BIOS not detecting HDD (but it works)

[Apeiron90]

Hello everyone.

First of all, thanks for having such a great comunity and for taking your time to answer this.

I must say that I've been looking other post with slightly the same problem as I do, but none of them was the same (at least not the ones I've seen during all the day).

As my title says, my BIOS shows the following message when I boot my PC as you see in the following pic:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-Zk8Eof6PsUSDUwZk9GRGVadVNjWF93VU8tTFRZYjY0cmxj/view

You can also see my PC specifications:

OS: WINDOWS 7

Motherboard
CPU Type QuadCore Intel Core i7-4770, 3400 MHz (34 x 100)
Motherboard Name Asus Maximus VI Hero (3 PCI-E x1, 3 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR3 DIMM, Audio, Video, Gigabit LAN)
Motherboard Chipset Intel Lynx Point Z87, Intel Haswell

RAM: 8GB:
DIMM1: G Skill RipjawsX F3-12800CL7-4GBXM
DIMM3: G Skill RipjawsX F3-12800CL7-4GBXM

BIOS Type AMI (08/19/2013) (Really outdated... I know, but I've never had troubles)

Storage
IDE Controller Asmedia 106x SATA Controller
IDE Controller Intel(R) 8 Series/C220 Series SATA AHCI Controller - 8C02
Disk Drive KINGSTON SH103S3240G ATA Device (240 GB, SATA-III)
Disk Drive WDC WD30EFRX-68EUZN0 ATA Device (3 TB, 5400 RPM, SATA-III)
Optical Drive HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NSB0 ATA Device (DVD+R9:8x, DVD-R9:8x, DVD+RW:24x/8x, DVD-RW:24x/6x, DVD-RAM:5x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/24x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK


As you can see, I have 2 HDD: KINGSTON and WDC and none of them appears in the list above.

A week ago, Windows Update downloaded about 230 updates. It installed 6 of them and then it said that "Windows Update failed, Recovering system...". After that, this problem with the BIOS started (but I'm not sure if it has something to do).

If I press F1 and exit BIOS (just that) Windows starts as usual and I can restart or turn down and on my PC again with no trouble.

The prompt only shows when my PC has been turned off for a long time (say half an hour or more).

Right now it's as follows:

- I turn on my PC
- It turns on and makes its noise as usual (vents and that)
- It turns off (???)
- It turns on again (????)
- Shows the "Republic of Gamers" logo
- Shoes the screen I shared above
- I enter BIOS Setting
- I exit BIOS Setting
- Windows Starts


Thanks again, and please, let me know if it has been answered somewhere already.

 

[CountMike]

It could be only other way around that update failed because of disk problem. If you have set SATA to AHCI mode it may not show up on main screen during boot. You should be able to find them deeper in BIOS, probably at place that lets you decide which device to boot from first.

 

[Apeiron90]

It could be only other way around that update failed because of disk problem. If you have set SATA to AHCI mode it may not show up on main screen during boot. You should be able to find them deeper in BIOS, probably at place that lets you decide which device to boot from first.

I've set anything in the BIOS for 2 years and it's been working perfectly. This issue started a week ago...

I've checked the boot priority and it's set to "Windows boot (P1: KINGSTON ****)" in the first place.

It's funny because it detects that the HDD is in the SATA Port1 when I select the Boot priority but if I check the SATA Devices List it only shows the DVD Device (in port 6)...

The hour and date seems to be ok in the BIOS, btw (I've read somewhere that if it resets it could be due to low battery).


Thanks for the answer.

 

[CountMike]

It's same way here. SATA set to AHCI and anything in those ports except for DVD drive doesn't show up in main menu. If I change to IDE they do show in main menu. Try that and see. It may not boot up to OS but you can always switch back to AHCI.

 

[Apeiron90]

It's same way here. SATA set to AHCI and anything in those ports except for DVD drive doesn't show up in main menu. If I change to IDE they do show in main menu. Try that and see. It may not boot up to OS but you can always switch back to AHCI.

It did something, the OS started as usual and when I logged in Windows downloaded and installed some drivers for a few devices for the HDD and the DVD writer.

I really do not know how this happened... it's been about 2 months since I reinstalled Windows and everything worked perfectly until last week Windows Update failed...


I can't ensure this will solve my problem, but at least there are some changes.

Thank you, I'll let you know if everything works fine tomorrow

 

[Apeiron90]

It's same way here. SATA set to AHCI and anything in those ports except for DVD drive doesn't show up in main menu. If I change to IDE they do show in main menu. Try that and see. It may not boot up to OS but you can always switch back to AHCI.

It did something, the OS started as usual and when I logged in Windows downloaded and installed some drivers for a few devices for the HDD and the DVD writer.

I really do not know how this happened... it's been about 2 months since I reinstalled Windows and everything worked perfectly until last week Windows Update failed...


I can't ensure this will solve my problem, but at least there are some changes.

Thank you, I'll let you know if everything works fine tomorrow

I'm sorry to tell you that this didn't solve the problem.

But I have some news: the BIOS restarts its configuration every time I turn on the computer after a few hours (It's been turned off during 10 hours, but if it stays turned off during a short time, say 5 minutes, it does not reset the configuration).

I checked the SATA mode to IDE and it was AHCI again when I checked it today.

Could it be a Hardware problem?

 

[CountMike]

Could be CMOS battery problem, it shouldn't go changing settings like that.

 

[Apeiron90]

Could be CMOS battery problem, it shouldn't go changing settings like that.

I changed the battery and... finally it works!!!

I got this computer 2 years ago, that's why I didn't though it was a battery issue (I've read that batteries last for at least 5 years). But maybe they used an old battery when they built it or the battery was not a good one or... whatever.

If anyone else have this issue: "BIOS does not detect HDD but it launches the OS when I exit the BIOS configuration" try to replace the CMOS battery.

Thank you very much, CountMike

 

[CountMike]

Actually name for those batteries is "10 year lithium battery" but that is it's shelf life. They usually last up to 3 years but resetting BIOS/CMOS many times may shorten it's life.