Hard Drive sometimes not detected in BIOS

emtw

Honorable
Mar 3, 2012
2
0
10,510
Hi, I've just got a new computer (gone over time that I can return it now :S!) and sometimes when I am booting, the BIOS isn't recognising my hard drive - it can't detect it, therefore it can't start. Sometimes I can get it to run a startup repair, which confirms that it can't find a hard drive, but that it also can't fix the problem. Then, if I'm lucky, on restart it will find the internal HDD and boot as normal. No idea what's causing it - any suggestions? Thanks!!
 
if you just got it Yu may not be able to return it to the store but it may still be under warranty. your best bet would be to get them to fix it as its a hardware issue.

I have had this happen with a motherboard that had a bad SATA controller. Unplugging it plugging it into another port would usually work, but messing around inside could void your warranty if you break something
 

emtw

Honorable
Mar 3, 2012
2
0
10,510
Yeah - don't want to touch it myself for that reason. Just wondering why it only happens occasionally though. Kind of good to know that it's prob a hardware issue as then I think that is covered by the warranty...