My iMac cannot detect the Hard Disk

Hi, i've got a question...
Something is wrong with my new iMac. Somedays (only somedays) my iMac cannot detect the hard disk, so when I startup it stops on the initial screen (whit a gray "apple" and background). I tryed to startup it with OSX system discs but the installation app and disk utility don't detect any Hard Disk.
At an authorized store have said to me that can be a software problem...
Is that true? I thought that was a hardware problem.
Thanx,
Eneko
iMac 17"/2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo/1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM/160GB Serial ATA   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

Given the young age of you machine I believe you should be taking Apple to task on this one. I'd advise you back-up your data to multiple locations before you go any further. 
mrtotes

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