look on the back of the drive. The IDE cable will have a red line on one side. That is the 1 pin. The cable should be keyed so that it will only fit in the drive one, way, but if it's an older cable, that might not be true. Anyway, find the 1 pin on the hard drive (should be etched in the plastic above the port) and verify that it's connected properly. The jumpers are these little black/blue/white things that bridge two tiny wire pins together, they tell the drive where it's at on the ide cable.
if the drive is on the last connection on the IDE cable or by it's self, it's called the MASTER. if it's in the middle connector, and something else is on the end, it's the slave.
does that help?
Also, check the Bios to see if the drive is recognised. pressing "f1" or "f2" or "Del" as soon as the machine starts, will ussually get you in there.