HDD Startup Issues

[JulietBravo]

Hi everyone, new to the forums. Came here to see if anyone can figure this out. I am just an amateur builder.

I am having some HDD start-up issues with my home built computer. I am currently using a WDC WD1600AAJS-00L7A0 HDD with a SATA connection on a Gigabyte EP45-UD3R MOBO. When I first hooked everything up (back in 2008), I had an old IDE HDD from my old desktop computer I was using as extra storage and I have Windows 7 64-bit installed on the WD. I've heard hooking up an IDE and SATA drive was no problem. However, I was experiencing start-up issues where my computer would only detect the IDE at start-up. Obviously, Windows would not start since it's on the WD. When I went into the BIOS to see if something got messed up, the BIOS didn't even detect the WD (SATA) drive at all. I would have to shut everything down, unplug the SATA cable from the MOBO and plug it back into another SATA port. I have 6 different ports. After plugging it into another port, it would start-up no problems.

Thinking that the IDE drive was the problem, I disconnected that, and now only the SATA drive is connected to the MOBO. Currently, I am having the same problem where my MOBO, or BIOS, will not detect my SATA HDD unless I physically unplug the cable and move it to a different SATA port on the MOBO. At start-up, the BIOS runs through everything, then it asks me to boot from CD/DVD. It seems to only have this problem most of the time if I haven't used the computer for an extended period. I've had this problem for a long time now and have managed to get through it, but have now just decided to seek some technical expertise.

Anyone have any ideas?

Let me know what other information you need as well to help me solve this problem.

Thanks everyone!

 

[carnageX]

I would try a different SATA cable to start out with.

Could also try updating the BIOS (if there's a newer version available that is).

 

[JulietBravo]

I have all new SATA cables and the BIOS is up to date.

I have now updated the computer with an additional 1TB Seagate SATA drive and a SATA DVDRW drive. I no longer have an IDE cable in there whatsoever.

I have made an interesting development. After plugging in the new HDD, the computer would startup, but would just turn off 10-15 seconds into the startup sequence. I made it to the windows logo screen once before it just shut off. I decided to unplug the SATA cable from the new HDD and now the computer has started up fine.. no problems (yet).

Do I need to change anything in my BIOS for having 2 SATA HDDs? I see my SATA settings were set up as an IDE connection. I don't know enough to change that to RAID or AHCI. Anyone have any recommendations?

 

[ugoboom]

I have all new SATA cables and the BIOS is up to date.

I have now updated the computer with an additional 1TB Seagate SATA drive and a SATA DVDRW drive. I no longer have an IDE cable in there whatsoever.

I have made an interesting development. After plugging in the new HDD, the computer would startup, but would just turn off 10-15 seconds into the startup sequence. I made it to the windows logo screen once before it just shut off. I decided to unplug the SATA cable from the new HDD and now the computer has started up fine.. no problems (yet).

Do I need to change anything in my BIOS for having 2 SATA HDDs? I see my SATA settings were set up as an IDE connection. I don't know enough to change that to RAID or AHCI. Anyone have any recommendations?

As far as RAID/AHCI VS. IDE compatibility, optimally with a sata drive you will want to set to AHCI. You are not using RAID as that involves doing things such as using 2 or more hard drives in tandem to achieve things such as higher performance or replication or combinations of both. Do not set it to AHCI though unless you do something first. If you want to keep your current install of windows 7 you will need to boot into windows and change a registry setting first, then reboot and change to AHCI. If you plan on re-installing windows though you don't have to do this.

Worry about this later though because all of that most likely will have nothing to do with the fact that you are having trouble when 2 hard drives are plugged in. I can't say this for certain but if I were you I would test your power supply to see if it's having problems, if its ok than maybe it can't handle all the stuff you have in there due to low wattage. If you list your system specs along with the wattage of your Power Supply maybe a conclusion can be drawn. There are a couple things to try if this is the case in order to be more sure, for instance if there is a question of wattage then you can try to unplug the cd/dvd drive or something else and then plug in the other hard drive.

 

[JulietBravo]

As far as RAID/AHCI VS. IDE compatibility, optimally with a sata drive you will want to set to AHCI. You are not using RAID as that involves doing things such as using 2 or more hard drives in tandem to achieve things such as higher performance or replication or combinations of both. Do not set it to AHCI though unless you do something first. If you want to keep your current install of windows 7 you will need to boot into windows and change a registry setting first, then reboot and change to AHCI. If you plan on re-installing windows though you don't have to do this.

Worry about this later though because all of that most likely will have nothing to do with the fact that you are having trouble when 2 hard drives are plugged in. I can't say this for certain but if I were you I would test your power supply to see if it's having problems, if its ok than maybe it can't handle all the stuff you have in there due to low wattage. If you list your system specs along with the wattage of your Power Supply maybe a conclusion can be drawn. There are a couple things to try if this is the case in order to be more sure, for instance if there is a question of wattage then you can try to unplug the cd/dvd drive or something else and then plug in the other hard drive.

Here are my specs:

Power Supply is:
Thermaltake Pure Power 500W W0100RU
ATX 12v 2.0

Gigabyte EP45-UD3R
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 @ 2.66GHZ
4096MB of RAM
Windows 7 64 Bit SP1
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250
WDC WD1600AAJS
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 (This is the additional HDD unplugged)
ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVDRW
2x 80mm Case Fans (Illuminated)
1x 120MM Case Fan (Illuminated)

Let me know if you need anything else.

 

[ugoboom]

Should be enough power, unless the power supply is going bad. Just for the heck of it unplug your dvd drive and maybe 1 of the case fans temporarily and plug in the other HD, see if you can boot in and see them both.

Also, have you ever reset your cmos? you should try that because now thinking about it, I had a similar problem with a customer's computer (i would need to unplug and replug hard drive, move sata ports etc..) and that fixed it.

 

[JulietBravo]

I just started back up. DVDRW unplugged and the 2nd HDD plugged in. Everything started fine. However, windows is not showing the 2nd HDD under "my computer". The HDD though IS showing up in the device manager though. I'll reset the CMOS and see what happens.

 

[ugoboom]

wait.

the hd isn't showing up in the list because it is not formatted yet with a drive letter.

Hopefully if you did go and reset your cmos you know how to make the correct changes if something needed setting up different from the defaults.

When/if you do get back here I would advise you to go into your bios and check out the section that monitors your voltages and temperatures. If there is something seriously wrong with your PS then you should see a decent discrepancy between optimal voltages and current voltages. If you do then It's safe to say you need a new power-supply.

 

[JulietBravo]

Ok. Well even before that.. I went and restarted still without the DVDRW and with 2nd HDD plugged in and about 20 seconds into startup, it completely shut off again. Now I'm on without the DVDRW and without the 2nd HDD.

 

[ugoboom]

Ok, well go check those voltages like I said. That mb has a monitor somewhere in the bios.