BIOS occasionally does not see HDD?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joseph O'Brien
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J

Joseph O'Brien

Hello.

I'm having a really weird problem with my computer. It seem that
sometimes BIOS does not see my HDD. It used to happen occasionally,
like once every few weeks. To remedy, I would shut the computer down,
disconnect the power and ribbon from the HDD, plug everything back in,
and it worked fine. A variety of disk tests indicated that the drive
was fine.

This week, BIOS refused to see the drive for several days. I even went
so far as to order a new drive. However, today, it started up without
a hitch. Again, all tests indicate that the drive is fine (I'm using
ASTRA32 specifically to test SMART).

Anyone have any idea what's going on here? I would hate to spend time
and money installing a new drive only to have it exhibit the same
problem.

.... and now that I think about it, I seem to remember having a similar
problem with my last hard drive a year or two ago...

Here are as many relevant specs as I can think of.

Mobo: MSI AK75 Rev A
CPU: 950 MHz Duron
BIOS: Award v6.00PG
RAM: 544MB
HDD: IBM Deskstar 180GXP (123GB)

Any recommendations on what I can check out? Thanks for your help,
Joseph
 
Joseph said:
I'm having a really weird problem with my computer. It seem that
sometimes BIOS does not see my HDD. It used to happen occasionally,
like once every few weeks. To remedy, I would shut the computer down,
disconnect the power and ribbon from the HDD, plug everything back in,
and it worked fine. A variety of disk tests indicated that the drive
was fine.

This week, BIOS refused to see the drive for several days. I even went
so far as to order a new drive. However, today, it started up without
a hitch. Again, all tests indicate that the drive is fine (I'm using
ASTRA32 specifically to test SMART).

Anyone have any idea what's going on here? I would hate to spend time
and money installing a new drive only to have it exhibit the same
problem.

... and now that I think about it, I seem to remember having a similar
problem with my last hard drive a year or two ago...
Click to expand...

Probably an intermittent connection. Did you replace the ribbon
cable, and/or the power cable?

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CBFalconer said:
Probably an intermittent connection. Did you replace the ribbon
cable, and/or the power cable?
Click to expand...

Good Idea, but may I suggest reseating the cables before repacing them.
 
[email protected] said:
Good Idea, but may I suggest reseating the cables before repacing them.
Click to expand...

If you read his description, he's done that multiple times. The
intermittent success of that suggests the bad cables.

--
"If you want to post a followup via groups.google.com, don't use
the broken "Reply" link at the bottom of the article. Click on
"show options" at the top of the article, then click on the
"Reply" at the bottom of the article headers." - Keith Thompson
More details at: <http://cfaj.freeshell.org/google/>
Also see <http://www.safalra.com/special/googlegroupsreply/>
 
Joseph O'Brien said:
Hello.

I'm having a really weird problem with my computer. It seem that
sometimes BIOS does not see my HDD. It used to happen occasionally,
like once every few weeks. To remedy, I would shut the computer down,
disconnect the power and ribbon from the HDD, plug everything back in,
and it worked fine. A variety of disk tests indicated that the drive
was fine.

This week, BIOS refused to see the drive for several days. I even went
so far as to order a new drive. However, today, it started up without
a hitch. Again, all tests indicate that the drive is fine (I'm using
ASTRA32 specifically to test SMART).

Anyone have any idea what's going on here? I would hate to spend time
and money installing a new drive only to have it exhibit the same
problem.

... and now that I think about it, I seem to remember having a similar
problem with my last hard drive a year or two ago...

Here are as many relevant specs as I can think of.

Mobo: MSI AK75 Rev A
CPU: 950 MHz Duron
BIOS: Award v6.00PG
RAM: 544MB
HDD: IBM Deskstar 180GXP (123GB)

Any recommendations on what I can check out? Thanks for your help,
Joseph
Click to expand...

I had precisely same problem and like you kept checking the drive ribbon but
found it was the main ATX 20 pin power connector cable going to the Mo Bo.

Shut everything down and unplug power in etc then,

remove the power cable going to the MoBo and with a small pair of pointy
pliers just squeeze the contact sockets in a little on the cable end.

mine start much better every time now.
 
Joseph O'Brien said:
Hello.

I'm having a really weird problem with my computer. It seem that
sometimes BIOS does not see my HDD. It used to happen occasionally,
like once every few weeks. To remedy, I would shut the computer down,
disconnect the power and ribbon from the HDD, plug everything back in,
and it worked fine. A variety of disk tests indicated that the drive
was fine.

This week, BIOS refused to see the drive for several days. I even went
so far as to order a new drive. However, today, it started up without
a hitch. Again, all tests indicate that the drive is fine (I'm using
ASTRA32 specifically to test SMART).

Anyone have any idea what's going on here? I would hate to spend time
and money installing a new drive only to have it exhibit the same
problem.

... and now that I think about it, I seem to remember having a similar
problem with my last hard drive a year or two ago...

Here are as many relevant specs as I can think of.

Mobo: MSI AK75 Rev A
CPU: 950 MHz Duron
BIOS: Award v6.00PG
RAM: 544MB
HDD: IBM Deskstar 180GXP (123GB)

Any recommendations on what I can check out? Thanks for your help,
Joseph
Click to expand...

It could be the drive or the cables or something else, but just in case it
is the drive, back it up, because if it is the drive, at some point it will
quit, and you will not be able to recover your data.

Todd
 
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