After HDD change - laptop doesn't turn on

Today I was trying to swap the hdd in my W3j, wanted to change slow 4200 Hitachi K120 100GB to Seagate Momentus 5400.3 80GB. I opened the bottom and replace the hdd, the connector is the same (ATA) so I thought that won't be any problems. I closed the hatch and pushed the power button...and no action. Nothing.I returned to Hitachi HDD and all went like a charm. Can somebody know what's going on?? Why it can't start with new HDD??

 

That's weird, no reason why it shouldn't work.

Is the HD housing completely off, and firmly inserted?

 

Is the new harddrive set up to be master?

 

There is no option that the HDD is not corectly insert or something. HD is set up as master on default. I agree that's weird.

 

Have you tested the HDD in another machine to make sure it is good?

 

Don't have other laptop to check either external box for hdd. But this would be extremly bad luck to got new hdd broken.

 

Can you post pictures of the two hd's connection?

JC

 

Pictures would be a good idea.

Is there a jumper on either one of them?

 

It's typicall ATA but here you have picture of it (sorry for baaaad quality, I have only my mobile phone with me)


There were no jumpers. Both have connection like those on picture.

EDIT.
This pictures looks worse than I thought

 

How about putting it back in and wiggling it?

Um, you may want to go to a local store and test it out, and test out other HDs that may or may not work in your W3J.

I just wanna make sure about one thing though.
Did you buy a PATA or SATA HD? I believe the W3J only supports PATA.

So double check you bought a PATA HD.

Good Luck!

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

I'm 100% sure that it's PATA not SATA. I checked this before I ordered it.

 

I say there is a good chance that the HDD is bad, but it could be that the HDD is not partitioned. To confirm this you will have to find a friend with an external HDD enclosure and connect it to your laptop. Then go into Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Storage>Disk Management> and if it sees it there, partition it. If it is not seen there it is bad. If it is seen there, it should work after you partition it.

 

Jumper is not required to set. If the setting is open(ON), it sets as a master automatically for all the 2.5" HD. You can check it again after taking it out, it can turn it on or not. If you have any friends who have a laptop, try to put it in for testing, or go to your dealer to do your faviour for testing.

 

It's Saturday evening here so no chance today So it is possible that it is not partitioned and that is the reason why it's not working right? But this seems to be strange, I thought that I can partition it after not before placing it inside. I guess I must wait till Monday to be sure.

 

Ok, I checked the laptop with NO HDD inside and it turns on so there are to ways now : HDD is broken or W3 is not compatible with this Seagate disc, but the second option sounds a little weird to me.

 

Easily solfved, I have done this a few times now, with wondows 2K.

If it is a new drive it will be completely empty and unformatted, if you just slap it in and boot it, nothing will happend as it is an empty unformatted drive, with no OS installed, it will be completely clean.

What you need to do is install the HDD again, then put the Windows XP CD in the dvd drive then boot up the laptop, then it will boot off the CD and it will install windows XP and format the new HDD onto the drive and you should be set to go!

then you just need to install all of the Asus software and Utls you need.

I did this only 3 months ago when I put a new Seagate momentus 5400.2 100GB in my 6 year old Copmpaq Armada.

 

Hmmm ok I will try but the problem was that it didn't turn on AT ALL. If this will work - I own you one

 

Yeah let us know how you get on,

I brought two Seagate HDDs from thailand, and the other I formated and am using as storage, when I plugged it in via my USB HDD enclosure, I had to go to disc manager and intialise the disc before windows even regestered the drive, then in disc management I had to choose a partition size and then format the drive, after the formatting was done, it then appeard in windows as an external drive.

Good Luck! im off to look at some surfboards, I want to get one this weekend......

 

dzein dobrij mastha!

Registering/recognizing is one thing - but if yours simply doesn't power on with it, I'd say that the HDD is at fault...unless the W3J is one of those Compaq clones with the BIOS on the HDD I had a similar problem with an old Dell - it wouldn't power on until I swapped the HDD.

First time I've heard of a DOA Seagate, though. I guess it happens, sorry that it fell upon you. I've had nothing but luck with them.

 

I hace a seagate in my Z63 they are great HDs. Its just a faulty drive it should work fine with that brand so i wouldnt worry about that.

 

Ok, it's official : I give up. I put WinXP cd into dvd, turn off, swap the hdd's and still the same : laptop just doesn't turn off with this sh..t. Don't know what to do, I guess it's just broken hdd but who knows

 

IF you are having issue with it. Just return it and get a new one. You dont want some junk thats gonna be unreliable for as long as you have it.

 

I think NZ's steps above are correct and should be the solution to this problem. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see what Mastha says after he try's it. Unless the drive is faulty, then the process NZ described should be the solution.

 

Well, I guess that's that then. I hate when I'm in the process of writing a post, and people post inbetween, making my post look stupid!!!

That's too bad, I would have bet money that those steps would have solved your problem...oh well. You'll have to find a way to test the drive somewhere else before you return it, just to be sure. Good luck

 

@ Calibrated : There is a tinny button with EDIT write on, you can use it for sometimes and than you can avoid your posts looks stupid. Just a good advice
And about the hdd : on Monday I will give it to service and they will have to worry about it. If the hdd is broken, I will just take new one. But what in case when even the second unit won't work??

 

are you using the restore disks because i know that you have to hold down one of the F1-F12 buttons in order to do a full restore?

 

d12ag0n49 has a good point, but either way when you installla completely clean drive you will have to run some boot disc that will install the OS and format the drive whether it be Asus restore or XP.

I take it you do not have a USB enclosure, you can use t connect and initialise the disc to at least check that the disc is ok and see if it works?

Anyway service should be able to tell you, the only problem I could see is if at was SATA and not PATA.

 

Oh I know all about the edit/delete options...but since I had already posted it and taken the time to write it, I figured I'd leave it. I also wanted to point out the fact that I hate when that happens...which would have looked weird If the other post was no longer there...Anyways...good luck with getting that situation sorted out.

 

Maybe the bios can't read the drive? Maybe you have to push a bios reset button under the laptop prior to turning it on? Also you can get a usb harddrive enclosure to see if partition magic or whatnot can 'see' the drive. Mastha, u might also want to backup that little 1.9 gig hidden partiton that Asus put into the w3j's harddrive. It's the recovery partition and probably contains that instantOn software in there, unless of course if you don't care for that feature. =)

 

Why go through all this trouble to trouble shoot this drive. He should be able to just put the drive in and work fine. i really havent read this thread so not sure if im missing something.

 

His issue is he puts it in and the laptop won't even turn on. We have given him all of the normal trouble shooting tips but so far he hasn't been able to test it on another machine or with an external enclosure to see if the drive is dead, or just needs to be initialized and partitioned.

 

OK, I tried one more thing : I put WinXP disc into the drive, and change boot settings that the dvd is on first place. And changed the hdd. Still the same. It has to be something with this Seagate, any other configuration turns on with no problem even with no hdd, no dvd, and no hdd and dvd. Tomorow all answers will be given...I hope.

 

A agree with SRD, shouldnt have to do anything to get it going... although i did use a USB enclosure to 'Initialise" it.

But thats very odd, not trying to insult your sight but sure none of the pins are bent or worse, broken...

I couldnt see the pins very well from the pic..,

and do the pins match up with the pins on the old drive?

insane

 

Connections are exactly the same, all pins are not bent. Perfect condition. What most annoying me is why w3 doesn't want to turn on with this trash inside.

 

Yes, very strange indeed. I would expect some sort of error message or something at least.

 

I had the same problem when the ram wasn't inserted firmly even though it like it was, it refused to turn on. I KNOW YOU PROBABLY GOT THIS RIGHT BUT MAKE SURE ITS FIRMLY IN POSITION. Put your old drive back in and see if it works... If it does make sure your new drive is inserted in the same way. If that doesn't work like everyone said you have a dead drive. I think asus bios has some sort of prevention system where it refuses to turn on if something is faulty to prevent damage. If you think about its safer... Imagine having a hard disk internals had a loose connection where it causes short circuit or something then it might damage the laptop if it actually powered on.

 

Hmm Ram is in right position, after installing Corsair stick I check it in Windows and it showed 1,5 GB ram (i haven't removed second 512 yet). Same situation with hdd : 100% positive that is inserted properly. I guess your right and the hdd is just dead but I have to wait till tomorow to be sure.

 

I didn't mean you had a problem with RAM, I was just saying my Asus refused to turn on like yours (but in your case it was HDD). Good luck anyhow.

 

The only reason this would happen is if you are attaching the cable upside down. THis will cause no post what so ever. There is no master switch on any drive. Atleast not ones in the states. Hitachi has not manufactured drives with master or slave requirements in recent years. You just put them in and go. Your problem is either the drive is broken or you are not attaching the cable correctly. If you are sure the cable is attached right then the drive is broken. You said it does not turn on right? If there is no post what so ever (no text on screen) then the cable is not attached right. If there is text but its halts shortly after the first screen during post then it is a bad hdd.

 

Ok I will sum up what we have :
1. HDD is 100000% good attached, besides there is only one way to connect it.
2. The laptop DOESN'T TURN ON which means exactly what I said, absolutely no action, no sounds, display doesn't turn on, no posts on screen. Nothing.
3. This problem is only with Seagate HDD, with Hitachi there is no problem.
4. IMO the HDD is broken, tomorow I will know what's going on with it and put the answer ASAP.

 

That's fine. You already have narrowed the problem. Only 2 things relate to this issue. 1) The HD cannot be compatible with your laptop, 2) The HD is defective. Please let us know after you get the answer.

 

But how it is possible that HDD is not compatible?! W3 have PATA connector so should accept ALL PATA drives.

 

Ya'll kicking a dead horse guys! We won't know what's up with it until he replaces the drive

 

Ok, problem solved. Just please - don't laugh. Today I went to service and ask them to change RAM and HDD. They put 1x1GB under the keyboard slot, both 512 are gone. It's ok, it's working. And now HDD. Guys at service point tried to swap drives and as I was expected they had the same situation like me : it's just didn't turn on. They didn't know wtf is going on. And suddenly one of them said : hey swap this black sticker that is on the Hitachi drive to Seagate. And guess what?? That was it!! On Hitachi drive there was black sticker which probably isolate hdd from the flap which probably conduct current and makes some clasp. That's why it didn't want to turn on. I know there is a lot of PROBABLY here but it's the only explenation I have.

 

so it was all just a sticker??? Can you show us pics?? or for the fact don't, cos what if you remove the Seagate and take pics but then you put back the drive and it doesn't work.

How about a pic of where the sticker was on the Hitachi drive.

Well Congratz!!! lol

Can't wait for a review.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

Ok, I installed most of programs I use, so it's time to check what this baby can do. I made a test in HD Tune 2.52 and the results are...

1. First screen is from previous HDD which was Hitachi K120 4200rpm : http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hdtest1zo.jpg

2. This is from my previous laptop, Hitachi 7200 rpm : http://img439.imageshack.us/my.php?image=beztytuu8nm.jpg

3. And now, Seagate Momentus 5400.3 score : http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/2262/seagate7he.jpg

Enjoy

 

The Hitachi drives seem to have better burst speeds than the Seagate drive, even at lower spindle speeds. I wonder if this is true across the board or just in your case.

 

hey kool, thanks for the pics, for some reason the seagate does extremely well for a 5400 rpm compared top the hitachi 7200 rpm.

Not sure why but, kool

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

Hey what is the status of your warantee, you mentioned some time ago that if you took it in to service (to switch the HDD) your warantee would still be valid. (so you don't have to keep the old drive).

Did that work out? or have you kept the old drive?

 

The lady in Asus customer center told me that I can swap the hdd's but I just won't have warranty for the new one. That's all. If she was wrong,it's not my problem anyway, I have proof what she told.