Bad slave HD? PC not booting with drive connected

[Guest]

Earlier today i was trying to save a file to my D (slave) drive. It is a
separate physical drive, not a partition. I noticed that i was only seeing 1
folder on the entire drive thru explorer. I tried a reboot figuring that
would fix the problem. Reboot. Open explorer and now the entire D drive is
gone. It is now showing up in explorer or via the device manager.

Next i open the case and check the IDE and power connections on the suspect
drive. Everything looks fine, but i decide to swap the power for a differnet
cable. Try to boot and before windows starts i get a message that its trying
to boot from ATAPI cd rom or something along those lines and is asking me to
insert a system or boot disk. All I can do here is hit the power to shut
down.

Now i go back to the original power connector (I haven't tried to change the
IDE cable yet), reboot and get the error message again.

I disconnect the D drive entirely and the machine boots up.

Any idea what would cause this? bad cable, bad drive, power supply, etc.
Are there any utilities helpful in diagnosing a problem like this? Any help
is greatly appreciated.

I'm running Xp pro if that matters. And i've never seen this problem
before. Other than this the machine has been running without any problems.

 

[Guest]

The error message i'm getting is as follows:

Verifying DMI Pool Data ..........
Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM: Failure ...
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT DISK AND PRESS ENTER

p.s. there is not a floppy in the drive

 

[Guest]

If the only thing you have manipulated is the power cable and it affects the
system, then it would appear logical to assume a power cable issue. Sounds
peculiar doesn't it?

To perform a diagnostic on the D Drive, you can use CHKDSK in Windows:
click on START> RUN>
type in 'CHKDSK D:' [where D is the drive letter] - omitt the quotes when
typing
hit the OK button

 

[Guest]

Just tried the power cable on the master drive and it boots fine (without the
slave drive connected). Moved the power cable from the master drive to the
slave drive and tried to boot with both drives and got the error again.

so it boots with the master drive, but won't boot with the slave drive. i
guess that leaves me with a bad HD. when i have some time tomorrow evening
i'll try to throw the questionable drive in another machine.

If the only thing you have manipulated is the power cable and it affects the
system, then it would appear logical to assume a power cable issue. Sounds
peculiar doesn't it?

To perform a diagnostic on the D Drive, you can use CHKDSK in Windows:
click on START> RUN>
type in 'CHKDSK D:' [where D is the drive letter] - omitt the quotes when
typing
hit the OK button

Earlier today i was trying to save a file to my D (slave) drive. It is a
separate physical drive, not a partition. I noticed that i was only seeing 1
folder on the entire drive thru explorer. I tried a reboot figuring that
would fix the problem. Reboot. Open explorer and now the entire D drive is
gone. It is now showing up in explorer or via the device manager.

Next i open the case and check the IDE and power connections on the suspect
drive. Everything looks fine, but i decide to swap the power for a differnet
cable. Try to boot and before windows starts i get a message that its trying
to boot from ATAPI cd rom or something along those lines and is asking me to
insert a system or boot disk. All I can do here is hit the power to shut
down.

Now i go back to the original power connector (I haven't tried to change the
IDE cable yet), reboot and get the error message again.

I disconnect the D drive entirely and the machine boots up.

Any idea what would cause this? bad cable, bad drive, power supply, etc.
Are there any utilities helpful in diagnosing a problem like this? Any help
is greatly appreciated.

I'm running Xp pro if that matters. And i've never seen this problem
before. Other than this the machine has been running without any problems.

 

[Guest]

Just in case you've forgotten to check this:

If both drives are on the same IDE cable: C Drive should be jumpered as
Master and at plugeed in the end connector. D Drive should be jumpered as
Slave and plugged in at the middle connector.

Same thing goes if it is on the IDE cable with a CD or DVD drive; this time
CD / DVD as Slave.

Just tried the power cable on the master drive and it boots fine (without the
slave drive connected). Moved the power cable from the master drive to the
slave drive and tried to boot with both drives and got the error again.

so it boots with the master drive, but won't boot with the slave drive. i
guess that leaves me with a bad HD. when i have some time tomorrow evening
i'll try to throw the questionable drive in another machine.

If the only thing you have manipulated is the power cable and it affects the
system, then it would appear logical to assume a power cable issue. Sounds
peculiar doesn't it?

To perform a diagnostic on the D Drive, you can use CHKDSK in Windows:
click on START> RUN>
type in 'CHKDSK D:' [where D is the drive letter] - omitt the quotes when
typing
hit the OK button

Earlier today i was trying to save a file to my D (slave) drive. It is a
separate physical drive, not a partition. I noticed that i was only seeing 1
folder on the entire drive thru explorer. I tried a reboot figuring that
would fix the problem. Reboot. Open explorer and now the entire D drive is
gone. It is now showing up in explorer or via the device manager.

Next i open the case and check the IDE and power connections on the suspect
drive. Everything looks fine, but i decide to swap the power for a differnet
cable. Try to boot and before windows starts i get a message that its trying
to boot from ATAPI cd rom or something along those lines and is asking me to
insert a system or boot disk. All I can do here is hit the power to shut
down.

Now i go back to the original power connector (I haven't tried to change the
IDE cable yet), reboot and get the error message again.

I disconnect the D drive entirely and the machine boots up.

Any idea what would cause this? bad cable, bad drive, power supply, etc.
Are there any utilities helpful in diagnosing a problem like this? Any help
is greatly appreciated.

I'm running Xp pro if that matters. And i've never seen this problem
before. Other than this the machine has been running without any problems.

 

[GasMan]

You have not said that the slave drive was a bootable drive, so it
would not boot as things stand.

Just tried the power cable on the master drive and it boots fine (without the
slave drive connected). Moved the power cable from the master drive to the
slave drive and tried to boot with both drives and got the error again.

so it boots with the master drive, but won't boot with the slave drive. i
guess that leaves me with a bad HD. when i have some time tomorrow evening
i'll try to throw the questionable drive in another machine.

If the only thing you have manipulated is the power cable and it affects the
system, then it would appear logical to assume a power cable issue. Sounds
peculiar doesn't it?

To perform a diagnostic on the D Drive, you can use CHKDSK in Windows:
click on START> RUN>
type in 'CHKDSK D:' [where D is the drive letter] - omitt the quotes when
typing
hit the OK button

Earlier today i was trying to save a file to my D (slave) drive. It is a
separate physical drive, not a partition. I noticed that i was only seeing 1
folder on the entire drive thru explorer. I tried a reboot figuring that
would fix the problem. Reboot. Open explorer and now the entire D drive is
gone. It is now showing up in explorer or via the device manager.

Next i open the case and check the IDE and power connections on the suspect
drive. Everything looks fine, but i decide to swap the power for a differnet
cable. Try to boot and before windows starts i get a message that its trying
to boot from ATAPI cd rom or something along those lines and is asking me to
insert a system or boot disk. All I can do here is hit the power to shut
down.

Now i go back to the original power connector (I haven't tried to change the
IDE cable yet), reboot and get the error message again.

I disconnect the D drive entirely and the machine boots up.

Any idea what would cause this? bad cable, bad drive, power supply, etc.
Are there any utilities helpful in diagnosing a problem like this? Any help
is greatly appreciated.

I'm running Xp pro if that matters. And i've never seen this problem
before. Other than this the machine has been running without any problems.

Please remove obvious from email address if emailing.

 

[Guest]

Correct, it is not a bootable drive. Perhaps i was unclear in my post. I
was not booting the machine with the slave alone. Every attempt was with the
master connected as well....so that's not the problem.

You have not said that the slave drive was a bootable drive, so it
would not boot as things stand.

Just tried the power cable on the master drive and it boots fine (without the
slave drive connected). Moved the power cable from the master drive to the
slave drive and tried to boot with both drives and got the error again.

so it boots with the master drive, but won't boot with the slave drive. i
guess that leaves me with a bad HD. when i have some time tomorrow evening
i'll try to throw the questionable drive in another machine.

If the only thing you have manipulated is the power cable and it affects the
system, then it would appear logical to assume a power cable issue. Sounds
peculiar doesn't it?

To perform a diagnostic on the D Drive, you can use CHKDSK in Windows:
click on START> RUN>
type in 'CHKDSK D:' [where D is the drive letter] - omitt the quotes when
typing
hit the OK button


:

Earlier today i was trying to save a file to my D (slave) drive. It is a
separate physical drive, not a partition. I noticed that i was only seeing 1
folder on the entire drive thru explorer. I tried a reboot figuring that
would fix the problem. Reboot. Open explorer and now the entire D drive is
gone. It is now showing up in explorer or via the device manager.

Next i open the case and check the IDE and power connections on the suspect
drive. Everything looks fine, but i decide to swap the power for a differnet
cable. Try to boot and before windows starts i get a message that its trying
to boot from ATAPI cd rom or something along those lines and is asking me to
insert a system or boot disk. All I can do here is hit the power to shut
down.

Now i go back to the original power connector (I haven't tried to change the
IDE cable yet), reboot and get the error message again.

I disconnect the D drive entirely and the machine boots up.

Any idea what would cause this? bad cable, bad drive, power supply, etc.
Are there any utilities helpful in diagnosing a problem like this? Any help
is greatly appreciated.

I'm running Xp pro if that matters. And i've never seen this problem
before. Other than this the machine has been running without any problems.

Please remove obvious from email address if emailing.