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Hard Drive stopped showing up

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grimm003

Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2004
Location
SIU
I had some problems with my sata hdd a few weeks ago and it had all my system files on it. I could get it running once in awhile but i said screw it and I installed WinXP on my IDE hd and now it doesnt recognize my sata drive. the sata screen still comes up when i boot, but I cant see it at all in windows exlorer. I tried going to the disk manager and it doesnt even show up there
 
Look in device manager (devmgmt.msc), and see if it is listed there... probably under unknown devices or atleast has an exclamation point next to it.
 
Best case,
I'm going to go out on a limb here but, sometimes when you start your PC it shows up and remains their through the entire session. Other times your start or more often restart and it disappears.

You may be exceeding the capacity on your PSU and it dropped the drive. Try disonnecting as many devices as you can, CD-ROMs etc and start the PC with as few drives devices as possible, and see what happens. If your drive shows up then it is more then likely your PSU. I'm going to guess you don't have any problem with your CD-ROM since it is on it's own cable from the PSU where as the harddrives are both sharing one. Check your voltages with a meter and post them.

Worst case,

It is dead have a memorial service for it and smash it with a hammer.
 
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It wasnt showing up in my device manager either, not even any unknown devices. i tried turning it off and unplugging it and starting it up, then turned off again and plugged it in and it works fine now, maybe it was just a coincidence and the plug kinda came out
 
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