HDD not found on computer directly connected to cable modem

[rjizzo]

My mother-in-law's computer is a Dell pc that was directly connected to the cable modem ( not behind a router ). She says recently she IM'd someone on Yahoo messenger, left the computer for a few hours and came back to a screen that says no HDD found. I had her get into her bios and it said it couldn't recognize a primary hdd to boot from. I suspect a hacker that might have messed with the hdd driver, but I'm not certain and I haven't seen her computer yet. I plan on seeing her this Tuesday, and I will probably boot from the XP CD and attempt to download the driver. Do you have any other suggestions that I might consider?

 

[G0AOZ]

It's possible that someone could hack in, but unlikely they'd disable it so the BIOS couldn't detect it. A more likely scenario is that the hard disk has developed a physical problem or the electronics on its on-board interface have become faulty.

Can you hear if the disk is spinning?

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[vacunita]

I agree with G0AOZ, hard drives can develop problems without warning. And also Hard drives don't actually require drivers to be seen by BIOS.

There is very little you can do, if the BIOS can't actually see the drive.

You should make sure everything is connected correctly, no dust or anything that might prevent a connection. And be prepared to purchase a new drive.





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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.