Hard drive troubleshooting

I just bought a Seagate SATA 400GB drive and my computer will not acknowledge its existence. This is the second drive that has been installed in this computer. The other drive is an IDE drive.

The device manager doesnt display the drive's name, neither does the computer management window or the drive's own software. I made sure all the connections were correct and everything.

I upgraded my BIOS as well and it still doesn't recognize that it is there.

 

What your system specs?
Which exact Seagate model?

You can try to Run Seagate's free diagnostic utility
Better Yet
Start here http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=e4644a3cdde5c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

 

System Manufacturer: HP Pavilion 061
System Model: PL308AA-ABA a735w
BIOS: Rev.3.15
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3000+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.1GHz
Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 256MB used, 2259MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found

Seagate model: ST3400633AS-RK

 

Is the drive recognized in BIOS?
Double check the power and data cable connections (be sure the main power cord is removed from the PC).

 

No. Everything is connected correctly.

 

Well, start by telling us all that you have done so far. Meaning what have you troubleshooted?

I Would say to check your partitions on your HD, also see if the drive was formatted into a NTFS. Or possible faulty SATA cable maybe. If it's a new drive there should not be anything wrong unless its dead and some how got fried . Well tell me what you come up with

 

Sometimes a sata drive needs to have a sata driver installed to be recognised.Although the majority of times it will be o.k, you probably need to install the manufacturers driver for the sata drive

 

Would that be the motherboard manufacturer or is there a separate company that designed the sata controller? VIA made the board. Thats all I really know.

 

You must follow Asus link, first to check the system properly,
Asus said:
You can try to Run Seagate's free diagnostic utility
Better Yet
Start here http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.js...00dd04090aRCRD
Hopperdave gave you the first step
The bios might need to be set to take sata
check the bios
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=83744a3cdde5c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

check other devices
in device manager

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=81844a3cdde5c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

 

Go to HP FOR BIOS SETTINGS.
Ensure settings for sata are correct
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...en&dlc=en&product=435559&dlc=en&lang=en#N1262

 

You may have to set the all the channels to autodetect, to ensure it is seen.
Just scroll up one on the bios page.
Let us know how you go.

 

So you say the drive is NOT recognized by the BIOS? If that's the case, it could be that you have (maybe unknowingly and unintentionally) disabled the SATA controller in the BIOS. Go thru the BIOS and make sure that all the drive controllers are enabled; including IDE (some BIOS's call drive controllers PATA for std. IDE and SATA for Serial-DUH! I've also seen SATA called Serial IDE once, kind of wierd). If everything in the BIOS is enabled and the drive is hooked up correctly, there's a chance you purchased a DOA hard drive. Return it to the place of purchase for a replacement or get your $dough$ back.

hopperdave2000

 

My BIOS says nothing about SATA at all.

Also, I also touched the drive during operation and it was vibrating so I know it is getting power.

 

Windos 98 Not Support at sata HDD?

 

I hope you had a wrist strap on, or earthed youself, when touching the hard drive, as static will render it useless, if you forgot.

In case you have not got it, the manual for you pc
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00230511.pdf

 

Is there something important in the manual, because I didn't see anything about my problem.

 

The manual was just in case you never had a copy.
It does not refer to sata driver in it, but in HP'S site, it leads to intel's site, but the only referal is regarding sata 1a, and sata 11- nothing I can find about a driver, so, you need to go from Asus link, and the rest that I gave you, remember Hopperdaves piece abot initiation, and formating, which can usually be done with the drive manufacturers software, as Asus said, a the beginning.
I would like to know if you have followed the pointers we have all given, yet, before going any further.

 

even if it was vibrating that doesn't mean it works, the controller circuits could be damaged, and then it will spin up but could still be faulty, if your bios mentions nothing about sata, then i don't understand why you have the ports on your motherboard?, there should be at least some settings in the bios for sata, do you have a friend who's computer has sata? try installing it in their pc, sounds to me like two things could be wrong, firstly your motherboard cannot access 400GB disks, or your drive is faulty, the friends pc check will clear that up! hope this helps! :major i-CONICA :major

 

Im actually installing it on a friend's computer right now.

 

hope it works for ya pal, well to be honest i hope it doesnt, if it does then your pc cannot work that drive, so you need a new pc, if it doesnt work then you know that drive is faulty and then just get a replacment and then that should install properly, so err, good luck, or bad look whatever way you look at it! lol :major i-CONICA :major

 

:foolish

It's too early to suggest that the poster would need a new PC if his HDD drive works in another PC

 

I disagree
In Advanced Options are:
"Onboard PATA/SATA Adaptors" select Both
"Onboard PATA/SATA Configuration"
You can see about mid page http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...us&lc=en&dlc=en&product=435559&dlc=en&lang=en

Might also try different cables.

Of course your SATA HDD may be DOA

Just an FYI for anyone with similar problems
Seagate as well as other HDD manufactures all have Free Utilities for HDD set up/Imaging as well as Diagnostics
If the HDD, is connected correctly the Diagnostic utility will usually detect the HDD when BIOS or Windows can not, even on Dead drives.
When a HDD fails the Diagnostic utility it will provide a failure code which may be needed for Manufactures RMA

These usually come on CD with a retail HDD and are also available for free download at the HDD manufacture
_________________________________________________________________________
The setup Utilities are really nice for setting up multiple Partitions before Windows install
Also really nice free option for making an exact copy of a bootable image/OS

 

The Seagate diagnostic tool only found the IDE drive that I already had installed.


I installed the drive on a separate computer and the BIOS did find the drive. I later received the error, "Disc Boot Failure, Insert System Disk and Press Enter."

I inserted the disk and it would not run. It said, "Could not find a CDROM drive letter."

I tried taking the SATA cable out of the other computer but they wouldn't come out so I'll buy some cables tomorrow and if it doesn't work I'll probably just return the drive if there aren't any more troubleshooting areas.

 

i meant that getting a new pc is eventually unavoidable, and if the poster has just splashed out on a new 400GB hdd, then he proberbly wants to use it!, while im here, poster, if the drive works in your friends pc, there are some other options for you, firstly, you could try an inexpensive pci sata controller card, or failing that you can get external enclosures that accept sata disks, but it would be more than likely usb so i wouldnt recommend installing programs or games on it, just keep it for data storage alone, but check out a pci controller first! :major i-CONICA :major

<<<<<< speak for yourself! try to avoid missunderstanding in futer asus! thanks for the awsome mobos though!