Hard drive sometimes not recognized

[goraj]

When I start my computer running xp pro the hard drive sometimes wont boot up and in the bios it is not recognized. But if I restart, the harddrive starts spinning and it is properly recognized. I changed the power connectors and I still have the same problems. I am using KT133 via AZZA motherboard 750Mhz athlon. Is it the hard drive which is dying or is there a problem with power supply.

 

[DaiShan]

I have been having this exact same problem, it only happens like once a month, I have two hard drives each with a different os (xp pro and 98 se) I too am running a kt133 chipset. I haven't tried updating to the newest 4 in 1's on that machine yet tho, have you tried that? I really don't think it is power supply or hard drive related as it won't recognize either of my two hdds (tells us it probably isn't hdd related) and I am on a 350watt psu, I really think this is a driver issue (via 4 in 1's) I will update mine tonight, but it happens so sporatically we won't really know if it was a fix for a while.

 

[goraj]

I installed the new VIA 4in1 drivers. Will see what happens. Thanks for the help

 

[goraj]

Still the same problem it is an old 2000 AZZA motherboard, should I flash new bios or not, some body please advise me

 

[DaiShan]

it is worth a shot... just make sure you save your old bios so you can revert if you need too.

 

[Escalade]

In the BIOS you'll find a "Pre-Boot Delay" setting... try increasing it a couple of seconds to give the drive more time to power-up.

 

[stukincalifornia]

Do you all happen to have Western Digital drives? If so, I might have some help.

 

[goraj]

I have maxtor, the intersting thing is the HD wont power up initially. After a couple of shutdowns it works ok

 

[stukincalifornia]

I had a very similar problem that I could find no help on for months. It is somekind of incompatibility issue between the Abit KT7 family of motherboards and many of Western Digital's new drives (some claim Maxtor drives have the same problem). The problem seems to involves a neverending reset loop. By cutting pins 1 & 2 on the 80-pin (pin 1 on a 40-pin) IDE cable, the problem disappeared.

"What? You want me to slice my cable to fix my computer?" you say. Western Digital is sending me a couple of such modified cables. I just didn't want to wait for them to arrive. Perhaps it will work for you, perhaps not. It worked for me and I've finally got the problem fixed.

If you want more info, let me know.

 

[goraj]

For some odd reasons the computer is booting ok, so will wait before I try cutting the IDE cable and flashing bios