I have a major problem. My sons computer keeps losing its hard drive. I have gone into the BIOs and reset it to Default but then it lost the Hard Drive completely. I had checked before i rebooted to see if it was reading and it was. I set the BIOs for PnP in hope that it would find it but now all it does is sit at the loading screen and i cant even get back into the BIOs to try something else. What is should i do to maybe correct it.
Ransir 4 Newbie Poster
jbennet 1,618 Most Valuable Poster Team Colleague Featured Poster
by losing its hard drive do you mean:
a: not detecting the hardware?
b: failing to load the os?
c: corrupting the hdds contents?
sounds like either a dead drive, cable or controller
Ransir 4 Newbie Poster
as of now...not detecting at all.
jbennet 1,618 Most Valuable Poster Team Colleague Featured Poster
how old is the pc and its components?
modern ( post 2001ish) systems should automatically detect the HDD. On older pcs you may need to specify the number of heads/cylinders etc... manually
One possible solution: Replace the BIOS battery
its easy, its just a small (watch size) round battery on the motherboard. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE RIGHT TYPE AND PUT IT IN THE RIGHT WAY!
If this runs out then the BIOS looses all its settings. Try replacing it and seeing what happens
Ransir 4 Newbie Poster
ok...update...we have just completed in resetting the BIOs by taking out the battery and reseating it after a 5-10 minutes period. After the reboot (with Windows disk in CD-Rom), we got to the windows select user screen then it rebooted on its own and it lost the Hard Drive again. I can get into BIOs again, but i have no plans on tinkering with anything yet.
I presume that it is the C-MOS battery that has gone bad? If so, where can i find a replacement for it if possible.
Ransir 4 Newbie Poster
ooops...sorry...still a Noob to postings...anyway. Both of my computer's Motherboards are about 3-4 years old. Both were built at the same time with the same components brands and speeds. We have upgraded our Video Card sense then...but thats about it. His computers seems to have all the problems though. We keep everything updated as far as drivers and updates.
jbennet 1,618 Most Valuable Poster Team Colleague Featured Poster
hmm i think its the abttery,hard disk, cable or motherboard then
cables and batteries are cheapest so try them first ;)
the batteries are available online or from electronic component shops - they arent expensive. maybe $2-20. cables are about the same
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