SATA drive not detected at all.

[moongirl]

Hello, I have a problem.

Inside my computer I have one Western Digital 160 GB IDE HDD connected to the motherboard via IDE cable, and I have one Seagate 500 GB HDD connected to the motherboard via SATA cable. The WD is the master; the SATA's the slave.

When I bought the Seagate and installed it about 6 months to a year ago, it seemed to work perfectly with all my other hardware and I began to use it for the reason I bought it - as extra space for data storage. The arrangement worked well enough until about a few weeks ago: I showed my roommate some of the videos I had stored on the SATA with VLC Media Player, then turned the compy off and went to bed. When I went to go access the data on the SATA drive the next day, the drive was gone. The computer didn't see it anymore, and the BIOS didn't detect it at all, either.

What also seems unusual is that when the computer boots with the SATA drive all hooked up, the boot process lingers for about a minute on the "motherboard logo" screen before going on to load everything properly. When I unhook the drive, the computer boots up normally and doesn't linger on anything.

So, I dunno what the heck is going on. I'm wondering if somebody else does, because I'd really like to be able to access that drive again.

Motherboard: ASUS P5K Pro, LGA775 socket.
SATA Drive: Seagate Barracuda 3.5" Internal HD

 

[manojgj]

check for boot device order in you bios..

 

[Paperdoc]

Boot device sequence is not likely your problem. This sounds exactly like the 500 GB Seagate has significant errors. During the boot sequence the BIOS runs around checking that everything is OK and, in this case, gets error messages back from the Seagate drive so it tires again. And again. And again. And eventually it gives up and completes the boot process, but it does NOT show the Seagate drive because it can't respond properly.

Go to the Seagate website and look for their free diagnostic utility package, Seatools. I prefer the one for DOS that you burn to its own bootable optical disk and boot from. But you might prefer the Seatools for Windows for your problem. either way download and install it, then run all its tests on the 500 GB unit. NOTE that in one test it will give you a unique test fault code you must WRITE DOWN. If your HDD is bad and Seagate must replace it under warranty, they will want to know what these tests say and what that code was. Be aware that, if they do replace it, they generally will NOT offer to recover all your old files for you - you will lose them. So you will need to try some recovery techniques BEFORE returning a faulty drive.

Before you get too panicked, try one simple thing that SOMETIMES fixes things. Some SATA data cables slowly vibrate loose, so disconnect the power cord, open up the case and disconnect the 7-wire data ribbon cable at the drive, then re-connect it. Do this several times in case the connections are dirty. Then do the same for the other end that plugs into a mobo port. Then do the same for the power supply wires to the drive. Close the case, reconnect power, and boot up. Did it fix it? If so you got lucky and should celebrate. If not, proceed with the Seatools diagnostics.

 

[moongirl]

Boot device sequence is not likely your problem. This sounds exactly like the 500 GB Seagate has significant errors. During the boot sequence the BIOS runs around checking that everything is OK and, in this case, gets error messages back from the Seagate drive so it tires again. And again. And again. And eventually it gives up and completes the boot process, but it does NOT show the Seagate drive because it can't respond properly.

Go to the Seagate website and look for their free diagnostic utility package, Seatools. I prefer the one for DOS that you burn to its own bootable optical disk and boot from. But you might prefer the Seatools for Windows for your problem. either way download and install it, then run all its tests on the 500 GB unit. NOTE that in one test it will give you a unique test fault code you must WRITE DOWN. If your HDD is bad and Seagate must replace it under warranty, they will want to know what these tests say and what that code was. Be aware that, if they do replace it, they generally will NOT offer to recover all your old files for you - you will lose them. So you will need to try some recovery techniques BEFORE returning a faulty drive.

Before you get too panicked, try one simple thing that SOMETIMES fixes things. Some SATA data cables slowly vibrate loose, so disconnect the power cord, open up the case and disconnect the 7-wire data ribbon cable at the drive, then re-connect it. Do this several times in case the connections are dirty. Then do the same for the other end that plugs into a mobo port. Then do the same for the power supply wires to the drive. Close the case, reconnect power, and boot up. Did it fix it? If so you got lucky and should celebrate. If not, proceed with the Seatools diagnostics.

Okay. I went and got Seatools, installed it, and hooked the drive back up. When I ran the program, I got this:

I think that means my drive's fubarred... 🙁

 

[aford10]

You could try replacing the SATA cable.

 

[Paperdoc]

You might want to check with Seagate's Tech Support guys. I do not think that message is due to problems accessing the drive being tested. It looks more like an error message from the Seatools for Windows application having difficulty finding the right Windows files to use.

 

[moongirl]

Best answer selected by moongirl.

 

[fishsnacks]

Moongirl, I am very familiar with this problem. As are thousands of other owners of about 50% of Seagate Barracuda's 7200.11's. Especially the model ST3500320AS with firmware version SD15. THE problem is called either the BSY error and maybe the LBA=0 error, caused by the firmware. If you call Seagate they will offer to replace the drive for free. The data is NOT recoverable with any software recovery tools. THere is a way to fix it if you have some tools and some real determination (I fixed the drive myself). To check out the fix go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29FztWJVxbM&feature=related. Read the descritpion carefully and follow the lnks. I ordered the cable from ebay. If you go digging through forums you will find that this problem is quite common with a lot of the 7200.11 SD15 owners. I flashed the firmware on it to the newer SD01A (or whatever it was) and this is actually proved counter-productive. I have since boycotted Seagate drives. If you google your model # and mention LBA = 0, or "Bricked Seagate drives, there is a wealth of information regarding this problem. Not many good stories though. Hope this helps a bit.