Sata drives only recognized for short time after power on

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shepard91

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I apologize in advance for the mistakes I'll make, being not english. Recently, while I was playing a game, windows crashed into a BSOD and rebooted, giving me the "reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key" error. If I reboot the pc after this error and go to the bios, I see NONE of the sata drives (which are three hard drives and two dvd drives), even if I hear them spin (I could be wrong but when I touch one of the hard drives it gives a slight vibration). The bios does, however, recognize everything else, like my external usb hard drive, the RAM and so on. I tried to reseat the cables, both on the drives and on the mobo, but no luck. Then I discovered that, occasionally, when I leave the pc shut down for a while and then power it on again it will recognize all of my sata drives. In these cases, if I go to the bios I can see all of them properly recognized. This, however, only lasts a few moment, since when I exit the bios the computer will freeze into a black screen. A very few times I was also able to go into windows 8 recovery menu, but even in that case, nothing will have any sort of effect. Just for the saying, I swapped the sata cables and probably changed the order they were connected. I don't really know what to think, but probably the sata ports are where the problem is (or maybe the psu?)...what do you think the problem is?
 
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I have a couple questions:

1. What motherbaord do you have?
2. Why would you reformat your hard disks if you keep the same CPU (which implies either a compatible or the same chipset)? You'd want to reinstall if there were issues after being hit by a nasty virus, but it usually isn't required if the system was working fine.
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shepard91

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Thanks for the answer.
By the way, if the problem was one of the hdds, shouldn't have the others been detected?
And, since none of them will be recognized in this machine, should I use this checking software onto another pc? I have another one, but it's...well, not really fast. It also doesn't have any sata port, so I should buy an adapter in order to do that.
 
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shepard91

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Yeah, I know...anyway I linked the hard drives to my laptop through a sata to usb adapter and they are just fine, I was able to backup all of my important data. Lucky me. Since the problem could come from the motherboard (most likely) or from the power supply, and I want to know where the problem comes from so bad, could I just plug the hard drive to my motherboard while powering it up with an external power supply (not the one inside the case) or would this lead to any problem?
 
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shepard91

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That's what I think too but, like we say in Italy, "la speranza è l'ultima a morire" (hope is the last to die).
In the case of a damaged psu I'd only have to buy another one and place it, while if it's the motherboard...well, it would cost quite a bit more and the guy at the shop told me that I'd need to format all of the hdds (do you confirm this?), which is frustrating, since in that case I'd have to reinstall all the programs I need. But yeah, chances are high that the problem is my mobo. Damn those sata ports, I wish I could just change them.
 
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GhislainG

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I have a couple questions:

1. What motherbaord do you have?
2. Why would you reformat your hard disks if you keep the same CPU (which implies either a compatible or the same chipset)? You'd want to reinstall if there were issues after being hit by a nasty virus, but it usually isn't required if the system was working fine.
 
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shepard91

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Hm, I do not know how but I gave you the best answer without even noticing o_O
I have an asus M4N72-E motherboard. My complete configuration is in this thread, if you need to know:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2008656/motherboard-suggestions.html
So I would not have to reformat? As I said, the guy at the shop told me in case of mobo change you have to do that to get it to work. Maybe that's just a strategy to have me pay more, because he would reformat it for me. (It's not that difficult, I just don't have much time, having to study for more than an exam)
 
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GhislainG

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I don't know what CPU you have, but it has to be pretty old. Your options are limited: you either get another used Asus M4N72-E to replace yours or you upgrade the processor, motherboard and memory. In that case, the guy at the shop was correct; you'll probably have to reinstall Windows because the newer AMD chipsets are not compatible with that nVidia chipset. It may work, but you'll have to give it a try.
 
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shepard91

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I just checked in the bios and the processor is an AMD Phenom II X4 940, is it really that old?
 
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GhislainG

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It was relased 4 years ago, therefore it isn't that old, but if the motherboard is defective, finding a replacement may prove challenging. An alternate solution would be to buy a SATA controller (one that can be booted from, but you may lose performance).

Here's a list of 349 compatible motherboards: http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/CPUs/AMD/Phenom_II_X4/940_motherboards.html Your current motherboard is socket AM3 and the CPU is AM2+. The details indicate if the motherboard is socket AM2+ or AM3 (both are compatible) and the chipset (nVidia or AMD).

Note that AMD chipset based motherboards do not support SLI, but that shouldn't be an issue if you install a single nVidia GPU.

You can always unselect the best solution.
 
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shepard91

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Thanks, this was useful :) If I ever unselect the best answer I'll most likely assign it to another one of your answers since you're the only one who keeps trying to help me so far.
I'll take a look to the mobos there tomorrow (I have to go to bed right now =I )

P.S. the "best solution" thing gives some sort of "reputation points", right?
 
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GhislainG

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You wrote "P.S. the "best solution" thing gives some sort of "reputation points", right?" Sort of, but I'm not after that; I'm trying to help even when a best answer has already been selected, but is incomplete or inaccurate. Most members are here to help; only a few ask to be selected as it seems to be their primary goal.
 
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shepard91

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I knew already that you were trying to help, otherwise you could just have stopped answering after the best solution was selected. However, I wanted to know something more about how this forum works since I'm new here and so far I'm finding it to be useful.

Back to the topic, I took a look at the mobos there and I cannot really decide...the thing is I don't know which criterion should I follow to choose one. That site doesn't show the price, which is an important factor because of my limited budget. Also I have limited time because of oncoming exams and I don't want people to lose much time because of me either. I guess I'll just look at what mobos the shop owner has, compare those to mine and see if can afford them. Again, thanks for the interest :)
 
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GhislainG

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Your main issue is a socket AM2+ processor and DDR2 memory when the current standard is AM3+ and DDR3 memory. Check if the ASRock A785GM-LE would meet your requirements (2 memory slots, 8GB maximum memory). A used motherboard is another option and the store will hopefully be able to locate one for you.
 
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shepard91

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I just looked and i guess it doesn't support my amd phenom II X4 with an am2+ socket, or at least this is what I understand by reading this:
- Support for Socket AM2+ / AM2 processors: AMD Phenom™ FX / Phenom / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core / Athlon X2 Dual-Core / Athlon 64 / Sempron processor
- Support for Socket AM3 processors: AMD Phenom™ II X6 / X4 / X3 / X2 and Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 processors
Right?
Also, since I'm going to the shop this afternoon and I have to ask the guy if he has some motherboards I could use, what does he need to know, besides the CPU family (Phenom II X4) and the socket (AM2+)?

And yesterday you told me I'll probably have to reformat the hard drives, but can't I just reinstall windows? I have a dual boot and having to redo it would be kind of time (or money, if I let the shop owner do that) sucking...
 
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shepard91

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I think I already have Speccy installed, is it good too?
 
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shepard91

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I tried more than one time. I plugged my hd through an adapter, it was detected but it won't boot and Windows 8 system restore didn't work with none of the restore points. XP doesn't work either. I fear the os's went to hell because of all this stuff of the mobo...
 
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shepard91

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I used an usb adapter, yeah. Maybe I explained it poorly before...practically, many times in the past I had some problems with the win8 O.S. and, like always, I had the option of choosing between windows 8 and XP.
The first choice would lead me to a failed automatic (and long and boring :pfff: ) restore attempt which was, almost every time, solved with a manual system restore.
The second one would let me use XP with no problem.
This time the situation was very similar; however, the manual restore did nothing, in fact when I rebooted the exact same thing happened. Failed automatic attempt and windows 8 recovery menu.
Trying to boot windows XP was also useless, because it would crash and reboot automatically in the o.s. loading screen.
Do you think I should run chkdsk or something? Maybe the hdd is damaged?
 
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