HDD's not recognised at bootup! TIA.

My apologies if this NG is the wrong choice.
I have a recurring problem with my hard drives (2)
not being recognised in bootup. Mostly both but sometimes just C:
Up till this moment my "cure" has been to pull the IDE ribbons &
re-plug them,
and generally check all/any connections I can see. Both hdd's are
partitioned (50%).
Main drive (250GB) c: & e:. 2nd drive (200gb) d: & f:
I recently (three months ago) attached a 300gb external drive (USB).
The external drive is working fine when required. This "recognition"
problem started in
this three month period (coincidence?). My PC is home-built. P4 3.2gh,
2 gb memory,
All fans & heatsinks cleaned (blown out) regularly. Temps fine. (My PC
& I live in Scotland,
a country NOT known for tropical climates :-) The only ABNORMAL
temperature increase is MINE!
Any suggestions gratefully accepted & will be followed-up on.
Any further info supplied on demand.TIA
sandy58

sandy58 <Aleckie59@aol.com> wrote

> My apologies if this NG is the wrong choice.

Its fine.

> I have a recurring problem with my hard drives (2) not being
> recognised in bootup. Mostly both but sometimes just C:
> Up till this moment my "cure" has been to pull the IDE ribbons &
> re-plug them,

Worth trying a new 80 wire ribbon cable, that one may well have gone
bad, particularly if you have reefed it off by pulling on the ribbon etc.

> and generally check all/any connections I can see.

> Both hdd's are partitioned (50%).

Not relevant to them being seen in the bios.

> Main drive (250GB) c: & e:. 2nd drive (200gb) d: & f:

If the ribbon cable doesnt help, try putting them on different
ribbon cables, some pairs of drives arent too keen on sharing
a ribbon cable. Check the jumpers too, some wrong jumpering
can produce that erratic recognition effect.

> I recently (three months ago) attached a 300gb external drive (USB).
> The external drive is working fine when required. This "recognition"
> problem started in this three month period (coincidence?).

Likely, particularly if the internal drives dont even show up on
the bios list of drives on the black bios screen at boot time.

> My PC is home-built. P4 3.2gh, 2 gb memory,
> All fans & heatsinks cleaned (blown out) regularly.
> Temps fine. (My PC & I live in Scotland, a country
> NOT known for tropical climates :-)

But known for its hairy apepeople.

That hair can do awful things to cpu fans etc.

> The only ABNORMAL temperature increase is MINE!

You could try a cold shower.

> Any suggestions gratefully accepted & will be followed-up on.
> Any further info supplied on demand.

I demand to know the specific hard drive model numbers
if a new ribbon cable doesnt fix the problem.

Rod Speed wrote:
> sandy58 <Aleckie59@aol.com> wrote
>
> > My apologies if this NG is the wrong choice.
>
> Its fine.
>
> > I have a recurring problem with my hard drives (2) not being
> > recognised in bootup. Mostly both but sometimes just C:
> > Up till this moment my "cure" has been to pull the IDE ribbons &
> > re-plug them,
>
> Worth trying a new 80 wire ribbon cable, that one may well have gone
> bad, particularly if you have reefed it off by pulling on the ribbon etc.
>
> > and generally check all/any connections I can see.
>
> > Both hdd's are partitioned (50%).
>
> Not relevant to them being seen in the bios.
>
> > Main drive (250GB) c: & e:. 2nd drive (200gb) d: & f:
>
> If the ribbon cable doesnt help, try putting them on different
> ribbon cables, some pairs of drives arent too keen on sharing
> a ribbon cable. Check the jumpers too, some wrong jumpering
> can produce that erratic recognition effect.
>
> > I recently (three months ago) attached a 300gb external drive (USB).
> > The external drive is working fine when required. This "recognition"
> > problem started in this three month period (coincidence?).
>
> Likely, particularly if the internal drives dont even show up on
> the bios list of drives on the black bios screen at boot time.
>
> > My PC is home-built. P4 3.2gh, 2 gb memory,
> > All fans & heatsinks cleaned (blown out) regularly.
> > Temps fine. (My PC & I live in Scotland, a country
> > NOT known for tropical climates :-)
>
> But known for its hairy apepeople.
>
> That hair can do awful things to cpu fans etc.
>
> > The only ABNORMAL temperature increase is MINE!
>
> You could try a cold shower.
>
> > Any suggestions gratefully accepted & will be followed-up on.
> > Any further info supplied on demand.
>
> I demand to know the specific hard drive model numbers
> if a new ribbon cable doesnt fix the problem.
Thanks, Rod. New cable fitted & so far no blips. Thanks for your
welcome help. :-)
sandy58