Resolved C: Drive drops out

Windows XP Home SP3
MSI PM8M-V Motherboard
Pentium 4(R) CPU 2.00GHz
2.00GB Ram
IE8 & OE6

A lesser mortal would probably run to the PC shop or perhaps throw it out the window or update or purchase a new PC but as a pensioner I have chosen none of those options but battle on to beat the beast.

For no Apparent reason when not using the PC, like overnight or even after a shutdown I come to my PC only to find that it does not recognise my main HD -C:
On each occasion and there have been several I have managed to work around this issue by varying means.

Work arounds: Reseated RAM = success
Switched IDE = success
New CMOS battery = success
Reseated IDE cable of HD C:= success
Replaced RAM = success
Swapped RAM from one slot to the other = success.
You see I have on each occassion by adopting a variety of "adhock" measures been able to get this beast up and running again....oh yes I have also been into the CMOS as the occassion required.

It would seem that somewhere in the complexity of the hardware there is a memory issue of some kind..that's just logical thinking by an old man of course.
Is there someone with much better experience than me who could isolate this issue and NAIL IT rather than my adhock attempts for a resolution.

My next shot would be to down load a CMOS update for the Motherboard but am a bit unsure of that process at the moment.

This post is a re-occuring problem that I have posted on before then considered Resolved as I was able to do one of the workthroughs above.
roy66

 

have you tried replaceing the IDE cable ?
Your hdd could be going bad.
The power supply connector to hdd could be bad.
Do you have other hdd's in system ? If yes, are they see by bios all the time ?

 

It sounds to me as if your hard drive is failling, is it fairly old?

What is the exact error messaage you get when you boot up?

You can download a diagnostics disc from the hard drive manufacturer, burn the image file to a CD with image burning software and then boot the PC with the disc inserted. Boot order must be set for the CD drive to be 1st.

ExcelStor: http://www.excelstor.com/eng/support.php?sub_id=3

Hitachi/IBM: http://www.hitachigst.com/support/downloads/

Samsung: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/utilities/Support_HUTIL.html

Toshiba: http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=ServicesSupport/FujitsuDrivesUSandCanada/SoftwareUtilities

Seagate, Maxtor & Quantum:http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads

Western Digital:http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?lang=en

 

Hi Roy66, When you start the computer, does it go into Windows XP OS and work OK? How do you find it hasn't recognized the HD? Do you get a message on the screen saying no disc? Neil.

 

have you tried replaceing the IDE cable ?No but I have switched the cable over from IDE1 to IDE2 without loss of recognition so it would appear from that, that the cable is functioning OK.
Your hdd could be going bad. That is a "possibility "
The power supply connector to hdd could be bad.That also is a "possibility "
Do you have other hdd's in system ? If yes, are they see by bios all the time ?Yes and Yes

 

Gotta add this in as the reply says my message is too short.

 

Will have to wait until the next "failure" or bootup to check the manufacturer of C: Drive as it will have to be pulled out to check.

 

Markmadras..you were right..dead drive.

 

Your welcome and thanks for the update.