Unable to detect Hard Drive, sometimes

[tmlim]

HardDrive is a Maxtor 200GB SATA
AMD Athlon X2 3800+
MSI Mobo.

This is a weird one, and here are the syptoms so far:

1. BIOS detects the HD.
2. Bootable Linux detects the HD.
3. When booting Windows XP, gives list of safe mode, last good config, etc.
4. Choose to boot normal, just auto reboots after a short while.
5. Boot in safe mode, asks to press Esc to cancel loading SPTD.sys, I press Esc and I think it reboots or hangs, either way, can't get into safe mode.
6. Windows XP install disc can't detect it.
7. Used Maxtor MaxBlast 5 to wipe the drive, no activity and hangs.
8. Used Maxtor MaxBlast 5 to delete the partition and add a new NTFS parition, and Windows Install still can't detect it.
9. Not sure if this makes a difference, but I have an IDE HD connected and it works fine, temporarily installed XP on it.

Any help would be great. Thanks!

 

[evongugg]

Is the hard drive SATA and is it attached to a RAID controller?

 

[tmlim]

Is the hard drive SATA and is it attached to a RAID controller?

The drive is SATA, and there is NO RAID.

 

[evongugg]

You might have some hardware which is iocompatible with your motherboard.

 

[tmlim]

You might have some hardware which is iocompatible with your motherboard.

Possibly, but I've been using it with no problems for over a year, then just all of a sudden I rebooted and this crap happened.

 

[koss64]

It might be 1 of 4 things:
Your SATA cables might be degrading
Your SATA ports might not be up to scratch
Your hard drive is dying.
Your power supply is failing.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

My bet is that the disk is going bad.

Run the manufacturer's diagnostics on the drive and make sure there are no errors. (Maxtor is now part of Seagate, so use Seagate Seatools).

 

[tmlim]

My bet is that the disk is going bad.

Run the manufacturer's diagnostics on the drive and make sure there are no errors. (Maxtor is now part of Seagate, so use Seagate Seatools).

Ran the Short Scan, said there was errors. Ran the Long Scan said there was errors, did repair. Ran Short Scan, NO errors.

Doing a full erase right now, but it seems promising! I will keep you guys updated.

Thanks to all!

 

[tmlim]

OK, after the full erase completed, I tried installing Windows XP, and it still didn't detect my drive. It lists my secondary drive, but not my main one. I even used MaxBlast to format the drive as NTFS, and nothing.

This is so weird. BIOS, Linux, Seatools, MaxBlast, they all detect it, but not windows. ARRRGGH!

 

[evongugg]

Try removing hardware down to the essential.
Some motherboards don't like having PATA and SATA at the same time.

 

[hddlab]

Your SATA drive have erro in Service Area, you must send it to a HDD service company, can not repair by your self.

 

[tmlim]

Your SATA drive have erro in Service Area, you must send it to a HDD service company, can not repair by your self.

Even though I can read it with Linux??? Please explain.