Both SATA Drives stopped working at same time? NEED HELP ASAPPLEASE.

[Guest Ward]

First hello and thanks for taking the time to read this. I'm stuck.

 

I have a home built computer that I built about 3 years ago. Inside

are two WD 200 GB SATA drives. The are just single drives, not being

used for RAID or anything fancy.

 

Well the other day, my machine wouldn't boot. Says that it can't find

the windows\system32 or whatever directory. Says to boot from my xp

cd and type 'r' for the recovery console. Now this has happened once

in the past and I did it and it workd.

 

This time it didn't work. When in the recovery console of the xp cd,

xp said that it could not find any drives installed in my machine.

 

First thing I thought of was that something got mucked up in my BIOS

somehow that would prevent the installer from seeing EITHER of my

drives. Too much of a coincedence I thought. I checked and

everything is just as I have left it.

 

In the POST sequence, both drives are located and shown as being

hooked up and active, so I know the computer (at least the BIOS) is

finding the drives, but nothing else is.

 

My next thought was that I'd put in my HAWK PE emergency boot cd and

see what's up. Well, even in HAWK PE, the drives are not seen.

Troubling to say the least.

 

I've even run WD Data Lifegaurd Diagnostics from cd and again, both

drives pass with flying colors.

 

So, as you might imagine I'm stumped here. I just don't know what to

try next. At this point, I'd just like to get some data off them and

then reinstall everything from scratch.

 

Please help.

 

Thanks,

 

Ward

[Guest Bob Harris]

Re: Both SATA Drives stopped working at same time? NEED HELP ASAP PLEASE.

 

Re: Both SATA Drives stopped working at same time? NEED HELP ASAP PLEASE.

 

XP usually requires special drivers to see SATA hard drives. That is true

of windows mode and even the recovery console. It is also true of most "PE"

CDs, such as Bart's. On the other hand, many LINUX-based rescue CDs have

the drivers already included, for example, KNOPPIX. A simple DOS floppy can

also see them without special drivers, as can any bootable CD built on DOS.

 

When booting from one of these CDs, look for a prompt to hit F6 to install

SCSI/RAID drivers. That also applies to SATA drivers.

 

The drivers must be on a floppy, not on a CD, due to the limitations

(stupidity) of the windows XP installer.

 

The drivers come from the motherboard maker, since they are for the SATA

controllers. They never some from the hard drive maker.

 

As for WHY you would have to re-install drivers, which should already have

been there since day one? Well, drivers are merely files, and like all

files can become corrupt over time.

 

By the way, if the drivers allow you to boot into the recovery console, that

is merely a proof of principle. To get drivers re-installed into XP

(windows mode), you will probably need to do a "repair installation of XP".

See the following links about repair:

 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

 

 

 

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm

 

 

 

http://www.extremetech.com/print_article/0,3998,a=23979,00.asp

 

 

 

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/Repair-Windows-XP-t138.html

 

 

 

By the way, a repair is usually NOT supported by an OEM copy of XP. There,

the only option is a clean install.

 

 

"Ward" <wardhawg@yahoo.com> wrote in message

news:54bef283-f9e0-497f-938b-81981d1ac56a@z17g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...

> First hello and thanks for taking the time to read this. I'm stuck.

>

> I have a home built computer that I built about 3 years ago. Inside

> are two WD 200 GB SATA drives. The are just single drives, not being

> used for RAID or anything fancy.

>

> Well the other day, my machine wouldn't boot. Says that it can't find

> the windows\system32 or whatever directory. Says to boot from my xp

> cd and type 'r' for the recovery console. Now this has happened once

> in the past and I did it and it workd.

>

> This time it didn't work. When in the recovery console of the xp cd,

> xp said that it could not find any drives installed in my machine.

>

> First thing I thought of was that something got mucked up in my BIOS

> somehow that would prevent the installer from seeing EITHER of my

> drives. Too much of a coincedence I thought. I checked and

> everything is just as I have left it.

>

> In the POST sequence, both drives are located and shown as being

> hooked up and active, so I know the computer (at least the BIOS) is

> finding the drives, but nothing else is.

>

> My next thought was that I'd put in my HAWK PE emergency boot cd and

> see what's up. Well, even in HAWK PE, the drives are not seen.

> Troubling to say the least.

>

> I've even run WD Data Lifegaurd Diagnostics from cd and again, both

> drives pass with flying colors.

>

> So, as you might imagine I'm stumped here. I just don't know what to

> try next. At this point, I'd just like to get some data off them and

> then reinstall everything from scratch.

>

> Please help.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Ward

[Guest windmap]

Re: Both SATA Drives stopped working at same time? NEED HELP ASAP PLEASE.

 

Re: Both SATA Drives stopped working at same time? NEED HELP ASAP PLEASE.

 

You may want read this Microsoft Article

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/en-us

 

 

"Ward" <wardhawg@yahoo.com> wrote in message

news:54bef283-f9e0-497f-938b-81981d1ac56a@z17g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...

> First hello and thanks for taking the time to read this. I'm stuck.

>

> I have a home built computer that I built about 3 years ago. Inside

> are two WD 200 GB SATA drives. The are just single drives, not being

> used for RAID or anything fancy.

>

> Well the other day, my machine wouldn't boot. Says that it can't find

> the windows\system32 or whatever directory. Says to boot from my xp

> cd and type 'r' for the recovery console. Now this has happened once

> in the past and I did it and it workd.

>

> This time it didn't work. When in the recovery console of the xp cd,

> xp said that it could not find any drives installed in my machine.

>

> First thing I thought of was that something got mucked up in my BIOS

> somehow that would prevent the installer from seeing EITHER of my

> drives. Too much of a coincedence I thought. I checked and

> everything is just as I have left it.

>

> In the POST sequence, both drives are located and shown as being

> hooked up and active, so I know the computer (at least the BIOS) is

> finding the drives, but nothing else is.

>

> My next thought was that I'd put in my HAWK PE emergency boot cd and

> see what's up. Well, even in HAWK PE, the drives are not seen.

> Troubling to say the least.

>

> I've even run WD Data Lifegaurd Diagnostics from cd and again, both

> drives pass with flying colors.

>

> So, as you might imagine I'm stumped here. I just don't know what to

> try next. At this point, I'd just like to get some data off them and

> then reinstall everything from scratch.

>

> Please help.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Ward

[Guest Anna]

Re: Both SATA Drives stopped working at same time? NEED HELP ASAP PLEASE.

 

Re: Both SATA Drives stopped working at same time? NEED HELP ASAP PLEASE.

 

 

"Ward" <wardhawg@yahoo.com> wrote in message

news:54bef283-f9e0-497f-938b-81981d1ac56a@z17g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...

> First hello and thanks for taking the time to read this. I'm stuck.

>

> I have a home built computer that I built about 3 years ago. Inside

> are two WD 200 GB SATA drives. The are just single drives, not being

> used for RAID or anything fancy.

>

> Well the other day, my machine wouldn't boot. Says that it can't find

> the windows\system32 or whatever directory. Says to boot from my xp

> cd and type 'r' for the recovery console. Now this has happened once

> in the past and I did it and it workd.

>

> This time it didn't work. When in the recovery console of the xp cd,

> xp said that it could not find any drives installed in my machine.

>

> First thing I thought of was that something got mucked up in my BIOS

> somehow that would prevent the installer from seeing EITHER of my

> drives. Too much of a coincedence I thought. I checked and

> everything is just as I have left it.

>

> In the POST sequence, both drives are located and shown as being

> hooked up and active, so I know the computer (at least the BIOS) is

> finding the drives, but nothing else is.

>

> My next thought was that I'd put in my HAWK PE emergency boot cd and

> see what's up. Well, even in HAWK PE, the drives are not seen.

> Troubling to say the least.

>

> I've even run WD Data Lifegaurd Diagnostics from cd and again, both

> drives pass with flying colors.

>

> So, as you might imagine I'm stumped here. I just don't know what to

> try next. At this point, I'd just like to get some data off them and

> then reinstall everything from scratch.

>

> Please help.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Ward

 

 

Ward:

First of all it would be helpful if you would describe just what your

*secondary* HDD contains. Is it a "clone" of your day-to-day booting HDD so

that it contains (presumably) a functioning OS? Or is it just used for

general backup purposes so that no OS exists on that secondary HDD?

 

At this point I think the best course of action for you is to undertake a

Repair install of the XP OS as Bob Harris recommended. As you've described

the problem this does not appear to me as a SATA controller driver issue in

terms of needing an auxiliary SATA controller driver.

 

But before getting to the Repair install of the OS...

 

This probably won't correct the problem but it's worth a try at this

point...

Get back into the Recovery Console and try invoking the sfc /scannow command

In case you're not familiar with this command see

http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html for instructions re using this

command.

 

As to the Repair install...

If you're familiar with undertaking a Repair install, just disregard the

following...

 

Assuming you have a non-OEM-branded XP installation CD at your disposal and

not merely an OEM recovery CD or recovery partition situation, you might

consider running a Repair install of the XP OS at this point-in-time in view

of your other futile attempts to get the system up & running.

 

Assuming you've never done this before here's some general info on the

process...

 

Undertaking a Repair install of the OS is a relatively straightforward

process. It would be roughly akin to making a fresh install of the OS, but

in nearly every case your existing programs & user-created data would be

retained. Notice I said "nearly". While it would be a rather rare situation

where data would be lost or corrupted as a result of the Repair install, and

as unlikely as it may be, it *could* happen.

 

So if there are any programs and/or other data on your present drive that

are absolutely crucial to you and you could not tolerate their loss, then I

would strongly suggest that before undertaking this Repair install operation

that you first either make a "clone" of your existing HDD (using a disk

cloning/disk imaging program) or, copy whatever data you can to your

secondary HDD if the data is not already on that drive. While it's a

relatively rare event that a loss or corruption of data will occur even when

the Repair install is unsuccessful, it *can* happen. So be aware of this.

 

There are a number of websites that contain step-by-step instructions for

undertaking a Repair install. It's not a difficult process and not terribly

time-consuming. It's roughly similar to making a fresh install of the XP OS.

If you do a Google search on "XP repair install", you'll be pointed to many

of these sites. Here are a few...

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm#RI

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=138

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxppro/installxpcdrepair/indexfullpage.htm

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q315341&ID=KB;EN-US;Q315341

 

Assuming the Repair install is successful, you should use your A-V program

to immediately check out your PC for any virus infestation. Also, you will

need to download/install *all* the MS critical updates since SP2. (I'm

assuming that if you undertake this Repair install of the XP OS, you will be

doing so with a XP installation CD that contains SP2). That, of course, is

one of the downsides re undertaking a Repair install in that it's usually an

onerous task to download all the Critical Updates from MS especially if you

have a dialup phone connection rather than broadband.

 

Anyway, give this some thought if you can't get your system back to a

functional state any other way.

Anna