Wierd Hard Drive Problem

[stingerkiss]

Hi all,

I have a problem I haven't been able to fix :
I have two hard drives in my PC. for a few weeks now, every once and a while, when I boot my PC, it doesn't detect any of my hard drives (Before even starting windows). Sometimes it detects just one of them. Sometimes it boots ok, but then after a few hours of working windows 'loses' one of them (always the same one, disappearing from My Computer), and then I have to reboot and go over the 'rebooting roulette' once again. I don't have a clue of what can cause this (it's obviously a hardware problem since it arises before windows even gets to load). My spec is :

Intel Pentium 3 GHz Hyper Threading + 1024 MB Dual DDR 400 MHz RAM
ASUS P4C800E-Deluxe Motherboard
AMI BIOS Revision 1023 (I've upgraded it, didn't work)
2 Western Digital SATA Drives (Configured without RAID) :
* 120 GB 7200 + 8MB (Primary, with windows installed)
* 200 GB 7200 + 8MB (Secondary, the one disappearing from windows)
NEC DVD RW IDE Burner Model 3520A
LAN 10/100 PCI card
ASUS Radeon 9550 AGP Card
Windows XP SP2

Any help would be greatly appreciated !!

 

[Ste]

That more of a CMOS/BIOS problem.

Consider flashing BIOS

Consider Clearing CMOS

Consider buying new motherboard is nothing else works.

 

[stingerkiss]

wow, thanks for the fast replay...

could you please tell me how to flash the bios / clear the cmos ?

thanks a lot

 

[Ste]

I would first clear the CMOS.

But I want you to first check to make sure that the IDE cables are in good condition and the power connectors on the drives aren't loose or anything.

You clear the CMOS by removing the small coin like battery on the motherboard, after 3-5 minutes you put it back in and turn on computer.

 

[stingerkiss]

well... I've connected the drive to a different power connector and it looks ok for now . I hope that would do. Thank you very much !!