Hard drive woes

Mondiol · Post by **Mondiol** » Fri Aug 15, 2003 7:30 pm

I think this is my first time in hardware. Anywho... a friend of mine called me up because his comp was acting up, actually at startup the hard drive isn´t recognized, as if it didn´t exist, i have to ctrl-alt-del at least once till it gets recognized, then all is well. I assumed directly that it is an error or malfunction of the hard drive. Am i right to make that assumption, are there any tests or tips to verify it?

tia, Mondiol

LT-73 · Post by **LT-73** » Fri Aug 15, 2003 11:49 pm

Try the HDD in another machine, but most likely it's on it's way to meet it's maker.

Mondiol · Post by **Mondiol** » Fri Aug 15, 2003 11:52 pm

I´ll give it a whirl. But the thing is that the drive is like 8 months old.

LT-73 · Post by **LT-73** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 12:09 am

Even quality parts have a shortlife span

Good luck and keep us posted!

You can try a quick first-aid by swapping the HDD ribbon to a new one

downhill · Post by **downhill** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 12:24 am

I'm trying to make better sense of your post......

If it isn't getting recognized, then how are you even booting to windows to be able to do a control alt delete?

When he first boots up...does the bios see it? I'm guessing it must....or it wouldn't boot.

Mondiol · Post by **Mondiol** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 1:55 am

When it´s a cold boot the bios does not detect the HD (so it doesn´t boot), i press ctrl-alt-del once, maybe twice and then the bios sees it and everything works fine. As if the HD has trouble starting its engine, needs warming up i guess

I should try changing the ribbon

Mondiol · Post by **Mondiol** » Tue Aug 19, 2003 4:34 pm

I changed the cable, slaved it to another comp (worked fine) but the problem is still there, when coldboot, at first it doesn´t get recognized.
I think its still under warranty, so no sweat.
Thanks for the replies guys...

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Aug 19, 2003 5:33 pm

Originally posted by downhill
I'm trying to make better sense of your post......

If it isn't getting recognized, then how are you even booting to windows to be able to do a control alt delete?

On some motherboards, pressing ctrl+alt+del several times in a row is basically the same as hitting that little "reset" button in front of the case (effectively giving it a hard reboot), I think he's referring to that, rather than ctrl+alt+del to bring up task manager in Winders.

Mondial, as LT suggests, cheapest and quickest thing to try is a new, or possibly just another healthier, ribbon cable. Sometimes those can get hosed, especially the way some people pop them off...pulling from the ribbon cable itself rather than the hard plastic connector.

Mondiol · Post by **Mondiol** » Wed Aug 20, 2003 12:51 pm

Another one bites the dust. As from today that hard drive is no more, luckily i made a backup yesterday so nothing is lost.

Mopwr2u1 · Post by **Mopwr2u1** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 8:17 am

It wasn't a Hitachi by chance was it??