WD Slave HD Mystery....

[abeoffdg]

I have Dell dimension 4600 P4 running XP, I have two hard drives 40 GB each, one as a master and one as a slave and it worked fine for the last 2 years never had a problem.

Today I started my PC and I can't find my drive F: (slave) I changed the cable which is a two for one, and put the non recognizable drive in another computer and worked flawlessly I then reconnected to my PC and tightly connected and worked for one reboot and than lost it again.

[blue]It's really a mystery can anyone help me I have a lot of valuable data on it.[/blue]

 

[garebo]

First thing to do would be to download and run the mfgrs diagnostic program and check the drive out that way.

If the h drive is ok and if the cabling and master\slave settings are correct, and if using an ultra 66\100\133 ide cable and the drives are connected to the correct connections, then one would have to suspect that the bios is somehow not seeing the drive and\or losing information on this drive. I would think of checking the bios battery on the motherboard, but why would you only lose the settings on the slave drive and not the master as well?
It wouldnt hurt any to check the battery, make sure its holding around the 3 volt mark. If its too much less than that i would replace it.

I'd think even the power supply might be a suspect, never know.

Have you recently installed any windows updates or a service pack?
Have you recently installed any programs?



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[Wishdiak]

abe9818,

I'd also run the manufacturer's drive diagnostic before doing anything else. It's possible that the drive is intermittently not responding.

What does your POST screen display at startup? Does it show both drives as detected? Have you recently installed any other hardware that could have caused a conflict with the drive?

Wishdiak
A+, Network+, Security+, MCSA: Security 2003

http://www.wishdiak.com

 

[abeoffdg]

Thank You garebo and Wishdiak, well I have downloaded the diagnostic tools from Western Digital and I ran the test and it came up the error Test Error Code: 11-Cable Test: :Read diagnostics sector error!

So I have replaced the cable with a new one and it still doesn't recognize it, but the main drive that is on the same cable does work, and it is plugged in on the motherboard together with the main drive, that's what's wondering me and the slave drive does work on another computer.

I haven't installed any new hardware that should make any problems I have just set up a wireless network with my laptop and shard some folders from the drive F: (slave) and it worked fine afterwards for a couple of days or weeks.

The bois doesn't recognize the drive it reads "Unknown" but the Device Manager and system information does recognize it but doesn't display the capacity or anything else about the drive just the name and model number.

Most of the time on startup I wouldn't get any error massages at all, but sometimes it would come up that some connection with the network folder could not be established off course not the PC doesn't recognize it.

Thanks again all of you

 

[garebo]

I didnt mention this before as it seems you had both these h drive running. But, since you still have problems, why not.

Some hard drives have different configurations when they are the only hard drive on the one ide cable as opposed to a different jumper config when there are two hard drives on the same ide cable. Some, like western digital, even have a third config for when they are both west dig h drives.
So it wouldnt hurt to double check your master\slave jumper settings by going to the h drive mfgrs websites and get the jumper info from them, as opposed to relying on what is printed on the h drive. Unless of course you have the paperwork for the hard drive already.
Either way, i would suggest you check that out thoroughly and even switch the second h drive to another channel and a different jumper setting if needed.
Just remember the jumper settings you started with in case you have to go back to that.

In addition, you could google the error code 11, see what you come up with.



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[abeoffdg]

Thanks again garebo, should I change the jumper settings why? I haven't touched it and it did worked before, it isn't a new drive and I replaced the cable with the same that I had before.

I fyou think that it might help me I'll try.


Thanks again
abe

 

[garebo]

Thats why i hesitated to mention that, the jumpers should be ok as, like you said, all was well before!
If you havent moved any of the hard drives to another position on any ide cable, and if you havent added anything to one ide cable, then there should be no need to mess with jumpers.

I think i was saying that you should check the jumper configuration that you have with what the hard drive mfgr suggests, make sure its the same.



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[abeoffdg]

Thanks again, When I have installed the second/slave hard drive I have looked up on the MFG site for jumper settings as it worked up untill now.

 

[garebo]

Well, lets google the error code 11 and see what we come up with, shall we?
What bios are you running? Ami, award, phoenix?


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[abeoffdg]

Well I tried to search it came up what ever you don't want maybe you'll find something, about the bios, whats Ami, award, phoenix?

 

[Wishdiak]

abe9818,

Ami, Award, and Phoenix are BIOS manufacturers. Which one does it display when your computer boots up?

Wishdiak
A+, Network+, Security+, MCSA: Security 2003

http://www.wishdiak.com

 

[garebo]

Ok, in your first post, you said you put the hard drive in another computer and it worked fine, right?
Can you put it back in the other computer and format it there?
Then put it back in the original computer.
What make is this hard drive and what make is the other 40 gig hard drive?


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[abeoffdg]

Well if I can format the drive I would have done it in first place, I can't do that I have over 20GB with valuable data that is stored on this drive.

Both of them are 40GB the master is a seagate and the troublemaker is a Western digtal.

They were working both for the last two years without a hitch I don't know what happend.

And about the BIOS, on my startup I only get the the Dell Logo and the BIOS verison A06 or whatever it is nothing about the MFG of the BIOS.

Thanks Again for trying to help me

 

[garebo]

you're welcome, but we're not done yet.
You did say it works on your other computer, right?
Why not copy your data to another drive while on your other computer, then reformat it and try and install it back on the other computer?
Thats what i was getting at in my last post.


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[abeoffdg]

That would be a good idea but the other computer was my friends PC I'll ask him to do it I hope his hard drive has place.

TNX again
abe

 

[garebo]

At least you could get any data you want from that drive safely, and then you could do whatever you want with the drive once you have your data.


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[micker377]

Why check the jumpers? Just as boards, memory sticks, and CPU's can need re-seating - the jumpers can become loose/corroded due to age. You'd be surprised how many I've seen loose/fallen into the bottom of the case!

 

[garebo]

Yup, so many things can happen. When you have a hard drive that was in use for years and stops you hate to start talking about jumpering and such, look like a bit of a fool. But, hey, anything can happen! And, yes, come to think of it, i have picked jumpers off of motherboards. Sometimes they even fall off of their place on the motherboard.

But reading from the top, i notice abe9818 stated he had set up a wireless network with this hard drive sharing some folders. I wonder, could this be the problem? Considering the hard drive works on his friends computer and not his, maybe thats the answer.
How about un-enabling and disconnecting that wireless setup you have and put the drive back in its place, see if you can see it in computer management and device mgr. Perhaps you might want to disable the "shared folders" as well. Some corruption of this setup may very well be your problem.


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[abeoffdg]

The Mystery is still in the making MY F: DRIVE HAD REVIVED!!!, I don't know how and why?

BTW, I had Automatic updates installed I don't know if it had something to do with it as of know everything seems to working fine.

TNX for helping me
Abe

 

[mainegeek]

abe9818,

"Today I started my PC and I can't find my drive F:"

Where is C: D: and E:

Do these 2 drives have multiple partitions on them?