Lost HDD

[pwnspawn]

Hello. This will be my first post here, and I'm usually not the kind to post as I find most of my answers searching through other people's questions on various forums, however this matter seemed too weird for me to figure out so here I am. Thanks for taking the time to read through..

My problem is as follows:
I just built a new PC, p8z77-v pro, 3570k, gtx680, 8gb ram, 120GB SSD and 2TB HDD. First day I freshly installed my windows on the SSD, autoformatting it in the installation process. Then I noticed I wasn't seeing my HDD so I went back to windows installation disk and formatted it for NTFS. Now I had C: (SSD/OS) D: (DVD) and E: (HDD). I wanted to change the drive letters between E and D, understandably, so I follow through with computer management -> disk management stuff. When I restarted my computer, and the following 3 restarts, my HDD was completely gone. 4th restart and it was there, all fixed, as D:. Now since that day my HDD has been disapperaring when I turn my PC on (the boot takes longer etc), and I was able to fix it with a restart or two. But the past 2 days it started disappearing even after the OS is loaded and working, it is weird when suddenly my computer can't find the drive D: in the middle of the game.
I replugged the HDD cables but it didn't help. What im not sure about is if this is an HDD problem, OS problem, BIOS problem, mobo problem, unstable cpu overclock problem (I heard sometimes people's OS doesn't boot up because of such things and I'm kind of new to OC even though I'm sitting quite stable at 1.22V 4.4Ghz 3570k below70C load temp with prime95.
Please excuse me if I rambled too much, I tried to be as clear as I could without omitting information that may prove useful, since I have no idea what's the origin of the problem.
This is what I see when the drive is missing:
http://i.imgur.com/TpPaD.png
and This is when everything is fine:
http://i.imgur.com/ei3Tj.png
Since even the boot takes longer (sits 10-20 secs longer at ASUS post screen) when this problem occurs, I have no idea what the cause is. Thanks for all your help in advance.

 

[MrWizzard]

Have you tried running your computer at all stock speed and voltages for a while and seeing what that does?

 

[denis280]

Have you tried running your computer at all stock speed and voltages for a while and seeing what that does?

Yes and i would add. if this don't help reset CMOS

 

[Puppies04]

Which SATA ports are your HDDs plugged into?

 

[Bubbaleone]

This is what I see when the drive is missing:
http://i.imgur.com/TpPaD.png
and This is when everything is fine:
http://i.imgur.com/ei3Tj.png
Since even the boot takes longer (sits 10-20 secs longer at ASUS post screen) when this problem occurs, I have no idea what the cause is. Thanks for all your help in advance.

Notice in your screenshot of the missing HDD that C:\ is Disk 0, but in your second screenshot C:\ is Disk 1, and D:\ is Disk 0.

The following Microsoft article; The disk-drive numbers on a Windows Vista-based computer may not correspond as expected to the SATA channel numbers, explains how this happens and offers a (possible) resolution.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Vista, Server 2008, and 7.

 

[pwnspawn]

Which SATA ports are your HDDs plugged into?

I'm not sure, not that great with hardware and the computer came already-built, but what I can say is that the cables plugged into HDD were identical to the ones plugged into my SSD when I checked to see if replugging would solve it.

I've tried running with default-ed BIOS and it didn't help, as did resetting CMOS didn't help.

As for the MS article, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to fix it. Any further help will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[denis280]

My problem is as follows: I just built a new PC, p8z77-v pro

Did you built it or did it cam (already-built)?????

 

[pwnspawn]

Did you built it or did it cam (already-built)?????

It came already-built. I should have been more clear in my first post, I meant I put-together a PC spec and ordered.

 

[denis280]

You should bring it back

 

[daveybrat]

If you could take the side cover off or just check through device manager and let us know what brand/model of SSD they used.

 

[pwnspawn]

If you could take the side cover off or just check through device manager and let us know what brand/model of SSD they used.

But the problem is not the SSD, the OS runs fine, the computer boots fine, it's just that the harddisk is missing sometimes and I need to restart 4-5 times to find it. Just in case, these are the disks:

SSD -> 1 x Kingston SSDNow V+200 120GB 535-480MB/s 2.5" 9.5mm SATA3 SSD (SVP200S3/120G)

HDD -> 1 x Seagate Barracuda 2 TB 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache 3,5" SATA III DISK (ST2000DM001)

 

[pwnspawn]

Just to provide additional info, the SATA configuration at BIOS is as follows:

Mode : AHCI

SATA6G_1 (Gray) : ST2000DM001-9Y (2000.3GB)
Hot Plug : Disabled

SATA6G_2 (Gray) : KINGSTON SVP20 (120.0GB)
Hot Plug : Disabled

SATA3G_3 (Blue) : Not Present
Hot Plug : Disabled

SATA3G_4 (Blue) : ASUS DRW-24 ATAPI
Hot Plug : Disabled

SATA3G_5 (Blue) : Not Present
Hot Plug : Disabled

SATA3G_6 (Blue) : Not Present
Hot Plug : Disabled

 

[Puppies04]

Ok I have no idea if this will fix your problem but it certainly isn't going to hurt....

1. take the 2tb HDD sata cable out of port 1 (grey port) and plug it into the port infront/behind the one the DVD drive is plugged into.

2. Plug the SSD into the port you took the 2tb drive out of. Your OS drive should be in the lowest number sata port possible.

Report back if the problem persists.

P.s I am sugesting this for 2 reasons, firstly you have a data drive plugged in a lower numberical sata port than your OS drive which is wrong and secondly I am interested if it is the SATA3 port that is making the HDD behave weirdly. I know the HDD is SATA3 compatible but you will notice 0% difference between SATA2/SATA3 on a HDD they just can't populate the bandwidth availible.

 

[pwnspawn]

Ok I have no idea if this will fix your problem but it certainly isn't going to hurt....

1. take the 2tb HDD sata cable out of port 1 (grey port) and plug it into the port infront/behind the one the DVD drive is plugged into.

2. Plug the SSD into the port you took the 2tb drive out of. Your OS drive should be in the lowest number sata port possible.

Report back if the problem persists.

P.s I am sugesting this for 2 reasons, firstly you have a data drive plugged in a lower numberical sata port than your OS drive which is wrong and secondly I am interested if it is the SATA3 port that is making the HDD behave weirdly. I know the HDD is SATA3 compatible but you will notice 0% difference between SATA2/SATA3 on a HDD they just can't populate the bandwidth availible.

Alright I'll try that ASAP. I got a question beforehand though, and excuse me if I sound dumb but I just don't want to mess anything up, and I'm in no way knowledgeable about hardware.
Will it be enough if I just move the connector ends between ports (I checked the manual that came with the mobo so I have a good idea where I need to move them), or do I need to change the cables too, like do I need to use a different cable for sataII (3G). And what about the cables connected to the drive, I see the connector going to the motherboard, and I see another wide, hard cable, do I need to change or move them in any way? Thanks.

 

[MrWizzard]

It came already-built. I should have been more clear in my first post, I meant I put-together a PC spec and ordered.

Well now it's making more sense.... Did the place that put it together, did they test it? Did they have an option for testing? Sometimes they do that for free sometimes you have to pay for it.

Once you got it did you change anything with the bios?

 

[pwnspawn]

Well now it's making more sense.... Did the place that put it together, did they test it? Did they have an option for testing? Sometimes they do that for free sometimes you have to pay for it.

Once you got it did you change anything with the bios?

They did put it together and test it. I have no idea of the specifications of the test. They took a minimal fee. I got an all-ready pc and just plugged in the gtx680 myself (they didn't want to risk it getting damaged while in cargo).

I OCed from the bios, xmp profile for rams etc but even at default settings and resetted CMOS the problem persists.

 

[denis280]

So if i understand. you did install the video card in. and OC before installing OS.

 

[pwnspawn]

So if i understand. you did install the video card in. and OC before installing OS.

I just plugged in the video card, since it'd be unhealthy for it to travel inside the case. and No, I did not OC before installing OS.

As advised earlier, I tried moving the SSD to SATA6G_1 and HDD to SATA3G_3, yet the problem still persists.

Further insight into the problem after days of experience:
The usual normal boot is like this: 5 sec ASUS logo, 2 sec black screen, 1.5 sec Asus logo again, then windows animation for ~10 sec and the boot is complete. When hdd is not recognized, the 2nd asus logo stays on the screen for anywhere from 15sec to 25.
First boot of the day, the HDD is always not recognized (the logo stays on for <30sec). If I let it boot into bios and restart via menu, the problem usually still persists. On the other hand, if I power down the computer without waiting for the logo and start it again, this time around it boots normal. (I'm guessing this has significance? Maybe a slow loading HDD or power problems?) However even thought the HDD is recognized and the asus screen passes in 1.5sec, SOMETIMES, the windows logo stays on forever, it just never loads into windows. It is also common for dskchck to check my HDD on the next boot after that happens and I manually shutdown and power on the computer.

Sorry if this is all a mess but then again all I wanted to show was what exactly was happening. Thanks in advance for any further help or insight you can provide for my problem.

 

[denis280]

So far with everything above. i would say there is something wrong.i would bring it back.