fdd & hdd controller failure comp toast ?

Just got a panic phonecall from a friend's son.
Seems someone knocked over his computer and now the error message when trying to boot up is "fdd controller failure, hdd controller failure, press F1 boot from disc." However a: drive does not seem to work.
the computer is either a 486 with Win 95 or perhaps a Pentium 1.
Is the computer toast ?

 

Could be, but not necessarily.

Try re-seating the drive cables, & power connections, and RAM chips, & etc inside the computer. Since it was knocked over, one or several things could have jiggled loose just enough to wreck havoc.

 

I would also check the CMOS Setup. Check all settings, especially the ones that have to do with IDE and floppy.

The message you mention is referring to controller failure. If that is to be believed, it is referring to the on-board controller itself, not the drives. Still, it could be loose cables.

If after checking all this and you have no result, I would remove the on-board battery from the system for 24 hours then put it back in.