Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer

When installing WinXP Pro I get this message: "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. Make sure any hard drive disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program. Set up cannot continue. To quit setup, press F3"

I have run the recovery CD that came with the PC, original WinXP Pro CD, have tried a different HD, have installed the HD in another PC and is working fine, I formatted the HD (NTFS) and still same error. I was looking for the drivers for it this is an Western Digital (WDC WD800JB-OOCRA1).

The funny thing about this is that I was able to make a backup of some files in the drive using the backup utility from Microsoft using a different pc. Then I formatted the drive and place it back in the original pc, but got the same error message anyways. I think this might be a motherboard issue. I tried contacting Alienware, but I have gotten no response. I wanted to ask: Is it possible to install Windows if I connect the drive to another pc and then connect it back to the original pc? Will it boot? Not sure if you understand. Can I use the bad HD drive in a good pc, install Windows and then put it back in original pc? thanks