Computer expertise needed--harddrive not recognized??

[arcadecab]

Well, I need some advise.  I had a Western Digital 80 GB harddrive on an older system (AMD-450 with Win 98SE), with the original Maxtor 12 GB as a secondary drive with all my emulators (Mame and console) and roms.  When I got home yesterday, my wife said something glitched with the computer and it shut down.  When I rebooted, it required me to reinstall Windows to proceed.  I did, but now, it will not recognize the new WD harddrive, just the secondary 12 GB drive.  So now I am a little worried--I dont have experience with it, but any chance my harddrive just collapsed out to the blue?  Any suggestions on what to try next--any way I can check to see if the harddrive is alright or to get it recognized by the OS again.  Hoping I didnt lose all my stuff on the drive--some backed-up, but not everything.  Is there something I can do without opening the computer up and messing with the inside--not a tech guy, so dont want to resort to that or take it in for repair before I know for sure.  
Thanks for any help.  It is scary to think all that work in setting up emulators, etc. could be gone in one second and have to start from scratch.  

[hulkster]

well that doesnt sound good, your computer crapping out on you like that might mean that your hard drive is messed up.  you might want to check in the bios to see if its reading that your hard drive is there, if not, you might have a hardware problem.  to get into bios, when you are starting up your pc, push the DEL key or F1 (depends on your pc) to get into the bios.

[dommer]

I've had this exact problem a whole lot, always with WD hard drives.  One thing to try, there is a jumper that specifies Master, Slave, or Cable Select.  Remove it completely.  It will then recognize that drive as the master.  Is it on it's own ATA cable?  If so, you could try jumpering it as the Slave if it's Master (or vice versa).  If it's not on it's own cable, try putting it on it's own cable.

   If any of this works, then get a new drive and back that stuff up, because it wont last.  I've had so much agita with WD drives working then not working, then I tear the machine apart, put it together, and voila it works only to crap out again.  If something is going to be broken, then stay broken.

Some other symptoms with these drives:  They "click" sometimes on power-on, and then the system will hang.  They will sometimes be recognized in the bios, sometimes not.  

[arcadecab]

Thanks for the replies.
Dommer,
I am getting the "clicking" noise on powerup.  I am at work now, but will check when I get home if it appears in the bios.   When this has happened to you--ie the clicking and not being recognized, are you able to get to the info on the drive eventually all the time?  I am wondering the likelyhood that the info on the drive is still saved?  I hope I can at least get it going for awhile and transfer the info to another drive.  
Thanks again for the advice.  I will try it tonight when I get home.  

[hulkster]

just to reiterate, i have a WD hard drive, and recently ive had a problem setting up my mame pc.  i had a new mobo and ram and all that, so i didnt know if it was hard drive related or not.  anyway, i was getting a single beep upon startup (as well as the click!) and i was getting a registry checker error.  kept restarting my computer and stuff.  i did some research and found out that it could possibly be a memory error.  so i took the memory chip out and put it in another slot and now it works fine.  i may have a bad module, but who knows.  but i get the clicking sound all the time as well.  

[arcadecab]

hulkster081,

So even after changing the memory, you still get the clicking sound?   I will have to keep that in mind when I try to find the answer to the problem.  Has anyone figured out if anything triggers these collapses with the WD harddrives?  Is it a virus or anything else that could cause it or is it just a plain out malfunction.  Just wondering if I could have "caused" this in some way.
Thanks.

[hulkster]

well its just one click right at the beginning of startup, but then it doesnt do it anymore.  i havent had any problems recently since i switched the memory.  

[StephenH]

Clicking Sound:   May mean drive is crashed completly.

Additionally, the format of the drive may be why it is not regonized.  When booting from floppy or CD, sometimes the version of windows matters based on the drive format.

FAT32:  Will only show up when booted with WIN95 OSR2 (not the original WIN95), Win98, Win2000, XP, Server 2003, and some versions of Linux.

NTFS:  Will only show up on Win NT4, Win2000, Win XP, and Server 2003

[Santoro]

In my past life  of computer support, a clicking hard disk was always a dead hard disk.

 

[dommer]

Well, from my experience, with the clicking hard drive, I've had several that would click, then if you gave them some time, they'd come back temporarily.  But if it does, get that data off of there fast.  Like I said, when mine have clicked, I've been able to snag data off of them, but these guys are saying differently, YMMV.  The short message is that WD sucks.

[Generic Eric]

The short message is that WD sucks.

I concurr.
I have always had problems with the western digital drives.

[hulkster]

okay, well it just clicks when it first boots up...and its only once.  never does it again.  just once.  so your saying i should send it back to newegg and get a replacement?  

[dommer]

Hulk, yeah, if you can get the data off of it, RMA'ing it's a great idea, except they'll send you another WD drive, which will end up giving you fits  Just kidding, yeah, I vote you send the thing back.  I hope you were able to get your data.

Oh, my experience, on more than one occassion, I'd boot...

Cluh-CLICK.... Cluh-CLICK.... Cluh-CLICK... (repeats a random number of times).  Then sometimes boots, sometimes not.   Sometimes hangs for awhile and boots, sometimes never boots.  

[arcadecab]

Dommer,

That is exactly what mine is doing.  It has booted a couple of time and recognized the WD harddrive, but when it gets to the desktop, a series of error messages do not allow me to do anything but reboot once the desktop appears as the messages lock up the system. Not sure if I will be allowed to go farther and actually remove some of the stuff on the harddrive given the error messages.  Is there anything else I can try to get the info off the drive?  Any way around the error messages?  If I can just get the info off, I will get another drive (warranty).

[ashardin]

I'll just turn this into a WD support forum.

I built a cab for a friend, and last week the hard drive crashed and no longer works (I verified it in another machine).  He ordered a 40 gig WD HD and has asked me to rebuild the drive with MAME and the FE.  There is only one HD in the machine, and when I installed it I cannot get the bios to recognize the drive.  When I try to get it to be auto recognized in the Bios, it just hangs for about 60 seconds, and comes back as showing no primary drive.  I've tried all jumper settings except for slave (but haven't tried no jumper yet).

Any ideas?  Do I just have a bad drive?

[hulkster]

well i think newegg.com gives you a certain amount of time before they wont give you money back.  i just bought the drive about 2 weeks ago, so i should be able to get money back and buy a new HD.  ill be getting maxtor this time!  thanks for the help guys.

[dommer]

Well, if your time expires on NewEgg RMA, you have several years with WD to RMA.  But they will send you another WD drive, usually a refurb, which will just end up as another headache.

Arcadecab, I dont know any way around the problem.  Do try no jumper, and do try slave.  I just keep messing around with it until it works.

Like we've said, WD should be ashamed for the reliability of their drives.  But thats why they had a class-action suit against them over the 75GXP.  

[DZuroff]

A single "click" during bootup may be normal.  Every time you shut down your computer your hard drive automatically parks its heads in a safe area on the platters.  This insurs that if the drive is jarred enough to move the heads it will not cause damage to the readable areas of the hard drive.  When you boot and the hard drive spins up, the clicking sound you hear is probably the heads moving from this safe zone to the readable areas of the platters.  Western Digital also offers free diagnostic tools that you can download called "Data Lifeguard Tools".  If you run an advanced test and it tells you your hard drive is fine, then there is nothing wrong with it.  In fact, in the event that you have to return a drive you are required to run the diagnostics first before you can even complete the RMA request form.    If the drive is damaged, most manufacturers (including WD) only offer a one year warranty, unless specified otherwise (the 3 year drives are often times called "Special" drives)  Another remote possibility (and the most difficult to troubleshoot) is your power supply could be going bad.  When a power supply starts to fail it intermittently throws less voltage than it is supposed to which can cause strange things to happen...   With all that said, try the data lifeguard tools first.  And for what it's worth, Maxtor isn't much better.    I had three 60GB Maxtor drives go bad on me within the past year, and they were all less than one year old.  
Happy troubleshooting!

[DZuroff]

I almost forgot... this one is for Ashardin.  

The most popular answer to why the bios won't recognize the drive is because it doesn't support that large of a hard drive.  Of course that is dependent upon how old the motherboard is, but in most cases motherboard manufacturers offer free BIOS updates that you can download which may support larger drives.  If that is the case and you find that an update is available, BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN FLASHING THE BIOS!  Be absolutely sure you have the right version for your motherboard and when you start the flashing process do not interrupt it.  If you use the wrong bios update or you interrupt a flash in progress then you will render the computer useless.  The only way to recover is to either replace the BIOS chip or reprogram the chip using an EEPROM programmer.  And believe it or not, BIOS manufacturers will charge you close to $100 for a new BIOS chip.

[Spaced Invader]

DZuroff is right. Hearing a single click is normal on startup for many drives as the heads are being engaged. More than one click as the drive initializes or clicking during data access is cause for great weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That being said, I've had nothing but trouble with WD drives...and NEVER buy them now...not even if the sale is really, really good.

Oh, DZuroff is also right about the BIOS...it is often the problem...but take great care when flashing it.

One last note...I was installing a new internet server this week and having all kinds of boot problems...not booting or booting but not finding the HD or booting finding the HD but not finding the optical drives...all seemingly random. After flashing the BIOS several times, I did what any good tech would have done in the first place...I took everything out but the HD and one stick of memory. It booted fine. I slowly began adding components until the error re-occurred. It turned out to be some weird I/O conflict with an add in NIC. So, long story for a simple tip...look for a conflict by booting with a bare system...if it boots add stuff back until it doesn't. I know it's common sense, but I figure I'm not the only one who does first things last.  

Good luck!  

[Sephroth57]

so the moral of the story is , WD harddrives suck.   Good thing my new 100GB is a Maxtor =)

[fredster]

I bought a new system at a computer show and had a WD 80GB hard drive put in.  I couldn't load win98SE on it at all.

I sent it to the guy who built it, and he couldn't do it either.  They put XP on it, and it's fine.  The firmware on the wd drive was somehow incompatiable with win98.  

He put in a Seagate and all is well.  

You should be able to load XP on that drive okay.

[hulkster]

well since the one click is normal, ill take my chances and keep the drive.  ill just back everything up before i put it on the hard drive.  thanks again for the tips!

[SirPoonga]

I don;t know where you are at with htis, but did you get the hard drive utility from western digital (or whatever harddrive manufacture this was).  It can test your drive.  It will usually come up with is is fixable OR a number that you can call tech support with and they will see if you can RMA it.

[arcadecab]

Well, I did try the diagnostics and it did not appear to be fixable.  I have a new drive coming in the mail, should be here by Friday.  I will give it another try--WD was very good, however, about replacing the drive since it was under warranty.  No hassles or documentation needed.  I am interested in the comment about the motherboard not supporting the larger drive.  The motherboard is about four years old (not sure of make or model), so perhaps that is an issue, but with the "touchy"ness of the flash upgrade, not sure I want to even try it and cause more problems.  Will see what happens with the new one.  Just a lesson for backing up stuff and not expecting a harddrive to always be there when needed.
Thanks for all the replies.

[DZuroff]

That's the bad thing about some of the older motherboards.  Sometimes they have no identifiable markings.  On the other hand, make sure you look very closely.  I have had times when I would scour the motherboard surface several times over with my eyes and it still took me five minutes to find the model number.  There are other times when the manufacturer simply placed a sticker somewhere on the board with a number that seems to not mean anything, but if you plug that number into a google search there is a chance you could find some web pages with the information you need.  My philosophy is that somewhere, somehow, someone out there has the information you need.  I have struck out a few times but through persistant searching you will more than likely find what you are looking for.  You have to sift through all the garbage but when it comes down to it the internet is an invaluable tool for PC troubleshooting.