Member Avatar for kenny1989

Hi all, just wondering what could cause my computer to not detect my its harddrives one time and then be able to detect them other times, apart from loose connections (those are simple to sort if it is).

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Brief, practical diagnostic steps to narrow an intermittent hard‑drive detection problem. and pointed at hardware/boot-level causes — the checklist below shows what to try next, and what each result implies so the fault can be isolated quickly.

  1. Reproduce and observe. On a failing boot, enter the BIOS/POST screen and note whether the drive is listed. Listen at power‑on for drive spin/noise and watch the drive activity LED.
    If the drive never spins, suspect power or the drive’s electronics. If it spins but disappears from POST, suspect the data link or controller.

  2. Swap cables and ports. Replace the SATA/IDE cable and use a different power lead from the PSU. Try a different motherboard port.
    If the drive becomes stable on another cable/port, replace the bad cable or avoid that controller port.

  3. Test the drive externally. Put the drive into a different machine or a USB/SATA adapter/enclosure and run a SMART/diagnostic utility.
    If it glitches on another system, the drive is the likely culprit; if it works, the motherboard, controller or PSU is suspect.

  4. Check PSU and motherboard visually and electrically. Look for bulging capacitors or burn marks and consider testing voltages with a PSU tester. Thermal stress and weak power rails cause intermittent faults.

  5. Firmware/BIOS/CMOS. Reset BIOS to defaults, ensure SATA mode is consistent, and consider a BIOS update if the vendor notes controller fixes.

Always back up important data before more intrusive tests. If diagnostics point to the drive, prioritize imaging/recovery — intermittent detection often precedes complete failure.

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Member Avatar for Tropp

Intermittent fault with the HDD (unlikely if multiple drives

Intermittent fault with motherboard

Member Avatar for magneto

When you boot up your computer, your hard drive should be listed next to"Primary Master"(ATA drive) or next to "RAID Controller" (SATA drive). If it isn't there and thhe connections are secure, you probably have a faulty hard drive. If the boot stops at the verifying DMI pool data stage its the connections or a configoration problem.

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