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This document lists troubleshooting tips if you experience problems with the hard disk drive in your system.
Symptoms
Additional Resources
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Drive does not spin up (no drive lights)
If the hard drive does not spin up and the drive light doesn't illuminate during power-up, check the following:
- Make sure the hard drive power connector and ribbon cable are connected.
- Swap the hard drive.
Drive spins but the computer will not boot
If the drive spins and drive lights are illuminated, but the computer will not boot from the hard drive, check the following:
- Make sure that the hard drive power connector and ribbon cable are connected.
- Run the BIOS setup program
- Make sure the drive and the controller are enabled.
- Make sure the drive has the correct parameters (it is recommended to use the Auto Detect setting).
For IDE drives, check the jumper settings of all of the IDE devices (master, slave).
For SCSI drives:
- Check the jumper settings of all SCSI devices.
- Make sure the primary hard disk is set to SCSI ID 0.
- Check during POST to see if the SCSI BIOS is loading and finding any SCSI devices. If not, check the host adapter installation including IRQ, DMA and I/O settings.
Make sure all device drivers have been installed correctly.
Swap the controller card, cable and hard drive, one at a time.
Drive spins but the system does not recognize the drive
A drive that is not recognized by the system may exhibit any number of symptoms, including the following error messages:
- No Fixed Disk Present
- Error reading fixed disk
- Non-System disk or disk error, Replace and strike any key when ready
- No ROM Basic
- Disk Boot Error, Replace and Strike Key to Retry
- DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER
- BOOT: Couldn't find NTLDR, Please insert another disk
Check the following:
- If you are trying to boot from the hard drive, make sure there is no disk in drive A.
- If you are trying to boot from the floppy disk drive, try to boot from the hard drive and then access the floppy disk. Then try to make sure that the disk has the necessary boot files and that the necessary boot files are not corrupt.
- If you are trying to boot from the floppy disk drive, try to boot from another bootable floppy disk.
- Make sure the hard drive power connector and ribbon cable are connected.
- For hard drives, verify the primary partition is active.
- In BIOS setup, make sure the correct settings are chosen for the drive and make sure the hard drive and floppy controllers are enabled. (it is recommended to use the Auto Detect setting).
- In BIOS setup, check the boot order.
- If you have two drives on the same IDE cable, try swapping the master/slave.
- For IDE drives, check the jumper settings of all of the IDE devices (master, slave).
- For SCSI drives:
- Check the jumper settings of all SCSI devices.
- Make sure the primary hard disk is set to SCSI ID 0.
- Check during POST to see if the SCSI BIOS is loading and finding any SCSI devices. If not, check the host adapter installation including IRQ, DMA and I/O settings.
If using a removable/mobile IDE rack for the hard drive, verify the drive tray has been locked.
Make sure all device drivers have been installed correctly.
Swap the controller card, cable and hard drive, one at a time.
“Hard disk controller failure” message
Any of the following error messages indicate the computer cannot communicate with the hard drive:
- Hard Disk Failure
- Hard Disk Controller Failure
- HDD Controller Failure
Check the following:
- Make sure the hard drive power connector and ribbon cable are connected.
- In BIOS setup, make sure the correct settings are chosen for the drive and make sure the hard drive and floppy controllers are enabled. (it is recommended to use the Auto Detect setting).
- In BIOS setup, check the boot order.
- For IDE drives, check the jumper settings of all of the IDE devices (master, slave).
- For SCSI drives:
- Check the jumper settings of all SCSI devices.
- Make sure the primary hard disk is set to SCSI ID 0.
- Check during POST to see if the SCSI BIOS is loading and finding any SCSI devices. If not, check the host adapter installation including IRQ, DMA and I/O settings.
Swap the controller card, cable and hard drive, one at a time.
"Error reading drive C:" message
Check the following.
- Make sure the hard drive power connector and ribbon cable are connected.
- In BIOS setup, make sure the correct settings are chosen for the drive and make sure the hard drive and floppy controllers are enabled. (it is recommended to use the Auto Detect setting).
- Check for viruses.
- Run ScanDisk or some other similar utility.
- Swap the controller card, cable and hard drive, one at a time.
- Try to reformat the drive and make the drive bootable again.
- Try a low-level format. Then partition, format and add the system files to the hard drive.
Drive works as primary drive but not as secondary (or vice-versa)
Check the following:
- Make sure the hard drive power connector and ribbon cable are connected.
- In BIOS setup, make sure the correct settings are chosen for the drive and make sure the hard drive and floppy controllers are enabled. (it is recommended to use the Auto Detect setting).
- In BIOS setup, check the boot order.
- Verify the primary partition is active.
- For IDE drives, check the jumper settings of all of the IDE devices (master, slave).
- Swap the controller card, cable and hard drive, one at a time.
Hard drive runs slow
If the hard drive seems to be running slow, check the following:
- Check for viruses.
- Defrag the hard drive.
- Check to see if you have a slow device on the cable.
- For IDE drives, in BIOS setup, check to see if it is set to Ultra DMA or PIO mode. Ultra DMA is faster, as long as the drive supports it.
- For SCSI drives:
- Check the jumper settings of all SCSI devices.
- Make sure the primary hard disk is set to SCSI ID 0.
- Enter the SCSI BIOS and check the settings
Check if anyone did a low-level format on the drive. If they don't use the proper low-level format program, essential tracking information could have been erased.
Frequent drive failures
If you experience frequent drive failures, check the following:
- Make sure all chassis fans are working properly. The system may be overheating.
- Make sure you are using the proper screws in mounting the drives in the case.
- Check for low-level vibrations.
- Check for power fluctuations. Make sure you have a reliable surge protector.
- Use a voltmeter to verify that each output from the power supply is correct. If any output is very low (especially the +5 volt output), replace the power supply.
- Check other environment factors such as smoke, heavy dust, high humidity and anything that may generate a strong electromagnetic field such as heavy machinery and motors.
Additional Resources
Serial ATA (SATA) Troubleshooter*
Computer hard disk drive help*
How to troubleshoot hard disk drive problems*
Troubleshooting hard disk drives*
This applies to:
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