Won't recognise hard drive

[ahg]

Not sure whether this is a Win XP (Pro) problem or not but...
When I start my computer in the morning everything will work fine.
Next morning I start again and it doesn't recognise my 80GB Maxtor hard drive and asks to insert boot disk.
I restart (either reboot or shut down then restart - without a boot disk!) and the same thing happens...won't recognise hard drive.
So I restart again, but this time it recognises it.
There is no discernable pattern. Sometimes it will start first time - Like today, sometime it will take three or four tries - like yesterday.
Just don't know where to look. Have removed and reinstated the cable - it looks fine, but it makes no difference.
Very frustrating. Can anyone throw light on this darkness?
Much appreciate any help.
AHG

 

[CBradshaw]

Hi,

I have experienced this problem twice....once it was a dodgy IDE cable, and the second time it was a dodgy drive.

Hope this helps....try a new IDE cable first of course...and also try sticking the HDD in anothe PC if possible.

Cheers

CBradshaw

 

[021058]

This sounds like a hardware issue. Have you tried updating your BIOS? It shoudn't matter what operating system you are running because your computer hasn't got that far in POST.

 

[ahg]

Thanks folks,
My BIOS was updated.
I did replace the cable but it didn't seem to make any difference.
Phoned Maxtor but they could offer nothing more than a possible cable problem. (But I have heard that it could be a HDD controller problem.)
Anyway I'll try a new cable again.
Thanx again
AHG

 

[Freestone]

How is the hard drive defined in BIOS?

What is the boot order in BIOS?

Is the hard drive getting enough time to spin up before the OS load is attempted? One would think so since you do get it to start eventually..

When you boot from diskette, is the hard drive present?

Are you overclocking?

Are you using cable select, and if so, is the IDE cable properly installed and the drive in the MASTER position of the cable?

If not using cable select, then is the drive jumpered properly for master, and any other unit on the cable jumpered as slave?

Have you tried another drive?

Can you try the drive in another system?

Is this a recent problem, or has it always existed?

What other devices are in your system?

I think that's enough questions for now. Wish I had some answers for you...

 

[Marcs41]

Sounds like a spin-up issue with the drive or controller.
Try this to check
Go into the bios and DIsable fast boot, or enable full post, or whatever it is called in your BIOS, just to make it count memory longer and display some stats before really booting.
See if it still does it then. If the solution is here, let us know it was helpful so others can benefit from it as too