Computer unable to detect IDE drives

Jolly_Roger

I had just turned off my computer for the holidays, when my wife suddenly decided she needed one piece of information before we went out the door. At the worst possible time, the computer decided it would not boot, sticking on the "Detecting IDE drives..." command. I assume it was unable to detect them, because the start up effectively stopped. What are the IDE drives and why do you think they could not be detected? Is this a hardware failure? Anybody answering this would ease my mind considerably, since I am now away from my office for a week. When I get back, I need some information that is trapped on the computer. PS. The computer is question, now three years old, was due to be decommissioned when I got back from holiday!!!

gaming_guy

ide drives are hard drives or cd/dvd drives

espresso

Could be the motherboard battery need replacing, as this retains the data in CMOS memory relating to the IDE devices.

fatnbald

It is possible the Hard drive has failed, any strange clicking noises when it is trying to boot up?

johnmc

Go into the BIOS and set the hardrive to auto-detect.

If it says you haven't got a C: drive or similar message then come back here.

Browntoa

or just try removing the cmos battery from the motherboard for a minute (it's the round battery ) around the size of a 10p coin

when you turn it back on it will take a minute or so to re-detect all the drives

Jolly_Roger

Unfortunately not at the same house now where my computer is located. The odd thing is that the boot process simply ceases with the screen going no further than "Detecting IDE devices..." If it gets no further, does that mean the battery could be down or could it be a complete failure of the hard disk or hard disk fan? If there is a hardware failure, wouldn't the computer simply fail to turn on at all and there would be no attempt at booting? In the past, I have had fans go on both the graphics card and hard disk, which result in a totally dead screen.

LittleJo

Hi,
Mine does that now and again, works perfectly when rebooted.
Jo

Jolly_Roger

I am back from holiday now. Turned the computer back on, but still cannot get it to detect IDE drives. Used a vacuum cleaner to clear out the dust in the back and actually took out the hard drive and had a look at it, hoping that by putting it back in it might work. Nada!
Saw the battery that was mentioned, but how do I get it out? There didn't appear to be any way of removing it. Am I just being thick?
I don't know how to get into the bios to check on drives. How do you do this?
Also, I have another PC, would it be possible to transfer the hard drive across to that one and see whether the hard drive is OK? I need some information that is trapped on the drive in a hurry!!
If not, it means trudging down to the local PC store and then having to wait for days.
Any further help really appreciated!

culpepper

open it up and push the ide cables into the ide sockets on the motherboard and at the back of the drives. Mine does this exact same thing every once in a while and all I can think is the ide cable is a bit bendy and pulls itself out a tiny bit. Then just reboot.

Jolly_Roger

culpepper, you may well have cracked it.
Opened up the back and the IDE cable from the hard disk was hanging in mid-air!!
There is not obvious place to plug it in on the motherboard, but there is a slot vacant on one of the cards that goes into the lower back area of the computer (sound? graphics?). I shall try this tomorrow. Does it sound like the correct place to plug it back in?