Problem Recognizing Hard Drive

[Cawchy87]

First, Specs:

Abit NF7
AMD XP-M 2500+
ATI 9800pro
NEC 2550 DVD burner
SB audigy 2
Western Digital JB 120gb hard drive and/or WD JB160GB
Aspire PSU (bad psu, I know. I just don't have the money for a new one)
*Trying to install* Windows XP Pro

Second, My problem:

When I try to install Windows XP it says that I have no hard drive present (after I select the "install windows XP" option).

Third, What i DO know:

a) My computer recognizes the hard drive at boot AND in the bios
b) My hard drive is spinning up (can feel it).
c) This hard drive works (was in another computer, reformated and pulled)
d) I have the correct boot sequence.
e) This computer was working until about a week ago when I got a "HAL" error. I re-formatted thinking that would fix it. It did get rid of the HAL error, but now the windows install doesn't recognized either the 160gb or 120gb hard drive.

Fourth, What I have tried:

i) Different IDE Cable
ii) Different IDE slot (My dvd drive still works when plugged into the other ide slot, so I don't think it is that.)
iii) Every freaking jumper setting possible (including no jumper)
iv) A different working hard drive (still no luck)

Fifth, Is there something I can download off of WD's website that will help?

HELP AT! I have no idea what is happening. What else can I try?

Thanks as always for help, and let me know if you need any more info about my computer or what I have tried.

 

[dBTelos]

First, replace the PSU, I wouldn't expect my system to turn on in the morning with a aspire psu in it, and you can get a 400W fortron or something similar for soooo cheap. Then, take the motherboard out of the case, and unplug the video card, sound card, DVD burner, and anything unnessisary out of the case. Put the mobo on a piece of cardboard or some plastic. Take out the cmos battery, leave it out for about a minute, then put it back in. Put the CPU cooler on the socket, after cleaning it with compressed air to get out the dust. Put a new IDE cable in the IDE0 port on the mobo, and hook it to the hard drive. Put the monitor VGA connection in the onboard video, and plug the PSU into the appropriate connectors. Set the jumper on the HD to master. Boot up, if the same problem, replace the cmos battery.

 

[Cawchy87]

Originally posted by: dBTelos
First, replace the PSU, I wouldn't expect my system to turn on in the morning with a aspire psu in it, and you can get a 400W fortron or something similar for soooo cheap. Then, take the motherboard out of the case, and unplug the video card, sound card, DVD burner, and anything unnessisary out of the case. Put the mobo on a piece of cardboard or some plastic. Take out the cmos battery, leave it out for about a minute, then put it back in. Put the CPU cooler on the socket, after cleaning it with compressed air to get out the dust. Put a new IDE cable in the IDE0 port on the mobo, and hook it to the hard drive. Put the monitor VGA connection in the onboard video, and plug the PSU into the appropriate connectors. Set the jumper on the HD to master. Boot up, if the same problem, replace the cmos battery.

My local computer store is closed today and it is my only day off this week, so I was hoping to fix it today. I will be getting a new psu asap.

If I unhook the DVD burner, how will I install windows? I can get into the windows install screen (blue screen) but when I hit the option to install it tells me no hard drive is present. The problem does not to appear to be at boot up because the computer recognizes the hard drive at boot.

I have tried putting a new IDE cable in the IDE0 Port. I don't have onboard video so that isn't a possiblity.

I have tried taking out the cmos battery already and re-setting all of the cmos settings with no luck. Would a bad connection between the cpu and heatsink cause it?

ALSO! I forgot to mention this before, but the computer was working perfectly until about a week ago when I got some wierd "HAL" error. I reformated and have been now getting this error ever since.

Hope that little bit of more info can help!

Thanks!

 

[JimPhelpsMI]

Hi, Removing the BIOS SETUP battery for one minute will not reset the BIOS SETUP. Some MBs need up to a couple of hours with the AC power removed. The reset jumper is still the best way and will do it in a couple of seconds or less. Good Luck, Jim

 

[order66]

Sounds like you could have a bad HDD sector.

 

[Jiggz]

Download a hdd utility from WD and then zero one of the hdd. Let's say zero the 160GB. It'll take a long time but this will negate any problem with the hdd. After zero'ing check the bios again and make sure the hdd is detected properly i.e., Master, and size wise. Make sure you are not oc'ing. Now install XP. If the same problem appears, and you have more than 1 stick of ram, check the rams one stick at a time. Or use known working rams. Try again.

 

[Cawchy87]

Originally posted by: JimPhelpsMI
Hi, Removing the BIOS SETUP battery for one minute will not reset the BIOS SETUP. Some MBs need up to a couple of hours with the AC power removed. The reset jumper is still the best way and will do it in a couple of seconds or less. Good Luck, Jim

Thanks, I'll unplug the bios battery before I go to work today and leave it off for 24 hours.

Originally posted by: order66
Sounds like you could have a bad HDD sector.

I tried 2 diff hard drives. And I tried the 120 gig in my dell computer with the dell win XP re-installation disc and it worked fine. But oddly I got an NTsomethingerather error when I tried it with my Win XP pro disc. So I am pretty sure it isn't the hard drive. Also, on one partition of the 160 gig I have all of my music ripped and I stream it through my xbox. That works fine, but win xp install won't recognize it in the non-working computer.

Originally posted by: Jiggz
Download a hdd utility from WD and then zero one of the hdd. Let's say zero the 160GB. It'll take a long time but this will negate any problem with the hdd. After zero'ing check the bios again and make sure the hdd is detected properly i.e., Master, and size wise. Make sure you are not oc'ing. Now install XP. If the same problem appears, and you have more than 1 stick of ram, check the rams one stick at a time. Or use known working rams. Try again.

Ok, tomorrow after plugging back in my bios battery I am going to zero the drive and try it again. I am also going to be purchasing a new psu and see if that helps. I'll check every thing really carfully in the bios and then try the memory. I'll even try pulling some memory from my working dell machine and trying that.


Thanks so much for the help guys! I was just at a total loss at what to try next since it seemed like I had tried everything.

Here is what I will try next:

1. New PSU
2. Take out bios battery for 24 hours with A/C off.
3. Zero the hard drive
4. Check bios after zeroed hard drive is installed
5. Try only one stick of ram, and try known working ram from another computer.

 

[Jiggz]

Goodluck. I bet you it will work after you've done all 5 you listed.