Disk boot Failure/ start up freezing - Researched for MONTHS

[derekvr4]

****Hardware Configuration****
PSU : OCZ GameXtream 700W
CPU : AMD x2 4400+ (Avg Temp 25 - 35 Celsius)
VID : Evga 7800GTX 256MG
MOBO : DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra-D (Avg Temp 35 - 40 Celsius) (Case Avg Temp 50 Celsius)
RAM : 2 x 1GB OCZ Platinum
HDD : WD 74 GB Raptor (Sata)
HDD : WD 250 GB (Sata)
****Nothing Overclocked or Modded****


I have been reading for months on my problem and have only found a temporary solution... i have fixed numerous problems just from reading forums/google.. This if my FIRST post to get help.

A few months ago I had to restart my computer, which resulted in a "Disk Boot Failure, Please insert system disk".. so i restarted and everything was fine.. about a month or so later it started happening more frequently, and eventually there was no getting around it.. I read and read and tried every possible solution that seemed relevant.

Neither Hard Drive is detected in Bios, (auto detect finds nothing)
I've ran memtest several times and my ram is fine..
I've Connected, Disconnected, Plugged into different SATA ports, for each HD in every possible combination.
I purchased the new PSU listed in my profile (OCZ GameXtream 700w) because it seemed like that might have been behind the problem. which was to no avail (My previous PSU was a AMS 550W).

IF I do a cold boot then it will detect the harddrives but it will get into XP (pro sp2) but it will freeze shortly after even from performing the smallest task, ex: right clicking desktop or moving the mouse over the clock to see the date.

I reinstalled WinXP which seemed to fix the problem , which seemed to fix it temporarily (the occasional bootdisk failure) and then it became more frequent to everytime, along came the immediate freezing also..

OH and it switched the Partition Names, Drive C:WINDOWS Became Drive D:Windows , and Drive D:MISC DATA became Drive C: Misc Data.. this mix up caused me to accidentally delete my partition for my 250GB of data which im currently waiting on BING to try and recover.

ANY help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[g-paw]

If you switched the Drive letters since to reinstalled Windows, that's very likely the problem. I'd take out the second drive, assume it's the 250GB, and then to a clean install of Windows on the Raptor with a full format not quick.

 

[dahmet501]

This is a very similar problem to what i have.
Last night i was playing a game on my pc when the pc decided to just shut off, I tried to turn it back on and i couldnt get windows to boot. After messing around with cables and trying a few things i started getting the "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK" message. My bios was not finding the HD as being connected it was only finding my cd drive so i changed where i connected my HD by trying it as the primary slave, secondary master (the CD drive is connected as secondary slave.) But this was still not finding my HD and i was still gettin the boot failure message. Now here is what is confusing me, I finally tried disconnecting the CD drive and connected my HD to that connector (Secondary Slave) and well thats how im on my computer now. All other IDE connections fail to find my HD or my CD drive, it seems that the only IDE connection that works is the seconday slave.
If anyone has any idea what is causing this problem please help as i really have no idea what it is and how it happened all of a sudden.

 

[ethel]

The problem is probably either:

1) A dodgy hard disk
2) A dodgy cable
3) A dodgy SATA port
4) A dodgy mobo / SATA controller

To eliminate one option or the other, you should physically disconnect each disk in turn and attempt to run Windows with one disk. This will help you determine if it is 1/2/3 above. Then you can work out whether it is 1/2/3 from there by changing the cable / port.

The reason Windows moved your drive letters is that you moved the disks around to different SATA ports.

 

[derekvr4]

ok, i so i updated my bios and then the next day i got a BSOD from a game and then my harddrives werent recognized on restart.. it seems that if i shutdown the correct way it always detects the harddrives, but if it crashes to a restart then they arent detected.

 

[dokk2]

****Hardware Configuration****
PSU : OCZ GameXtream 700W
CPU : AMD x2 4400+ (Avg Temp 25 - 35 Celsius)
VID : Evga 7800GTX 256MG
MOBO : DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra-D (Avg Temp 35 - 40 Celsius) (Case Avg Temp 50 Celsius)
RAM : 2 x 1GB OCZ Platinum
HDD : WD 74 GB Raptor (Sata)
HDD : WD 250 GB (Sata)
****Nothing Overclocked or Modded****


I have been reading for months on my problem and have only found a temporary solution... i have fixed numerous problems just from reading forums/google.. This if my FIRST post to get help.

A few months ago I had to restart my computer, which resulted in a "Disk Boot Failure, Please insert system disk".. so i restarted and everything was fine.. about a month or so later it started happening more frequently, and eventually there was no getting around it.. I read and read and tried every possible solution that seemed relevant.

Neither Hard Drive is detected in Bios, (auto detect finds nothing)
I've ran memtest several times and my ram is fine..
I've Connected, Disconnected, Plugged into different SATA ports, for each HD in every possible combination.
I purchased the new PSU listed in my profile (OCZ GameXtream 700w) because it seemed like that might have been behind the problem. which was to no avail (My previous PSU was a AMS 550W).

IF I do a cold boot then it will detect the harddrives but it will get into XP (pro sp2) but it will freeze shortly after even from performing the smallest task, ex: right clicking desktop or moving the mouse over the clock to see the date.

I reinstalled WinXP which seemed to fix the problem , which seemed to fix it temporarily (the occasional bootdisk failure) and then it became more frequent to everytime, along came the immediate freezing also..

OH and it switched the Partition Names, Drive C:WINDOWS Became Drive D:Windows , and Drive D:MISC DATA became Drive C: Misc Data.. this mix up caused me to accidentally delete my partition for my 250GB of data which im currently waiting on BING to try and recover.

ANY help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

'Allo Derekvr4: AhA!!! I used to have a similar problem it stemmed from the fact that I was using HDD caddys and the interface sometimes went south especially on my primary HDD..
Now then ,, Assuming that [from your sys specs] your hardware is all a'ok then it would seem to me that you might try two things,,,,,,,,, 1 ,If you have or can get/make a ME boot disk put scandisk on it and run same,,,what you are looking for are bad blocks,,if you find any you will HAVE to write ZEROs to the whole HDD with the manuf's software,remember some bad blocks exist because one or more proggies have tried to rite to the same offset and location on the HDD the only solution is a ZERO write...2.. AND on the same floppy put fdisk and run same,,,,,,,,,,,, IE : fdisk /mbr ,,this will rerite the HDD's boot sector...my 2c Good luck
ps: Do the mbr first,,might get lucky??

 

[derekvr4]

ok so i used BootItNG to write zero's to the disk, i did a 35 pass wipe lol.. i havent noticed the problem yet, but my computer hasnt crashed to restart lately, and thats what usually causes the hard disks to not be detected.

 

[sojrner]

I would also be careful here though and not trust those drives... if you are getting a clicking noise out of either of them when they are no longer detected then they are failing... but even w/o it I would not trust any important data to them until you find the problem.

 

[derekvr4]

thx sojrner, ill keep that in mind, i havent gotten any weird noises from them thus far. btw, does anyone know of a free alternative to recover data from a accidentally deleted partition? i have found the data with one program but it wants $80 to get it