Greetings --
This is a common symptom of your BIOS's inability to detect or
read your hard drive at the time of system boot up. It can be caused
by a defective IDE controller, a defective hard drive, or even a
defective or loosely connected IDE ribbon cable or hard drive power
cable. Since it seems to work once the circuitry has warmed up for a
little while, I'd be inclined to suspect thermal damage to the
motherboard's IDE controllers.
To narrow it down, make sure that both ends of the IDE ribbon
cable are firmly seated, and that there are no damaged/pinched areas
along its entire length. Make sure that the power lead to the hard
drive is also firmly seated. Most hard drive manufacturers provide
free diagnostic utilities on the web sites. Check with the
manufacturer of your specific hard drive for such a tool, and use it
to test your drive. Be sure to follow the accompanying instructions
very carefully.
Bruce Chambers
--
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