HD problems

I've been having some trouble with a harddrive recently, the computer in question goes through it's routine upon being turned on but never reaches the OS startup screen. It just sits there at a blank screen with a blinking cursor.

The HD spins up, and the last time I tried it on another computer it did work. I also had installed a trial version of XP on it. Do you think this might be because the trial has expired? I was thinking that it might also be the IDE cable, but it doesn't have any noticeable tears or anything.

Trying to get into the BIOS or setup or anything during the start up logos doesn't work also.

>>3
>>2
how could either of them die? All I did was take the HD out at one point. Everything worked before doing that.