Hi, I have been using my computer for a few years now when all of a sudden I am experiencing this problem. It started whilst I was using Windows Vista and all of a sudden the computer would make a sound - the same sound that happens when the computer has been rebooted. Now, I noticed that the BIOS has changed my 1st boot device from the hard drive to the DVD drive and it also shows the primary ide master and primary ide slave as undetected, but my DVD and CD drives are showing. It looks as though BIOS won't detect my hard drive anymore and when I just turned on my computer again, it managed to boot up to the Vista screen just before it loads the desktop icons and it just hangs at that Vista screen. Could it be a faulty IDE cable, or has the hard drive died? I took out the hard drive and unplugged all the cables and everything and put it back together, but the same exact thing is happening. Thanks for your help.

If either of the two drives on the same cable were to die it can affect the other from functioning. Also could be a weak CMOS battery on the motherboard. Boot into the BIOS (setup) and check the date and time. If the date is wrong then your CMOS battery may be weak or dead. Probably something wrong with the hard drive itself or either the cable of Primary IDE controller. Check the boot order in the BIOS to see if the hard drive is still set as the first boot device. BTW, that isn't the best order. If you have a floppy drive I recommend disabled first, CD drive second, then hard drive. Also verify that both IDE channels are enabled. It sounds like you may have the hard drive on a cable alone and the optical drives on a second cable. If this is the case try swapping the connectors on the motherboard. That should determine if the primary controller is as fault. If the hard drive still doesn't show try another cable. What is confusing to me is the Vista screen showing. If the hard drive is not working you shouldn't see that. You could try using the hard drive fitness test from the manufacturer of your hard drive's website. You need to download it and burn it to CDR. I am not sure if it can pickup the hard drive at all with the conditions you describe but worth trying. Another option would be to connect the drive as a slave on another computer. That may also be useful to recover files if necessary. The hard drive may be failing and not spinning up fast enough for the BIOS to detect it. Can you hear or feel the drive running? Touch on the sides or top if you try feeling it. Open circuitry on the bottom.

hi, thanks for your quick reply. I will check these and get back to you soon. thanks again.

Hi, I turned on my computer and touched the hard drive. It seems to be running. I happen to have a USB to IDE converter, so I attached the hard drive to it and connect the hard drive via USB to my other computer to test whether it is working. The hard drive appears on H: drive in my other computer, so I think the hard drive is still alive, but when I double click to access the drive, it says that the drive is not formatted, and whether I would like to format it now. When I right click on the drive, no menu appears. I am not sure if this means the hard drive is dead, because if it was, wouldn't it not power up? If it is dead, do you think I would be able to backup my files? The date and time is fine in the BIOS. Thanks for your help.

Try accessing the drive using Knoppix. Knoppix is a live version of Linux. Knoppix installs to and runs from one CDR. You may be able to access the files on the drive using Knoppix. You will need a place to copy them. Knoppix can access all the hardware your WinXP installation could. Knoppix if a free download but is 700MB. You will need a computer with a burner and a fast internet connection. After you recover your files then download and run from a boot disk, a drive fitness test from the manufacturer of your brand drive. If it tests OK then you can format and start over or possibly do a repair install. If your files are important recover them FIRST.