Laptop doesn't recognize hdd

A laptop won't acknowledge the hdd. When turned on a screen comes up that says press [esc] to enter setup. It won't enter setup unless esc is hit repeatedly from powering on. From there you get a menu for memory test, hdd test, bios and some other things. Memory checks out ok, hdd test fails - computer doesn't knows a hdd is there. If I get into bios and check the hdd it won't see a hdd. Tried to boot from cd (windows recovery disc) but still no luck. Hdd failure? Connections look ok from hdd, didn't check any others. My next idea was to make windows recovery onto usb and try to boot from that.It is an HP laptop. I know it has an i5 (not sure which one) and 4GBs ram and that is about it (not mine). I'm thinking possible hdd failure?

could you try the hdd in a another computer for test