tech help: HD not reading

Ixiterra said:
Wow, somebody actually came up with a good suggestion in this thread finally.


What do you mean when the HD does not read? Is this your primary drive? Can you not boot into Windows? What errors are you getting? Etc.
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Wont show up in bios, wont boot to windows because it can't read the HD. Disk boot error, please insert system disk.

When I put my DVDRW back on and boot from the CD, prompts me to install windows, but can't find a HD to install it to as it as said before can't read it.

I've tried all of the damn molex connectors. I test them out on my DVDRW and then switch to that same one that was just working for that to the HD, but no luck.

I'll try a new PSU later this afternoon, but beyond that I'm pretty shot for ideas.
 
Ixiterra said:
Wow, somebody actually came up with a good suggestion in this thread finally.
Click to expand...
:rolleyes:

I'd assumed he had already tried that, having tried everything else. Probably my fault for assuming.

Dickhead.
 
At0mic said:
Wont show up in bios, wont boot to windows because it can't read the HD. Disk boot error, please insert system disk.

When I put my DVDRW back on and boot from the CD, prompts me to install windows, but can't find a HD to install it to as it as said before can't read it.

I've tried all of the damn molex connectors. I test them out on my DVDRW and then switch to that same one that was just working for that to the HD, but no luck.

I'll try a new PSU later this afternoon, but beyond that I'm pretty shot for ideas.
Click to expand...
I'm shot for ideas as well, aside from blindly trying a BIOS upgrade.
 
Hey Vlasic, when is the last time you saw a bios update for HD compatibility issues?

My vote is psu or dying HD. Maybe its just pure coincidence that its worked in other machines consistently and having consistency issues in your machine.
 
DocHolliday said:
Hey Vlasic, when is the last time you saw a bios update for HD compatibility issues?
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Once like 10 years ago :lol:

But when you eliminate the probable causes, then something else, no matter how improbable, must be the issue.

I'd personally lean more toard the drive failing, but if he insists it's good...
 
Ronnie Dobbs said:
it works *everytime* in another pc? b/c it just sounds like its dying to me, they dont last forever
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Yes, the HD and the IDE cables worked perfectly fine in another system (this one that I'm on now) when installed. I installed windows onto the drive without a hitch, rebooted, turned off, let sit, tried everything to make it not read but it read every time perfectly fine. The PSU seems like a pretty good idea, I will buy a new one this afternoon and test it out. I'll let everyone know. Thanks for all of the help, if you have any other ideas please shoot them my way.
 
Vlasic,

I've even been able to get to windows on the HD on the system that I'm having troubles with a couple of times. I also had it working just fine on another computer. I think it was pure luck, but I did get to windows, though of course when I woke up for work this morning, it didnt' want to read again after hundreds of tries and everything I could possibly think of!
 
Check jumper settings. Is there one for cylinder limitation that's been set? Is your BIOS detecting the translation mode (LBA, CHS, Large) properly? Because that WILL affect things big time. It's probably set on Auto. To see if it's properly being detected, you have to hit pause at the BIOS display screen right before the Windows XP boot screen covers everything up. It SHOULD be LBA but if it detects it as something else, you might have to force it to one of the others (Large, CHS) in order to read the data off that you already have.

Afterwards, I would delete the partition, reboot, set it to LBA (FORCE IT... don't pick auto), repartition, format. Reboot, set it back to auto, and check to see if it auto-detected properly as LBA now.
 
well goddamn

I didn't think BIOSes were that picky anymore. I've been working with business machines for too long :(
 
It's not fixed, that was a different atomic (close username). I'll keep ya updated this afternoon to see if it works (def trying PSU before all that other junk :p)
 
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