View Full Version : Hard drive problem
I went back to my computer today and was greeted with a blank screen. I rebooted the computer and got a message to press f1 to reboot. That did not work so I went to the setup and found that neither of my hard drives were recognized. Since I have a Dell Optiplex I know that it has a integrated drive controller that controls both drives. I blew out the computer of any dust or dirt, connected and reconnected the cabling and the computer still did not work. I concluded that the onboard contoller must have failed as it did not seem reasonable to me that two hard drives would go bad at the same time. Did I miss anything that should be checked?
Lazlo
09-12-2007, 01:51 AM
You could try disconnecting one drive at a time, it's possible that one bad drive could screw up both (esp. if they are IDE master/slave).
You could try disconnecting one drive at a time, it's possible that one bad drive could screw up both (esp. if they are IDE master/slave).
Thanks for the suggestion. It did work. Apparently the failure of one of the drives affecting the Bios and caused the system to not recognize either drive. Now the bigger question. Is their anyway that I can retrieve the data from the failed drive?
knightrider
09-13-2007, 10:44 AM
Mine screwed up about a month ago and i had to wipe everythin off it. Why dont you try uninstalling it and the re-install. I had to wipe mine coz it wouldnt let me open windows it was a blue screen saying there was a hard drive fault which will need replacing. I know i lost everything but atleast i got alot more free space and free from shit lol. Try pressing and holding f11 or f8 when load up a screen will open with safe mode etc and try safe mode then open up the device manager and uninstall the drive, reboot and reinstall it. If that dont work just try a system restore. If they dont work its prob screwed.
Good luck.
CowboyCrip
09-13-2007, 12:19 PM
If you can get to safe mode or the control panel run CHKDSK.
My PC stopped reading my c drive out of the blue. I was able to restart and launch CHKDSK and it found 1 bad cluster messing everything up. Auto fixed it and it has been fine since.
THANK YOU JESUS!
Edit to note it took 9.5 hours to run and complete all 5 of 5 stages of CHKDSK on my 230 GB HD.
JustinB
09-13-2007, 12:49 PM
The IDE master controls both the drives.... Hence the "master/slave" designation.
It sounds like an electronics issue, so this might not help, but Standard procedure for a failed drive (once again, usually mechanically) is to put it in a ziplock back in the freezer for 2 hours, then see if it will work long enough to retrieve the data off of it. The cold makes mechanical things shrink, surprisingly enough that this has a fairly high success rate.
oh, and configure the other drive as a slave and see if it helps.
-- JB
The IDE master controls both the drives.... Hence the "master/slave" designation.
It sounds like an electronics issue, so this might not help, but Standard procedure for a failed drive (once again, usually mechanically) is to put it in a ziplock back in the freezer for 2 hours, then see if it will work long enough to retrieve the data off of it. The cold makes mechanical things shrink, surprisingly enough that this has a fairly high success rate.
oh, and configure the other drive as a slave and see if it helps.
-- JB
I have gotten my master drive to work perfectly without my secondary drive installed. I think since that BIOS reset help with the primary drive I will reinstall my secondary drive again and see if it works. If it doesn't I will try the freezer suggestion. I did speak with a technician at Dell today who said that sometimes they have noted problems with the BIOS that affected Hard Drive recognition which was fixed by running a flash BIOS program that is on their website. Might give that a try as well. The drive is only two years old and you would think it would have a longer life.
Lazlo
09-14-2007, 01:37 AM
The drive is only two years old and you would think it would have a longer life.
I've had drives fail after two days. Hopefully flash drives (when they finally become affordable) will be much more reliable.
The IDE master controls both the drives.... Hence the "master/slave" designation.
It sounds like an electronics issue, so this might not help, but Standard procedure for a failed drive (once again, usually mechanically) is to put it in a ziplock back in the freezer for 2 hours, then see if it will work long enough to retrieve the data off of it. The cold makes mechanical things shrink, surprisingly enough that this has a fairly high success rate.
oh, and configure the other drive as a slave and see if it helps.
-- JB
Tried the freezer method and it did allow me to access the drive. Unfortunately that only lasted for a few minutes, not long enough to save the data. Any other ideas?
Lazlo
09-17-2007, 12:49 PM
Tried the freezer method and it did allow me to access the drive. Unfortunately that only lasted for a few minutes, not long enough to save the data. Any other ideas?
Stick it in the freezer again and get as much data off it as you can each time? The only other option I'm aware of are data-recovery services. They're not cheap but depending on the value of your data you may want to consider them. Get a couple quotes.
Thanks to all, I appreciate the help.
Mike
I went back to my computer today and was greeted with a blank screen. I rebooted the computer and got a message to press f1 to reboot. That did not work so I went to the setup and found that neither of my hard drives were recognized. Since I have a Dell Optiplex I know that it has a integrated drive controller that controls both drives. I blew out the computer of any dust or dirt, connected and reconnected the cabling and the computer still did not work. I concluded that the onboard contoller must have failed as it did not seem reasonable to me that two hard drives would go bad at the same time. Did I miss anything that should be checked?
If this helps anyone, I did find a way to use my bad Hard drive. I purchased a external inclosure for $15, placed my drive in the enclosure and it worked just fine. It is probably the heat inside the computer that caused it to fail.
Wise Young
11-06-2007, 11:38 AM
Time to buy a new hard disk. :)
http://www.rawimages.org/stuff/harddisk.jpg