Member Avatar for JAdam6790

I've had my computer running on this haddrive for 3 years with no problems, but recently I bought a new harddrive and deleted the partition off my old one, but the new one wasn't the proper type so I returned it. Upon plugging in the old harddrive and trying to reinstall Windows tells me there is no HD installed and to check if it's plugged in correctly.

It's a Deskstar HDs728080pla380 80GB SATA harddrive and I'm using the SATA1 port on the mobo to the HD and the plug from the power supply that looks like a wider version of the SATA cable's head. I also have the old fashioned 4 prong powersupply plug but I do not have that plugged in.


Halp!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by janebush08
Member Avatar for airbourne

Is the computer older than 3 years?

If the windows setup does not recognize the HDD, it sounds like the BIOS doesn't see it either. Some older BIOS require that you run an auto-detect on the HDD before it will see it again.

If that still doesn't see it, make sure that the HDD gets power or all the cables are properly secured. You should actually feel the HDD spin up (very slight vibration) when power is applied - even if the drive is not seen by the BIOS.

Member Avatar for JAdam6790

I've tried auto detecting in the bios and it does not find anything, and I can feel vibrations everywhere inside of my computer plus the fans are really loud so I cannot really tell if it's actually getting power.

Member Avatar for airbourne

If you are careful, you could unhook the HDD from the chasis and then power up the machine, just don't drop the drive. :)

You should be able to clearly feel the vibration at that point which would let you know the mechanics of the disk are at least responding to power.

Check to make sure the jumper is set to Cable Select (CS) on the drive too.

Barring all that, try another machine or possibly try one of those external USB hard drive adapters (though that still requires another working machine).

Member Avatar for Jzskill

from what I understand--you are trying to install the OS back on a drive that was working fine on the computer. It is not like you are introducing new connections to the hard drive. Just like it said above; take the drive out of the chassis and test to see if power goes through the hard drive. I get this issue a lot. Sometimes, you might need to change connections, sata and power. Sometimes mobo acts up and will not see the drive. make sure mobo is not loose--any pulling connection out of mobo may cause bios not to see hard drive--test another hard drive and see what happen.

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