What is wrong with my computer? Hard drive isn't being detected?

Question

I can't believe I've asked like 4 questions today and not thought to ask about this =O
I'm having to use a laptop at the moment (grr) as my computer has been broken for about 2 weeks now. I've had my fiance and my brother, who both have computer experience, look at it, and we still haven't been able to determine the cause.
So I turned it on about 2 weeks ago and the mouse wouldnt move so I wiggled the plug and nothing happened, ctrl alt del didn't work either so I assumed it had crashed and restarted it. The same thing happened again so I restarted again and got an error message. We tried using the windows disk (I'm not sure of the correct term) and some console commands but it wouldn't work, and from what we could see the computer won't detect the hard drive. I've never had this problem before, it's the same hard drive the computer came with (I've had it since about 2004 I think) and I haven't messed around with any of the settings.
We know my hard drive is working fine because we put it in another computer to test it and it worked straight away. We've also tried replacing the SATA cable with a new one to no avail.
My fiance thinks my entire motherboard is fried and needs replacing, but my brother thinks there's something up with the BIOS (? If thats a thing, I think that's what he said...). So with them pulling in different directions over this I'm not really sure what to do about it.
Could I have a 3rd, 4th, 5th etc opinion from any of you geniuses out there? =] If you need any more details just ask and I'll do my best to answer =]
Thanking you!

Answer 1

Well ... since the BIOS is a part of the motherboard, they could both be correct.

You've done all the diagnostics that you can do without taking it to someone who can check out the motherboard (computer shop).

Answer 2

"So I turned it on about 2 weeks ago and the mouse wouldnt move so I wiggled the plug and nothing happened, ctrl alt del didn't work either so I assumed it had crashed and restarted it."



The hard drive is being detected or you would not be getting into windows and having mouse problems.



"The same thing happened again so I restarted again and got an error message. We tried using the windows disk (I'm not sure of the correct term) and some console commands but it wouldn't work, and from what we could see the computer won't detect the hard drive. I've never had this problem before, it's the same hard drive the computer came with (I've had it since about 2004 I think) and I haven't messed around with any of the settings."



I assume that after the 'error message' you can no longer get into windows.



"We know my hard drive is working fine because we put it in another computer to test it and it worked straight away. We've also tried replacing the SATA cable with a new one to no avail."



I assume that the drive was being used as a 'Slave' drive. Booting a drive set up in one computer and having it run windows in another computer is almost unheard of, unless you are running win98 or earlier.



Suggestions:

Put your drive back into your computer

Restart the computer, watch the first screen as it boots up for the key to enter Setup. Generally this will be Del, Esc, etc.

Auto Detect the drives, ensure that the hard drive, CDROM are correctly identified.

Check the Boot Sequence: 1. CDROM, 2. Hard drive.

Exit Saving Settings.

Remove any CDROM disks from the cd drive.

Restart



Good Luck

Answer 3

There's no short answer for this. I tend to think it may be the bios, but it could very well be the motherboard too.



When you boot up the computer you should get a post screen. It will show the bios name, like ami or phoenix, and the amount of memory and probably the drives installed. It you can't get that far, then open the case and see who manufactured the board and get the model number. Hopefully it's not a dell, gateway or compaq/hp etc. You need to reset the board to it's defaults. There should be jumper pins there that you can use to reset it. It would depend on the motherboard. If yu don't have the manual for your motherboard, go to the manufacturer's site and see if there is a manual you can download. It should show where those pins are to reset the board. Also at the manufacturer's site there may be patches/updates for the bios. You might want to download those also. If after you've reset the board it still doesn't work. Try updating the bios. What have you got to loose at this point. See it that helps. If not, it's the board and time to go shopping.



If it boots up you want to press the del key and get into the bios set up. This is going to vary depending on the motherboard, but you want to get to the screen that will list the drives installed, hd, cd/dvd and floppy drives. See if it recognizes them. Also, and again it would depend on the motherboard, see if it's displaying the time and date and see if it's correct. If not, it could be the cmos battery.

Answer 4

opportunities: driving force project. determine you have the main present day utility and the final drivers put in- those would selection counting on OS. no longer basic stress failure. touch Seagate and demand unfastened replacements, besides as archives extraction if desperately mandatory. spyware. i assume that is between the topics, regardless of the undeniable fact that somewhat stunning. determine you do a spyware test and virus test and each little thing.

Answer 5

Well if your hard drive is from 04 then it probably crashed. ALL hard drives crash sometime. I hope you backed up all your data because if you didn't you may have to start completely fresh...