can't recognize hard drive

I've searched high and low (here and on other boards), hoping I wasn't the only one to have this problem. I've used lots of search terms, but am coming up empty handed; sorry if this turns out to be an antique question.

I've been a die hard 98SE fan but finally succombed to the XP craze the other day. I even elected to try ntfs (oops, I even knew better than to do that so early on).

This is a new system. I installed XP Home and all the device drivers, no problem. I then put a USB wlan adapter on and d/l'd all the xp updates available, and all was well.

I took it off the workbench and put it in it's place in my dungeon. When I went to boot, it locked up at the flash screen point (the scroll bar stopped responding and there was no detectable activity). After about 15 minutes, I hit the reset button (oops again, I guess). Now the bios doesn't even recognize the hard drive... Can't boot and am just getting a prompt to boot from floppy.

I've since done the routine replacing the IDE cable and checked ram seating things, but still am not seeing the hard drive nor the ZIP 250 (which is a slave on IDE 1) and which I find to be a mystery in it's own right...

Do you suppose I've fried that HD?

Specs:

PCCHIPS M848LU
Athlon XP 3000 333MHZ
512 MB PC3200 DDR400
Maxtor 80 Gig ATA133 IDE
FX5200 256MB Pro/680 TV/DVI
Misc floppy, DVD/CDRW, ZIP, KB, etc.

Thanks for taking the time to read, any ideas?

 

Since you've done most of the easy stuff, why not run the HD manufacturers diagnostics on that drive. You can download it to a floppy generally.

 

surferdude2,

Thanks for the reply... but it brings up two more questions rather than an answer.

First, I well remember the original surferdude. He is (was?) a great help here a few years ago, but I haven't seen much of him since. Would that possibly be you?

Second, I'm not so sure I'll be able to run any diagnostics on this drive. It's set up for NTFS and this is the only XP machine I have. Either way, could I actually run diagnostics if the cmos won't pick it up?

hmmmmmmmm i'm lost again.... not exactly a new experience for me though!

 

Yes to all.

The diagnostic disk you'll create will work regardless of what's on the drive since it's a bootable floppy. If it won't boot to it or any other bootable floppy, you may have MOBO problems.

Be sure to write protect any floppy creations since that will prevent boot virus problems.

Gotta run, will check you later this pm.

 

SURFERDUDE!

I have several posts of yours I printed years ago. I still refer to them from time to time. Glad to bump into you again

Aok, I'll give it a try. I hope it works, as the mobo isn't picking up the primary IDE at all...

I'll post results back ASAP

Thanks!

 

preliminary results:

As I had suspected, there was no diagnosing a drive that couldn't be found in the bios...

But I put it on IDE 2 and voila...

Looks like you were right, I probably have a bad mother board. Kinda explains the missing ZIP drive, too...

If you think I'm off base here, please post back. Meanwhile, it looks a lot like MB time.

 

Dan, assuming you checked the IDE cable by substituting it with the other one, I'd say you pretty well have it diagnosed. Give it a good close eyeball check and perhaps it's something fixable like a cold joint on the board. The fact that it worked until you moved it points to something of a mechanical nature that responds to stress. Locating intermittent connections can be difficult. Use the "poke with stick" method or the drop test if you really get frustrated.

Aside: Yes I was aliased as surferdude here up until the board crashed due to piracy. Then I was reborn as zephyr since I lived in California and the meaning of zephyr seemed appropriate. Now since moving back to my roots in Illinois, I decided to resurrect the surferdude alias since my nickname that everyone uses around here is dude since my childhood. I've done both kinds of surfing but more w-e-b than w-e-t.

Nice to run in to you again. I remember you well since you haven't changed your signature and I always got a kick out of it. We go way back Dan.

Best regards.

 

Surferdude,

You are a good man. I'm really pleased to run into you again. I'm also glad you remember me, as you did so much to help me when I first got interested in W95. I was a skeptic then, too , but thanks in large part to your efforts, I made it through the maze.

You bring up one intereting point, though. I did try another cable on IDE 1 (one of the first things I tried), but it did not help. I'm now so curious, Ima try another. Who knows? Maybe one could get two bad ones in a row!

Thanks again, and SO nice talking with you again!

Dan