Anna said:
Bill:
First of all, we're assuming there are *no other* problems with the system
other than the one you've described.
Actually there can be a number of causes for this problem. First &
foremost it can be a defective (at least failing) power supply as inferred
by Dave. It could be the PSU itself, the power cable emanating from the
PSU, or even the motherboard's power connector.
One of the first things to try is to substitute another PSU or at the
least, use a PS tester to check out your current PSU.
It could be the HDD itself. It should be checked out with the HDD
diagnostic utility which you can obtain from the disk's manufacturer.
The above are only for starters. There can be other hardware components
that are implicated.
But in any event, I trust you're backing up your system on a routine &
frequent basis.
Anna
In the case of adding additional hard drives, the power supply may have been
adequate with its original configuration. Adding another hard drive(s) may
create such a problem described by the OP. This does not mean the power
supply is or was defective in any manner, its simply means its not up to
snuff to carry additional load.
Simply delaying bios time until sniffing the onboard hard drives may work
though. Some bios have an option to count RAM multiple times for instance.
If that works, it is usually the power supply being inadequate. The
pause/break key pressed at the right time, then pressed again subsequently,
may effect the same thing in a delay. But, I've never attempted that at
such an early sequence in the bios sequence.
If the problem never existed before, and manifested itself as of late
without a configuration change, then could very well be a dying power
supply.
Data cables should be replaced when suspect or when very old. There should
never be problem with the molex connected types for power unless abused by a
novice in reverse direction attempts to connect or pulling at the wires
instead of the connector when attempting to disconnect. The spin motor of
one of the onboard hard drives could be on its way out, and, causing the
problem as well. This is a matter of connecting only one drive at time to
determine if so.
In one scenario, I found a PC with a UPS is normally off when the PC was
off. If the UPS was turned on, followed by the PC being immediately turned
on, sometimes, the hard drives (SATAs) were not found by the bios. Simply
turning on the UPS, and delaying turning on the PC for 5 seconds, never had
bios HD detection problem. It don't understand that as the power supply is
activated by the PC on button. My guess is the feed side of the power
supply needed some saturation time.
