SATA 2 HD problem

[6fingers]

Originally Posted by RGTFanatic

Do you have more than one sata port on the motherboard?? If you do try that. If not, you should re-install your motherboard drivers.

The Sata controller on the MB could be bad too. What motherboard do you have??

Originally Posted by 6fingers

Of course first guess would be cables but cables are good and sata connections too.

Sometimes MB recognizes it, sometimes doesn't.
I was even able to install windows, after restarted, hd was not there.
Defective HD for sure.

[jb4674]

You neglected to post your pc specs. What motherboard is it, what kind of sata drive did you buy? How big in capacity is the SATA drive in question? Do you have SP3 installed?

Is the machine up to date in patches?

Jimmy

P.S.: It's time to move to Win7.

[MicJustMic]

Bad drive, it's that simple.

If other drives work on the mobo, it's the drive.

I just had a friends computer exhibit the same thing... turn it on, sometimes the drive is there other times it isn't.

While attempting to copy all the data from the drive (no backup, of course) the drive totally failed.

[RGTFanatic]

Originally Posted by MicJustMic

Bad drive, it's that simple.

If other drives work on the mobo, it's the drive.

I just had a friends computer exhibit the same thing... turn it on, sometimes the drive is there other times it isn't.

While attempting to copy all the data from the drive (no backup, of course) the drive totally failed.

Not necessarily, I've had controllers go bad before....especially on nvidia boards. I've had to RMA two in a row in the past......... I'm still using the drive that wouldn't be recognized now.

[julzius]

Possible Hardware Issues:
1) Faulty HDD
2) Faulty Motherboard
3) Intermittent Power Supply

Possible Software Issues:
1) Old Motherboard BIOS

Possible Tests
1) Try HDD in other functioning computers
2) Remove any power hungry modules (like a GFX card)
3) Flash BIOS

This is my evaluation for you Mr 6fingers. It's probably a bad HDD (especially if the computer has been fully functioning in the past?), but it's good to test out all other aspects before going through the long and tedious task of returning a product, especially when you get it back and it still doesn't work. I've been surprised at how many times a dodgy power supply was the issue (and it's not too farfetched here after seeing how intermittent it's connection is).

I hope something i've mentioned here helps you out in your fight against the machines. .

[6fingers]

Motherboard was the problem.
Lightining cooked puter power adaptor.
I bought new one.
Then motherboard recognized hd but when I asked it to reboot from cd to install windows, it stopped recognizing it so it was in a loop, recognizes hd - reboot - lost hd.
Cleaned up cmos, unplugged battery and cleaned up cmos again etc, nothing changed.
The weird stuff is it always recognized dvd recorder, the problem was only with hd.
Replaced my MB Asus for a new one the same model = everything is fine.

Thanks to all of you who tried to help.
Damn I hate wasting money with puter stuff

If a computer tech(a real one and not a guesser) knows what was the problem, please post an answer here cause it might help others who someday could have the same problem

[6fingers]

New motherboard.
2 New hds.
New power adaptor.
Press enter to instal windows................no hd was found.
Is my house that can't recognize hds?
What the hell!

[Ibateur]

Have you tried removing one HD?

What rating does your power supply have? Could very well be that you have too many peripherals and the power supply can't handle the load.

[6fingers]

Originally Posted by Ibateur

Have you tried removing one HD?

What rating does your power supply have? Could very well be that you have too many peripherals and the power supply can't handle the load.

Too many peripherials?
It's only 1 hd.
I have 2 but I use only one.
Puter is brand new and still the same problem with the other motherboard and power adaptor.
It can't recognize any sata hd no matter which sata port or cable I'm using but it always recognize dvd recorder
It could be some kind of short in its cabinet(don't know if cabinet is the right name) so I took everything out of cabinet, the same happened.

[jb4674]

Originally Posted by 6fingers

Too many peripherials?
It's only 1 hd.
I have 2 but I use only one.
Puter is brand new and still the same problem with the other motherboard and power adaptor.
It can't recognize any sata hd no matter which sata port or cable I'm using but it always recognize dvd recorder
It could be some kind of short in its cabinet(don't know if cabinet is the right name) so I took everything out of cabinet, the same happened.

If would be great if you could post all the pc's specs (models, etc.).

Remember, with a new board you have to load the sata drivers, especially if you're using xp.

[6fingers]

Originally Posted by jb4674

If would be great if you could post all the pc's specs (models, etc.).

Remember, with a new board you have to load the sata drivers, especially if you're using xp.

Seems like you're not understanding.
It's a new pc so I'm not using ANY windows.
No hd means no windows installation, no xp, no 7, no 8, no whatever.

[jb4674]

Ok, let me rephrase the question so you can understand.....

Your "new" pc, is it a BYO pc or did you buy it at a store premade?

A BYO (build your own) pc isn't going to have any drivers when you load the OS from a disc and you need to load a SATA driver in order for the mobo to talk to the hardware.

So, for the third time.... What HARDWARE is your PC comprised of? You said earlier in the thread that you had an Asus mobo. Did you bother to download the sata drivers for the mobo and load them either on a thumbdrive or a floppy disc?

People are trying to help you but, how can people help you when you don't post any details pertaining to the machine??????? There could be a myriad of issues going on but, in order to isolate the problem, we need to know what kind of hardware you have...

[6fingers]

Originally Posted by jb4674

Ok, let me rephrase the question so you can understand.....

Your "new" pc, is it a BYO pc or did you buy it at a store premade?

A BYO (build your own) pc isn't going to have any drivers when you load the OS from a disc and you need to load a SATA driver in order for the mobo to talk to the hardware.

So, for the third time.... What HARDWARE is your PC comprised of? You said earlier in the thread that you had an Asus mobo. Did you bother to download the sata drivers for the mobo and load them either on a thumbdrive or a floppy disc?

People are trying to help you but, how can people help you when you don't post any details pertaining to the machine??????? There could be a myriad of issues going on but, in order to isolate the problem, we need to know what kind of hardware you have...

Nope, this asus mobo comes with all drivers, you just plug hd and it has to recognize it, no need to download any sata drivers.It's plug and play, I already said several times mobo recognizes DVD which is sata so drivers are there.
Tomorrow a friend of mine who sells puters will come to my house with other hds, ram and power adaptor to test, he said he never saw that problem too.
Maybe power adaptor is not good for those hds, who knows.
So far only guessers(on different forums) which means I couldn't find somebody with the same problem.

[6fingers]

BTW right now I tried to start it again and out of nothing it recognized my 2 hds.
Don't have a clue how, why etc.
Installing windows, I just hope when it restarts, it won't say there's no hd again.
WEIRD.
Out of nothing seems it's working so hds are good, ram is good, power adaptor is good and mobo is good, damn it

Yep again press enter to install windows = no hd found.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[6fingers]

What happening is =

In Bios I ask to load defalt settings.
Press F10 to save and exit.
Bios shows my 2 hds.
Ask to boot from dvd to install windows.
It boots but there are no hds so can't install windows.

It keeps doing that like an endless vodoo evil loop!