Question re: MacBook not recognizing hard drive...

Question: When a MacBook is not recognizing it's hard drive, what are the basic steps one can take to fix?
Have been reading through the posts the past few hours, and do see information on this, but am wondering/hoping someone can simplify a bit for me? Am not very computer savvy...
Would so greatly appreciate any help

Boot from your Install DVD and go to Disk Utility and find the hard drive from there and repair it.
If DU can't find the HD then it's probably defective.

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