Disk boot Failure/ start up freezing - Researched for MONTHS

****Hardware Configuration****
PSU : OCZ GameXtream 700W
CPU : AMD x2 4400+ (Avg Temp 25 - 35 Celsius)
VID : Evga 7800GTX 256MG
MOBO : DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra-D (Avg Temp 35 - 40 Celsius) (Case Avg Temp 50 Celsius)
RAM : 2 x 1GB OCZ Platinum
HDD : WD 74 GB Raptor (Sata)
HDD : WD 250 GB (Sata)
****Nothing Overclocked or Modded****



I have been reading for months on my problem and have only found a temporary solution... i have fixed numerous problems just from reading forums/google.. This if my FIRST post to get help.


A few months ago I had to restart my computer, which resulted in a "Disk Boot Failure, Please insert system disk".. so i restarted and everything was fine.. about a month or so later it started happening more frequently, and eventually there was no getting around it.. I read and read and tried every possible solution that seemed relevant.


Neither Hard Drive is detected in Bios, (auto detect finds nothing)
I've ran memtest several times and my ram is fine..
I've Connected, Disconnected, Plugged into different SATA ports, for each HD in every possible combination.
I purchased the new PSU listed in my profile (OCZ GameXtream 700w) because it seemed like that might have been behind the problem. which was to no avail (My previous PSU was a AMS 550W).


IF I do a cold boot then it will detect the harddrives but it will get into XP (pro sp2) but it will freeze shortly after even from performing the smallest task, ex: right clicking desktop or moving the mouse over the clock to see the date.


I reinstalled WinXP which seemed to fix the problem , which seemed to fix it temporarily (the occasional bootdisk failure) and then it became more frequent to everytime, along came the immediate freezing also..


OH and it switched the Partition Names, Drive C:WINDOWS Became Drive D:Windows , and Drive D:MISC DATA became Drive C: Misc Data.. this mix up caused me to accidentally delete my partition for my 250GB of data which im currently waiting on BING to try and recover.


ANY help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

Welcome to Major Geeks

I would guess that the 75g drive is SATA 1 and the 250 is SATA2. The differences may be confusing the bios/system.

My first reaction would be to get the system working stably on one drive and add the second one later.
What are the bios options for SATA?
Have you looked for a bios update from the manufacturer?
When you loaded Windows did you use drivers for SATA1 or 2?

 

I had a similar problem but w/o a Raptor in the mix, installing a WD SecureConnect SATA cable on both my WD SATA drives reduced the problem to once every few months when I would go and reseat the cable on the mobo, though I know nothing about Raptors. HTH

 

As studiot suggested, I was going to suggest the BIOS upgrade as well. It may a known issue at DFI, and a newer BIOS may have been released that fixes the problem. Actually, all of studiot's suggestions are pretty much right on. Get one HD working first, make sure the system is stable and run it with the one HD for a few days or a week, then add the 2nd drive.....

hd2k

 

thanks for the quick replys guys! My computer had been working perfectly for nearly a year, the only thing you mention that i havent tried is upgrading my bios. Another thing i noticed today was that i would get the error if there is no CD in the drive, but if i put a CD in the drive , and it will say "press any key to boot from cd" if i press nothing it wont have the error, almost as if the extra time is allowing it to work properly.. which confuses me also because i have enabled the maximum time to allow the HD's to spin up, and have also disabled quick boot. which had no effect.

 

This problem of windows loosing contact with earlier SATA drive has caused much grief and been much reported. I expect you have noticed this in your year's study/saga.

Modern implementations don't seem to suffer so much so the way would seem to be to update as much as possible.

Could you reinstall on the larger hard drive? Perhaps partition it to have one system drive, and a second data drive, since you raptor is not large enough by itself.

Don't forget the bios updates either.

 

ok, i so i updated my bios and then the next day i got a BSOD from a game and then my harddrives werent recognized on restart.. it seems that if i shutdown the correct way it always detects the harddrives, but if it crashes to a restart then they arent detected.

..oh and i found all of my old data that i lost when i accidentally deleted my partition.. but they want me to pay $80 to get it back... anyone know a way or program to get my data back with out paying thru the nose? im a kid and i dont have a job :S

 

ok, so a person in toms hardware recommended writing zero's because it might be a bad sector.. so i did a 35 pass wipe... we will see how it goes, it hasnt crashed to restart so far..