is hard drive dead

You may be able to check it yourself. Can you list some info as to what type of HD it is?

Hi zd542, I believe it is a seagate. But am not sure, too it to shop, he said hd d ok but why wont it recognize hd in hd utilities it just says 0 use 0 capacitylike its wiped clean , fortunately I had no cds on it I purchased it on e bay european version he said its poss something on motherboard. I really don't know what it is it plays cds fine just wont copy to hdd

Have you tried making a disc copy of a CD? When this is done, it burns to the HDD first, prompts you to change discs, and burns blank disc from HDD. Also, it can only use blank discs labeled "Audio CD-R" or "Music CD-R". CD-R's for computer will not work. If this works, then the HDD should be OK.

Did you get an owners manual?