hard drive not being recognized

...So I got the cf-48 back together and now I'm able to get into the setup menu. The problem I was having before was that when booting up it would say "operating system not found." So I set it up to boot from the cd drive with my windows xp cd. When that tried to install it said it couldn't because there is no hard drive. Back in setup, I take a look and sure enough next to "Primary Master" it says "None." Anyone know what would probably cause this? My drive is hooked up and was previously working fine, did it just die on me or what?

 

Try unplugging it and plugging it back in to make sure its not just loose. If it still says None in the BIOS you could try putting the drive in a external enclosure to see if you can see it through there. If it still doesn't show up then ya its most likely dead.

 

I think that is a hardware issue, try to change the hardrive.

 

You say you "got it back together"... Did you split the case? If so you may have a wire stopping the connections from seating all the way.

 

No it stopped working before I ever took it apart (like it was going fine when I went to bed, woke up and it had the "OS not found" message on the screen). I'm just going to get a new hard drive to stick in there and it should be fine. I haven't done much with computer hardware before this but I think I'm learning quick here, this forum has been very helpful.

 

I'm thinking... perhaps the disks in your drive is a little 'sticky'. If you're replacing the HDD anyway, and don't mind 'toying' with it, disconnect the HDD and give it a gentle shake. Reconnect the cable, making sure you didn't miss any of the pins or connected it upside-down. Then switch it on and see if the same problem persist.

Experienced that once before but I had to get the HDD going, to retrieve some data before retiring it.

Computers are fun... when they work. Otherwise you'll be tearing your hair out!

 

The list of things I used to do to recover data were pretty funny.

I've tossed a couple drives in the freezer, and once in a great while I had to tap it with a small hammer on the side every 10 seconds to keep it going.

 

Ahhhh... Technology at its finest!

 

I tried the freezer thing over the summer with another hard drive on my former desktop that was like 10 years old... no go. Maybe I should've used a big hammer...

 

The fridge has saved maybe 20-30 HDD's long enough to get data off for me.

 

Interesting.. what does the cold temp do to help the hard drive?

 

To be honest, I have no idea why or how it works. But it does sometimes.

 

I've heard that the cold makes the bearings lubrication a little more viscous so it is less prone to rattling around. (In the case of hard drive failure due to bearing failure.) Though when it warms up... It goes back to acting up. I tried it once and it worked for me. I needed to get some old pictures off a hard drive for someone.

 

I've hear that, I've also heard of the cold shrinking parts that expanded by heat. I have heard a bunch of reasons but never have seen a scientific test done on why it works.

 

Up in Saskatoon, you could just go outside for that

I was never quite sure how it worked either, but after it worked once, we did it any time we had trouble getting data.

I sorta miss that job... if only they paid me what I deserved...

 

Haha ya its been not to bad weather lately. Maybe -20 C (-4 F) most days. Thats the problem with being a good service tech. You need to learn enough to fix computers well, but once you know that much you should get paid more and can usually find a better job.