Computer question:

[LeftyMom]

I replaced the power supply mobo and CPU on a friend's gaming desktop, and when I start it's starting to boot and then restarting. I tried reinstalling windows, it gets a little way into the process and tells me there's no hard drive. But I haven't switched out the hard drive, it's still connected and as far as I know should be working fine.

Am I doing something wrong or did the disaster that took out the old power supply, mobo and CPU kill the hard drive too? Any ideas before I tell him we have to go to Fry's and pick up a new HD?

[UndertheOcean]

1. Is the fan running ?

[DS1]

2. take out all but one stick of ram when installing

it sometimes helps

[LeftyMom]

3. Just one in there.

The old stuff doesn't fit in the new mobo, so I grabbed one at Fry's to get everything running and then he's going to look for a deal on newegg or something. Didn't want to make him spend a bunch of money if I couldn't fix the thing.

[Midlodemocrat]

4. Get the masshole to do a remote look see.

He offered to do that for me once.

Delete nekkid pics first. Series. He can't be trusted.

[LeftyMom]

5. Can't.

The computer tells me it doesn't have a hard drive and won't boot. No Windows Remote Spying or whatever it is since it's not aware it has Windows. Or a hard drive.

And he's already seen all my nekkid pics. He's in half of 'em.

edit: On second thought, I think you mean some other masshole. :rofl: Thought I'd clear that up ASAP.

[Midlodemocrat]

12. Yes, I do. I meant the asshole from Mass who responded up thread.

:rofl:

[obxhead]

6. some bios systems have an HDD check option.

[LeftyMom]

8. It's showing the right model in the menus for the bios.

I'm at a loss.

[obxhead]

9. tried a "safe mode" boot yet?

[LeftyMom]

11. It just restarts.

:shrug:

[Ohio Joe]

7. Perhaps...

Try putting it into Safe Mode and do a walk through the startup?

[LeftyMom]

10. It just restarts in safe mode.

I'm going to play with the HD settings in the bios and see if maybe that's the issue.

[Ohio Joe]

14. ahhh, let me see if I can find what I'm talking about

and I'll have to restart the comp I'm using but... Years ago I had a similar problem (not same thing though) and there was something I did at start up that allowed me to walk through the entire process one step at a time. It allowed me to see exactly what was causing my problem. I'll try and find it and be back.

[Ohio Joe]

21. ok

On my computer, it is F2 to enter BIOS and F12 to enter the startup. I hit F12 to enter startup and then select diagnostics and it does a system test... not exactly what I had in mind but it may help.

Good luck!

[LeftyMom]

23. I don't think there's a diagnostic option on this one. I'll doublecheck.

Thanks.

[leeroysphitz]

13. As unlikely as it may sound to you you have either a bad memory stick or a bad Hard Drive.

[LeftyMom]

16. That's what I was afraid of.

[obxhead]

15. any chance you have a DOS 6.22 disk floating around?

If so you can boot to a prompt and check the HDD from there.

Another idea would be to plug that HDD into your system as a Slave drive to check it's integrity as well, but thats a little more labor intensive :(

[LeftyMom]

17. I guess I could put it in the kid's desktop and see.

I hadn't even thought to do that.

[obxhead]

19. You could also try the Windows software

and do a Repair of windows. if the HDD is bad the repair won't work, but if the windows disk boots it will tell you the RAM is still good at least.

One thing that bothers me is that you changed the mobo. XP is so picky when you change major parts in a PC.

[LeftyMom]

22. Tried booting windows from the DVD drive and repairing or reinstalling windows.

I just get an error message that there's no hard drive detected.

I'm going to have to go upstairs and throw it in the kid's desktop to be sure, but I think it's dead. I'm going to wait an hour or so to do that, it's stinking hot today and the upstairs is unpleasantly warm even with the air on.

[obxhead]

24. yup, 99% sure the drive is dead. good luck.

[mwooldri]

18. Have you got another computer to check the hard drive with?

That would be a way of telling whether the HDD is truly fried or not.

Though earlier post is puzzling: you say the drive registers in the bios but when the computer goes for a boot it says that there is no hard drive found?

If it is a SATA drive, what mode has the BIOS been set up for? Compatible is probably the best, stay away from Enhanced for now. Are the plugs pushed in all the way and are snug? Have you tried another port on the motherboard? Is the drive spinning up? How big is the hard drive?

It could be that the boot record of the hard drive is messed up. If you have the Windows install disks boot from them into a command prompt and then see if you can access that drive letter. If you have no Windows install disk the same can be done from a Linux live CD - boot from that and see if you can mount the hard drive.

I know you're working on it still.. just a couple of ideas.

Mark.

[LeftyMom]

25. That's the next step I guess.

Yep, the HD shows up in the bios, but when I try to start or repair Windows it says there's no hard drive and restarts.

It's a SATA drive. I don't see anything about compatible or enhanced, my options appear to be SATA, RAID and something else I forget. I swapped out the cable and tried a different port on the mobo. I can't hear the drive spinning but I have a hearing problem so that shouldn't mean anything. With my finger on it I can feel it vibrate slightly so I assume it's spinning, though I suppose that could be the vibration of the fans elsewhere in the case. Stupid hearing issues... I really don't know.

The drive is older, only 160 gigs, so if it needs to be replaced it's no huge loss. But I'd hate to needlessly replace working equipment when half the computer already had to get trashed.

[slay]

20. I'd start with

disconnecting the hard drive and reconnecting it. sometimes when you're replacing things the cable can come loose. to know for sure - remove it and try it in another pc and see if it is recognized there - also you may want to try a different hard drive connection cable