943,563 Members | Top Members by Rank

Hardware and Software > Microsoft Windows > Windows NT / 2000 / XP > Weird One
Ad:
You are currently viewing page 1 of this multi-page discussion thread
Permalink
Jul 18th, 2009
0

Weird One

Expand Post »
I am trying to fix a HP Pavillion 521N computer. It was working fine until one day the computer said that there was no boot device. Fine, I removed the hard drive and put it on USB controller and ran check disk on another computer. It found several problems and fixed them. The drive is accessible on another computer. I put it back in the HP and the bios doesn't recognize the HDD. The drive jumper is set to Cable Select. Fine, I replaced the Hard Drive with a known working drive. Bios still doesn't recognize a hard drive. I switched the jumper to Master, Slave and back to CS. No Joy. There is a CD-RW drive in the Secondary Master position and a DVD drive on the Secondary Slave position. Only the DVD drive in the Slave position is being recognized. I tried various hard drives in various jumper positions, with various IDE cables. I put a Lite-On DVD-RW on the Primary Master position and it is recognized, but not the original HP CD-RW, which is recognized on another computer.. I then updated the bios, successful but the first bios screen shows the same bios #. I tried running the HDD on the Secondary cable as Master and as a Secondary Slave. No Joy I am stumped, in my 10 years of computer repair, I haven't seen this one. Any other ideas??
Similar Threads
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 0
Newbie Poster
spike2me is offline Offline
8 posts
since Jul 2009
Permalink
Jul 18th, 2009
-7

Re: Weird One

Bad IDE controller on the motherboard?

I had the whole usb controller die on a motherboard once, so its indeed possible for such things to just go...
Moderator
Featured Poster
Reputation Points: 1764
Solved Threads: 574
Moderator
jbennet is offline Offline
16,485 posts
since Apr 2005
Permalink
Jul 18th, 2009
0

Re: Weird One

I thought that too, but the Lite-on DVDRW set to master on the Primary Master channel is recognized. No HDD's in any configuration
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 0
Newbie Poster
spike2me is offline Offline
8 posts
since Jul 2009
Permalink
Jul 18th, 2009
0

Re: Weird One

Hello There:
Most likely you have a bad IDE controller. I had a similar problem with a dell and i ended up replacing the motherboard. Try to disable the CD\DVD and the Floppy Disk from Bios, Reboot and hopefully it'll work. It worked for me. But you will not be able to use them until you replace the motherboard.
Last edited by gato1970; Jul 18th, 2009 at 10:53 pm.
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 0
Newbie Poster
gato1970 is offline Offline
3 posts
since Nov 2008
Permalink
Jul 18th, 2009
0

Re: Weird One

If you read my posts, the Primary IDE controller recognizes a Lite-On DVD-RW in the Master Jumper pin Setting. Just no HDD's. Removing all IDE drives except for.a HDD does nothing either.
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 0
Newbie Poster
spike2me is offline Offline
8 posts
since Jul 2009
Permalink
Jul 18th, 2009
0

Re: Weird One

Any possibility of a lightning strike damaging the system?

Check the power supply; +5VDC or +12VDC could be low on one of the outputs. Even a bad ground could cause problems. Or just try a different PS in the system.

Try unplugging and reseating every connector you can find (with the system unpowered and PS drained, of course).

There's a slim possibility that, in a moment of madness, it overwrote some key values in NVRAM. Write down the BIOS settings, shut it down, pull the NVRAM battery and clear the settings. Then reset them to the recorded values.

The last possibility is a stray neutron blasted through something in the IDE subsystem causing the failure.
Reputation Points: 51
Solved Threads: 35
Posting Whiz in Training
Fest3er is offline Offline
238 posts
since Aug 2007
Permalink
Jul 18th, 2009
0

Re: Weird One

No lightning (no rain in LA!!) I replaced the power supply a few months ago, voltages and temps are normal. I have Updated the bios but I haven't cleared the bios yet. I will let you know if that worked.
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 0
Newbie Poster
spike2me is offline Offline
8 posts
since Jul 2009
Permalink
Jul 19th, 2009
0

Re: Weird One

OK, I'm done. I reset the jumper from 2-3 to 1-2 and restarted the computer. Oddly enough, the computer started and reset the bios. I pressed F5 to set bios to defaults. It did not recognize a hdd. I reset jumper pin from 1-2 to 2-3. Reset bios again, same results. Removed CMOS battery changed it with another known good one. change power plugs. HDD's Jumpers etc. Only thing that will recognize in the Primary Master position is a Lite-On DVD-RW no HDD's. I give up, mobo must be bad.
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 0
Newbie Poster
spike2me is offline Offline
8 posts
since Jul 2009
Permalink
Jul 19th, 2009
0

Re: Weird One

Well, I will be a Monkeys Uncle! I switched out the power supply and it recognized the HDD!! amazing and it was brand new 2 months ago.
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 0
Newbie Poster
spike2me is offline Offline
8 posts
since Jul 2009
Permalink
Jul 19th, 2009
0

Re: Weird One

Just for grins, try booting a live Linux CD. See if Linux sees the drive(s).

What's the possibility the BIOS Flash memory went south?

(True, it's really time to give up. It's now cheaper to buy a new computer than to fix this one. However, it's still worth looking further if you simply want to learn even more about how PCs can fail and how to more quickly recognize 'lost causes'.)

[edit]Never mind. You slipped in whilst I wrote this.

Marginal power supplies and marginal memory are known to cause computers to be flaky.

And I need to remember I have a silly scope; it can be useful for viewing power supplies under load.)
[/edit]
Last edited by Fest3er; Jul 19th, 2009 at 2:23 am.
Reputation Points: 51
Solved Threads: 35
Posting Whiz in Training
Fest3er is offline Offline
238 posts
since Aug 2007

This thread is more than three months old

No one has posted to this discussion for at least three months. Please let old threads die and do not reply to them unless you feel you have something new and valuable to contribute that absolutely must be added to make the discussion complete. Otherwise, please start a new thread in this forum instead.
Message:
Previous Thread in Windows NT / 2000 / XP Forum Timeline: Removing Internet Explorer 8
Next Thread in Windows NT / 2000 / XP Forum Timeline: User Password On Thia Laptop





About Us | Contact Us | Advertise | Acceptable Use Policy
Forum Index | Build Custom RSS Feed


Follow us on Twitter


© 2011 DaniWeb® LLC