Dropped OS SATA Drive

I am using an Asus AN8-SLI Deluxe motherboard. C:\ & D:\ drives are Western
Digital Raptors 10,000 rpm units. E:\ & F:\ are Western Digital & Maxtor 7500
rpm drives. All drives are SATA based and use new lock on connectors. None
are setup for RAID configuration. Okay, here is my problem. Every few weeks
my C:\ drive is not found and is missing from the bios listing. On other
occasions all drives are shown in the bios but my OS is not found. Sometimes,
after the machine has been running for a while, everything is lost and it
reports that it cannot write to the drive. All the other drives are always
available, only the C:\ drive gets dropped. I have run all tests on the C:\
drive using a WD test and everything comes back positive without any errors.
The temporary cure is to disconnect D.C. to the other three drives, check all
connects, reboot at which time the C:\ is found and Windows XP Pro. 64 bit
OS loads without any errors like nothing was ever wrong.
What am I doing wrong here? I have never knowingly loaded any SATA drivers,
are these required without RAID configuration? I donâ??t have any errors
showing in Device Manager. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Charlie
Thu Oct 12 17:29:22 CDT 2006

In order of likely cause:
1.) Bad or loose cable. SATA cables are notoriously iffy and I've seen this
often.
2.) Old BIOS - that motherboard had early BIOS problems. (It's an ASUS,
after all!)
3.) Bad or failing HD

Notice that NONE of those are drivers. All are hardware related.

--
Charlie.
http://msmvps.com/xperts64


"Limey lad" <Limeylad@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F343D5EC-DE2F-4033-BEA4-BD18A4A3ED5B@microsoft.com...
>I am using an Asus AN8-SLI Deluxe motherboard. C:\ & D:\ drives are Western
> Digital Raptors 10,000 rpm units. E:\ & F:\ are Western Digital & Maxtor
> 7500
> rpm drives. All drives are SATA based and use new lock on connectors. None
> are setup for RAID configuration. Okay, here is my problem. Every few
> weeks
> my C:\ drive is not found and is missing from the bios listing. On other
> occasions all drives are shown in the bios but my OS is not found.
> Sometimes,
> after the machine has been running for a while, everything is lost and it
> reports that it cannot write to the drive. All the other drives are always
> available, only the C:\ drive gets dropped. I have run all tests on the
> C:\
> drive using a WD test and everything comes back positive without any
> errors.
> The temporary cure is to disconnect D.C. to the other three drives, check
> all
> connects, reboot at which time the C:\ is found and Windows XP Pro. 64
> bit
> OS loads without any errors like nothing was ever wrong.
> What am I doing wrong here? I have never knowingly loaded any SATA
> drivers,
> are these required without RAID configuration? I donâ??t have any errors
> showing in Device Manager. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>

Limeylad
Fri Oct 13 08:17:01 CDT 2006

Thanks Charlie

1. I started with the SATA cables supplied with WD drives then switched to
newer locking cables. No change.
2. Bios is 1017 which still doesnâ??t allow me to determine the drive order.
1016 didnâ??t allow this either. If memory serves my ASUS CD will not now let
me return to an earlier/lower bios flash.
3. Iâ??m thinking of dumping drive D:\ contents and switching it to boot drive
with a fresh XP 64 load to see if problems cease.

What do you think? Maybe a new bios chip?
John

"Charlie Russel - MVP" wrote:

> In order of likely cause:
> 1.) Bad or loose cable. SATA cables are notoriously iffy and I've seen this
> often.
> 2.) Old BIOS - that motherboard had early BIOS problems. (It's an ASUS,
> after all!)
> 3.) Bad or failing HD
>
> Notice that NONE of those are drivers. All are hardware related.
>
> --
> Charlie.
> http://msmvps.com/xperts64
>
>
> "Limey lad" <Limeylad@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:F343D5EC-DE2F-4033-BEA4-BD18A4A3ED5B@microsoft.com...
> >I am using an Asus AN8-SLI Deluxe motherboard. C:\ & D:\ drives are Western
> > Digital Raptors 10,000 rpm units. E:\ & F:\ are Western Digital & Maxtor
> > 7500
> > rpm drives. All drives are SATA based and use new lock on connectors. None
> > are setup for RAID configuration. Okay, here is my problem. Every few
> > weeks
> > my C:\ drive is not found and is missing from the bios listing. On other
> > occasions all drives are shown in the bios but my OS is not found.
> > Sometimes,
> > after the machine has been running for a while, everything is lost and it
> > reports that it cannot write to the drive. All the other drives are always
> > available, only the C:\ drive gets dropped. I have run all tests on the
> > C:\
> > drive using a WD test and everything comes back positive without any
> > errors.
> > The temporary cure is to disconnect D.C. to the other three drives, check
> > all
> > connects, reboot at which time the C:\ is found and Windows XP Pro. 64
> > bit
> > OS loads without any errors like nothing was ever wrong.
> > What am I doing wrong here? I have never knowingly loaded any SATA
> > drivers,
> > are these required without RAID configuration? I donâ??t have any errors
> > showing in Device Manager. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
> >
>