where is my hard drive?

[old guy]

XP SR2
Recently, my PC seems to have lost my hard drive. (Before I start my
background, I had it partitioned into C:, D:, E:.)
Now, on opening Explorer, My Documents is opened - My Computer is
collapsed. On clicking My Computer, I get a search (flashlight) for 2-3
minutes before my hard drives appear. At this point, I can click on any
of the three drives and see the contents. Two unusual events must be noted.
1) With any drive highlighted, any folder I doubel-click in the right
pane results in a black popup (looks like the command prompt) for a
couple of seconds and then disappears. I have to expand the drive in
the right pane, select the folder from the drop down list, and select
files from the right pane.
2) If at any time I select the My Documents icon, XP reverts to the
2-3 minute search for the hard drive.
But there is more.
During troubleshooting, I opened Computer Management|Disk Management. I
get 'Connecting to Logical Disk Manager service... for 2-3 minutes
followed by a popup of 'Server execution failed.'
And it gets worse.
I decided to give up and reinstall XP. In order to save any critical
files, I wanted to install XP on my E: drive and dual boot. With the XP
CD in the drive I booted to the CD. After a few seconds, I select the
choice to load XP. I get a screen listing my drives. Umm, except the
E: drive is missing. And when I try to select the C; drive, I get
"Setup cannot recognize the partition you selected." Since the D: drive
is ~2G, I don't want to install XP there. Has to be on the E: drive.
So it appears Explorer can find my C:, D:, E: drive, XP setup can find
my C:, D: drives, and Disk Management can find none of them.
What is going on? How do I resolve this?

 

[DL]

I'd start with the hd manu free checking utility, available in their site.
Since you appear to have a hw problem I would'nt even attempt to
reinstall/repair win or do anything else that requires data to be written to
the drive.

 

[old guy]

I'd start with the hd manu free checking utility, available in their

site.

I'll do that. Who is 'their?' Microsoft?

 

[Tom Willett]

"hd manu" = hard drive manufacturer

I'll do that. Who is 'their?' Microsoft?

 

[old guy]

I'd start with the hd manu free checking utility, available in their site.
Since you appear to have a hw problem I would'nt even attempt to
reinstall/repair win or do anything else that requires data to be written to
the drive.

And it gets worse.
Tried this morning to connect to the net. Failed. Checked cable modem
and router. Appear OK. In fact, I am using my laptop to write this
while conneted to the net. Went to Network Connetions on my PC. No
networks are visible (existing). But when I try to create a new network
I get a message "Your network connection is already configured" and I
told to click the link and repair. I have no link. Related to my other
problems?

 

[old guy]

"hd manu" = hard drive manufacturer

In that case, since I have a Dell PC and the HD is OEM, wouldn't the
Dell diagnostic utility accomplish the same task?

 

[Bob I]

In that case, since I have a Dell PC and the HD is OEM, wouldn't the
Dell diagnostic utility accomplish the same task?

Dell didn't make the HD but they may have included a utility that works.
Could be a Seagate or some other manufacturer, pop the cover and look
if necessary.