computer help needed..

[davi]

if a whole drive on my computer isn't showing up what can i do?

luckily my c drive is fine, but the drive missing is my largest...so now i can paint or basicly do anything besides surf the internet and use msnm...

[mos667]

Try checking the connections on the drive. Sometimes the connections get unplugged accidently. If that doesn't work, try it out on a different computer.
Thats the extent of my knowledge, trial and error :).

mos.

[Deth Jester]

Okay... couple things..

1. When you boot up your computer does the hard drive show up in the bios?

2. Have you added any new hardware to the machine lately?

3.how old is the computere and the hard drive?

4. Do you leave your computer on all the time? Is it hot where you have your computer?

5. Have you fully scanned your machine for viruses?

6. Check the connections as well.. see if everything is pluged in correctly. If they look like it.. un plug them and re plug them back in.

7. Is anything else on the same ribbon cable going to the Motherboard? Or is just the 1 hard drive? If not, try just putting 1 thing on the ribbon cable.

let me know...

[Skank]

yes, id say check to make sure the cable is tight first,, if so then when you boot up go into the bios and see if its even showing up

if its sharing the same IDE cable with your other HDD or CDrom, make sure you have your jumpers on the drives set correctly to master/slave (whichever you want em to be), alot of times if theyre both set the same they wont show up at all, or only one will

but start simple and check the cable first

[geoffd]

dude... you got
SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCKED!!!!

[davi]

Deth Jester,
1) i can't tell. I'm not sure what to read..

2) No, my video card has been acting odd lately. kind of up setting to pay $400 for a video card and have act up..

3) not even 4 months new

4) Yeah i do, i have a multitude of fans and it's like 40 degrees outside...

5) I scanned my hard drives that were showing up and it said nothing was there, but i can't access the 'missing' drive for a scan...

6) Ok, i'll check the connections... i know nothing about computers, but i'll give it a shot.

7) Clueless right now to that answer.

thanks everyone(besides capt. harlock) for the information.
i'll do all the suggestions

[BadMange]

Did someone build it for you, or did you buy it pre-built from a Dell-type place? Get someone who knows about computers to open 'er up and check everything for you. Since you're not familiar with the innards, you might inadvertantly disconnect something and not know it (which is why question #2 was asked).

And don't mind Capt.Harlock, he's probably just compensating for a low sperm count... :P

-Bad Mange

[nil]

to get into your BIOS, while your machine is booting (before windows starts loading) keep tapping the 'del' key. you should come up with a blue screen which you can navigate through with the arrows and enter/escape to open/close a section in the bios. your harddrives will most likely be under a section called 'Basic BIOS Options' or something similair. It'll say something like:

Primary Master: 13000 Bytes
Primary Slave: 600000 Bytes

(the bytes oibviously corresponding to the hardrives size) your disappering hardrive is probably set to Primary Slave. As long as your BIOS can see the harddrive you have a chance of getting the data off with something like Norton Disk Doctor. If your BIOS doesnt see your big harddrive then try switchng it into another machine and repeating. If you still have no joy, you may be outta luck, and it might be time to get a new hardrive :bash:

[Gunbu]

Since the hard drive was diplayed before, and now it's not showing up, I doubt it has anything to do with the slave/master settings. I'd bet $5 it's just a loose cable. It's happened to me before.
I doubt the hard drive is damaged too, since it's not showing up. Even if is wasn't working the drive would show up but it would say "cannot access disk" or something like that when you try clicking on it. Don't worry Davi, it's most likely a loose connection.

[nil]

i realise that. i dont think its a master/slave setting gone wrong. i doubt davi has changed the jumper settings on the drive.

but if it shows up in bios, that means the drive is physically functioning. if it is physically functioning correctly and it isnt showing in explorer then it is quite possibly damaged (the data that is) if thats the case, then it is probably possible to get the data off it successfully.

something similar happened to me not two weeks ago, the partition table screwed up, hardrive wasnt showing in explorer (but it was in BIOS), most of the data i can get back. of course, if it is a wobbly connection then all the better for Davi. just trying to help. :)

[Gunbu]

Ah yeah, good point. I gotcha now. Hopefully his drive is ok, I know how much a pain in the ass that can be.