HP pavilion P 7–1287C on startup I get a black screen that says hard drive not detected.

[Shae7781]

HP pavilion P 7–1287C on startup I get a black screen that says hard drive not detected. After opening the computer up, I see two wiring bundles that are not plugged into anything. One is labeled P4 and one is labeled P6. Are they supposed to be plugged into something and this could be the problem? Or are these just extra in case I want to install something down the road? This is a very old computer and I don’t want to continue using it. I just want to take my photos off of it and any old files I have on there and then I’ll be done with it. I am not naturally tech savvy, but I have a pretty good track record at figuring things out by applying common sense and following instructions. I cannot afford to have this hard drive replaced or fixed professionally so if someone tells me my only option is taking it in and replacing the hard drive that’s as good us telling me that’s the end you’ve lost it all you’re done and you need to accept it. Lol. So with that in mind, I would like to try something. Does anyone have any ideas? This is my Hail Mary! I have a PNY SSD that someone gave me a long time ago… Is that something I could install that could help me possibly? My research tells me that’s just replacing the hard drive and I wouldn’t be able to recover my old stuff which is the primary reason for trying to fix this computer so I don’t think that would work unless somebody tells me something different. Again, I’m going with the mindset that there are no stupid questions because trying nothing is automatic failure so I might as well try something!

[BeemerBiker]

I found a parts list for your system here and you have the 

656846-002

Motherboard - Carmel-2, Intel H61, 95W VRM

There is a picture of your Carmel2 motherboard here

The Carmel2 bios has an upgrade that allows newer UEFI type graphics cards to be used.

However, you want to repair your hard drive and this is what I recommend

1 - remove the hard drive

2 - install windows 10 home on your PNY SSD  and skip the activation when asked for the key

     Make sure you can boot into windows 10.  Get it here.

3 - install the defective hard drive and boot windows 10

Try running the disk repair to fix the hard drive.  let me know if scandisk cannot repair the drive and I can recommend a forensics app to obtain the files. There are no free forensics app that I know of.

It is possible to run windows 10 and 11 without activating or buying it.. There are disadvantages as explained here

https://www.minitool.com/data-recovery/disadvantages-of-not-activating-windows-11-10.html

The following shows the repair of the C drive that is an HDD. Your drive may have a different letter, probably D or E

Try running the Windows disk repair tool to fix it. Select the C drive (or D or E) and then "Tools"