Inconsistent hdd issue

[Matt Dennis]

Hi all.

When I boot my computer it sometimes doesn't find my hdd.
I've replaced the sata cable, and recently added an extra hdd which has had no problems. I've got a gigabyte motherboard and the drive is a seagate barracuda 320gb. I've looked through BISO settings repeatedly but have had no luck. The tricky bit is that it does it sometimes, not all the time, and I cant see a pattern.

Hopefully someone has had a similar experience or has some ideas.

Thanks in advance.

[katzdvd]

Can you connect that HD to a second SATA on the mainboard? I would do that as a test first to see if it is a failing channel on the board, but my initial guess would lean towards a flaky HD.

More testing would be necessary though before I would make a final conclusion.

[doctorhardware]

I would if you have access to spinrite. I would run the tests on the hard drive to see if there is a problem. Could be an issue with the drive's PC board, the board could be failing. Or as stated above it could be a motherboard issue.

[rcubed]

Hi all.

When I boot my computer it sometimes doesn't find my hdd.
I've replaced the sata cable, and recently added an extra hdd which has had no problems. I've got a gigabyte motherboard and the drive is a seagate barracuda 320gb. I've looked through BISO settings repeatedly but have had no luck. The tricky bit is that it does it sometimes, not all the time, and I cant see a pattern.

Hopefully someone has had a similar experience or has some ideas.

Thanks in advance.

Matt,
I had the same problem with a SATA drive connected to an Asus mobo. It turned out to be the SATA cable connection at the drive. I finally got it to quit after trying two or three different SATA cables. IMHO the design of the SATA data cable (and the power cables) doesn't allow for very good retention - poor design. The cable that worked seemed to have better retention then the others, more positive dentent when mating the connector.

Does the cable have to be bent to get it into the SATA connector and/or can it move around when in place? This can put lateral or vertical pressure on the connector that can cause it to come unseated. It apparently doesn't take much. The connectors on the mobo usually have some additional support, whereas the drives don't. There are SATA cables available with retention clips built into them. I haven't tried those yet, since I was able to correct my problem with a cable replacement. As other people have pointed out it could also be a flakey drive.

If you can get it when it's failing gently wiggling the SATA cable might give some indication if a bad connection is the problem. If I disconnected the cable and reconnected it the drive would work properly for some time (week/month)

You also might try cleaning the connector surfaces with a contact cleaner. It's possible there might be some contamination on the mating connector surfaces that is making intermittent contact.

In my case it would work properly for weeks or months and then act up. It can be really frustrating.

The Computer Management/Event Viewer logs (they should exist in Win2K and XP) may also give some indication of intermittent communication to/from the drive or failures to communicate with the drive while in operation. The software will try multiple times and if the connection can be (re)established it's not apparent to the user although sometimes drive operation can appear to be really slow.

The suggestion to try out a drive test program should also eliminate a bad HD board, but even then intermittent s with it could still be the problem. If the drive has SMART technology it should be recording any failures the drive has detected with it's circuitry. The Seagate site should have info on this. My drives are Western Digital but the SMART features are similar.

Hope this helps. You're not alone.

Good luck,

rcubed

[Matt Dennis]

Thanks guys.
I've hdtune and everest and checked the SMART history, both are saying everything is fine with the drive.
Changing sockets on the m/board doesn't help either.
I'll try to find a few different sata cables, hopefully one will stick!

[rcubed]

Thanks guys.
I've hdtune and everest and checked the SMART history, both are saying everything is fine with the drive.
Changing sockets on the m/board doesn't help either.
I'll try to find a few different sata cables, hopefully one will stick!

Matt,
Good luck, let us know what the outcome is.

One other thing, you indicated you have another drive that does not seem to have the problem. Is it a SATA and have you tried swapping the cables at the drive end to see if it follows the cable, or alternately swapping the cables between the two drives. Swapping cables at the drive shouldn't cause any problems if I remember correctly.

Thanks for getting back,

rcubed