of windows on it?

 

[benzin]

Have you reformated the hard disk and installed a new version of windows on it?

Well, how would I go about formatting the harddrive with just a floppy?

And for the Windows, I need Windows 2000 because I've tried installing Windows XP and it doesn't even load it up.