Something strange happened both to one of my HDDs and to my BIOS. I will describe the sequence of events as is, since I have no idea what's going on.
Main system characteristics:
Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1
Intel Core i3-2120
Gigabyte H67A-D3H-B3
12Gb RAM
The system is installed on a 120Gb Crucial SSD. There are three 2Tb WD Green HDD drives used for data. All drives are working in AHCI mode.
The problem first started about a week ago. The trigger was a Windows update which somehow disabled all sound in Windows. I had this problem once before, it's a Windows problem, and while I was trying to solve it, I restarted my system several times. During one restart, Windows could not start properly - the startup screen was just hanging there for a long time. I pressed reset. When startup process began, I suddenly noticed that my computer showed no drives installed. I went into BIOS and saw no drives in standard CMOS features.
It looked like this:
IDE Channel 0 Master - none
IDE Channel 0 Slave - none
etc.
Attempt to restart did not help. I then went into BIOS again and loaded fail-safe defaults. Restarted again - now all my drives showed in BIOS properly, but in IDE mode. I changed it to AHCI, restarted and Windows loaded properly. I solved my sound problem and that was it.
As I said, that was about a week ago, and everything seemed OK.
However, today suddenly one of my HDDs stopped working. It is one of my 2Tb WD Greens. It is the oldest of my three HDDs, and I've been using it mostly for backups. At first it was just a bit slow to access when I wanted to open some files. But about an hour later it completely disappeared from Windows without any warnings.
First off, I switched off my computer, opened it and checked that everything was connected properly. Started again - checked that all drives were spinning normally. There were no clicks of death, no suspicious sounds, nothing unusual at all. During startup, I could see other three drives recognized, but the problem drive was not displayedс
Went into BIOS - that's why I found out that the situation of one week ago repeated itself. Again, I could see no drives in standard features. As before, I loaded fail-safe defaults, restarted, went into BIOS again, saw that all 4 drives (including the problem one) were displayed properly. Changed IDE to AHCI again, restarted, went into BIOS to check - again no drives. Repeated several time with the same result.
I tried to load Windows - it required startup repair, but than launched normally, but the problem HDD was not working. Windows Disk Management tool showed the problem drive but said it's not initialized. When I tried to initialize it manually, I got a "Could not initialize because of device I/O error" message. Switched off the computer again, tried to connect the problem drive to a different SATA slot - no change.
So, right now the situation is like this:
During startup, most of the time I see all my HDDs shown, although the problem drive is a bit slow to show up. Sometimes, the problem HDD is not displayed at all.
In BIOS I see no drives in Standard CMOS features. However, if I look at device startup order in Advanced features, I can see all 4 of my drives listed properly.
The problem drive does not show in Windows Explorer or other file managers. It does show in Disk management, but cannot be initialized. In Windows Device Manager, I see all 4 of my HDDs, and it says that all 4 are working properly. Other three drives are working properly, as far as I can say. All HDDs are spinning properly - no clicks, no strange noises.
Most of the time, Windows loads properly, although slower than usual. Twice I got a "Windows could not start properly" message and an offer to perform startup repair - however, if I ignore it and click "Start Windows normally", it starts as usual.
I can save various changes to BIOS: after loading fail-safe defaults, I changed IDE to AHCI, enabled SMART and changed CPU Fan control mode.
Date and time shown in BIOS are correct.
Main system characteristics:
Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1
Intel Core i3-2120
Gigabyte H67A-D3H-B3
12Gb RAM
The system is installed on a 120Gb Crucial SSD. There are three 2Tb WD Green HDD drives used for data. All drives are working in AHCI mode.
The problem first started about a week ago. The trigger was a Windows update which somehow disabled all sound in Windows. I had this problem once before, it's a Windows problem, and while I was trying to solve it, I restarted my system several times. During one restart, Windows could not start properly - the startup screen was just hanging there for a long time. I pressed reset. When startup process began, I suddenly noticed that my computer showed no drives installed. I went into BIOS and saw no drives in standard CMOS features.
It looked like this:
IDE Channel 0 Master - none
IDE Channel 0 Slave - none
etc.
Attempt to restart did not help. I then went into BIOS again and loaded fail-safe defaults. Restarted again - now all my drives showed in BIOS properly, but in IDE mode. I changed it to AHCI, restarted and Windows loaded properly. I solved my sound problem and that was it.
As I said, that was about a week ago, and everything seemed OK.
However, today suddenly one of my HDDs stopped working. It is one of my 2Tb WD Greens. It is the oldest of my three HDDs, and I've been using it mostly for backups. At first it was just a bit slow to access when I wanted to open some files. But about an hour later it completely disappeared from Windows without any warnings.
First off, I switched off my computer, opened it and checked that everything was connected properly. Started again - checked that all drives were spinning normally. There were no clicks of death, no suspicious sounds, nothing unusual at all. During startup, I could see other three drives recognized, but the problem drive was not displayedс
Went into BIOS - that's why I found out that the situation of one week ago repeated itself. Again, I could see no drives in standard features. As before, I loaded fail-safe defaults, restarted, went into BIOS again, saw that all 4 drives (including the problem one) were displayed properly. Changed IDE to AHCI again, restarted, went into BIOS to check - again no drives. Repeated several time with the same result.
I tried to load Windows - it required startup repair, but than launched normally, but the problem HDD was not working. Windows Disk Management tool showed the problem drive but said it's not initialized. When I tried to initialize it manually, I got a "Could not initialize because of device I/O error" message. Switched off the computer again, tried to connect the problem drive to a different SATA slot - no change.
So, right now the situation is like this:
During startup, most of the time I see all my HDDs shown, although the problem drive is a bit slow to show up. Sometimes, the problem HDD is not displayed at all.
In BIOS I see no drives in Standard CMOS features. However, if I look at device startup order in Advanced features, I can see all 4 of my drives listed properly.
The problem drive does not show in Windows Explorer or other file managers. It does show in Disk management, but cannot be initialized. In Windows Device Manager, I see all 4 of my HDDs, and it says that all 4 are working properly. Other three drives are working properly, as far as I can say. All HDDs are spinning properly - no clicks, no strange noises.
Most of the time, Windows loads properly, although slower than usual. Twice I got a "Windows could not start properly" message and an offer to perform startup repair - however, if I ignore it and click "Start Windows normally", it starts as usual.
I can save various changes to BIOS: after loading fail-safe defaults, I changed IDE to AHCI, enabled SMART and changed CPU Fan control mode.
Date and time shown in BIOS are correct.
). I try to keep my PC reasonably clean, and I spent some time adjusting air flow - it's probably not perfect, but according to HWMonitor, CPU rarely goes over 45 C and drives are usually below 40 C. 
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