Member Avatar for xanthamn

Last night I turned my computer off. It recognized all 6 hard drives. Today when I started it the BIOS and controller card recognized all my 6 hard drives but when Windows loaded it only showed 2, the ones connected to my motherboard. It didn't show the 4 connected to my controller card. What is wrong? thanks.

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Dani AI

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Follow-up for : 's initial troubleshooting is a good start. If the basic checks have already been done, these next steps dig into less-obvious causes (driver/OS-level issues, signature collisions, and resource problems) without touching partition data.

Check the System event log for drive/controller errors at boot. Look for driver load failures, disk signature collision messages, or repeated I/O errors timestamped during startup — those point toward driver/resource conflicts or Windows deciding a device is “offline.” If an error names a driver, note its timestamp and exact text for targeted driver rollback or replacement.

If disks are hidden by Windows (not the same as missing partitions), use diskpart to inspect and bring disks online safely. Typical commands:

diskpart
list disk
select disk N
detail disk
online disk

Do not use clean or initialize unless the intent is to wipe the partition table. If a disk shows as “foreign” or “offline” in Disk Management, import or bring it online only after confirming no data-loss operations are needed.

Booting from a neutral environment (Linux live USB or a recovery/rescue ISO) will confirm whether the drives and partitions are physically healthy and visible outside Windows. Vendor diagnostic tools (bootable) can test individual drives; imaging a failing drive before further writes protects data.

Other nondestructive checks: try a different PCI slot or adapter, test a single drive on a known-good controller, and try older/newer vendor drivers or firmware for the controller card. If important data is present, preserve a sector image before making changes that alter partition tables or initialize disks.

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Member Avatar for DMR

Sounds like a possible driver issue.

- What version of Windows are you running, and what is the make/model of the controller card?

- Is the controller card reported to be working properly in Device Manager.

Member Avatar for xanthamn

Windows Version: Windows XP Pro
Controller Card: Promise Technology Ultra133 TX2

The controller card is working properly in the device manager. It's a really strange problem.

Thanks for the response.

Member Avatar for DMR

OK- that's a pretty common card, and I don't think XP has any known issues with it under normal circumstances.

Some things you can try:

1. You said "when Windows loaded it only showed 2"; I'm assuming you meant that only two drives appeared in My Computer and/or Windows Explorer. If you haven't already: Right-click on your My Computer icon, choose "Manage" from the context menu, and then click "Disk Management" in the resulting window.

Do any of the "missing" disks appear there, and if so, what info is reported about them (File System, Status, etc.)?


2. Uninstall the Promise card through Device Manager, reboot, and let Windows redetect the card and reinstall its drivers.

3. Try connecting only 1 drive at a time to the controller card (do this for each of two IDE channels on the card). That will help you determine if you've got a faulty drive or channel that's bringing the rest of the card down. Also check your ribbon cable connections and make sure the card is firmly seated in its PCI slot.


4. Put each of the drives on the motherboard's regular IDE channels and see if their all recognized when connected there.

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