From: Deanna on


My computer was on and i was away from it and i guess it tried to reboot
itself which has never happened before.

It then said "not a system disk" so i put in my XP System Recovery disk in
to try and just get windows going again....and pressed a key. It then said
" No hard disk found"

Does this mean my hard drive is fried? Not sure what caused it but it is an
older computer. Is there any way to save it?

Thanks for any help :(
From: Rich on
I would make sure first that it still comes up (shows up) in the Bios
(usually DEL or F1 on boot gets in). If your Battery went dead and the
drives are not set to be auto-detected in the BIOS, then it may not show
up or register as a drive on boot.

If the BIOS sees it and it still comes up as "No hard disk found", then
I would see about getting access to another PC and downloading the
manufacturers (Western Digital, Seagate/Maxtor, etc...) utilities
program. These usually can detect a drive and test them from a floppy
disk or CD (as long as the PC allows you to boot from a CD drive). Run
that and see if it can repair or detect the drive.

If that doesn't work, then it may be gone (unfortunately). Hope that helps.

RJC

Deanna wrote:
>
> My computer was on and i was away from it and i guess it tried to reboot
> itself which has never happened before.
>
> It then said "not a system disk" so i put in my XP System Recovery disk in
> to try and just get windows going again....and pressed a key. It then said
> " No hard disk found"
>
> Does this mean my hard drive is fried? Not sure what caused it but it is an
> older computer. Is there any way to save it?
>
> Thanks for any help :(
From: Patrick Keenan on
"Deanna" <Deanna(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6B98636B-D1FD-4C2F-8703-CCA5D0564D19(a)microsoft.com...
>
>
> My computer was on and i was away from it and i guess it tried to reboot
> itself which has never happened before.
>
> It then said "not a system disk" so i put in my XP System Recovery disk in
> to try and just get windows going again....and pressed a key. It then
> said
> " No hard disk found"
>
> Does this mean my hard drive is fried? Not sure what caused it but it is
> an
> older computer. Is there any way to save it?
>
> Thanks for any help :(

If your system has SATA hard disks, the message can mean that the driver
isn't installed.

Regardless, your best effort at this point would be to back up your data.
Simply remove the drive from your system, attach it to another (perhaps
using a USB2 drive case) XP system with enough drive space, and copy the
files off.

HTH
-pk


From: PA20Pilot on
Hi Deanna,

As well as the other suggestions, try removing the flat cable that goes
from the motherboard to the drive and reinstalling it a couple of times.

Quite often one of the many pins on the cable just loses a good
connection after a few years.

---==X={}=X==---

Jim Self

AVIATION ANIMATION, the internet's largest depository.
http://avanimation.avsupport.com

Your only internet source for spiral staircase plans.
http://jself.com/stair/Stair.htm

Experimental Aircraft Association #140897
EAA Technical Counselor #4562
From: nesredep egrob Long. -31,48.21 Lat. on
On Wed, 14 May 2008 16:30:51 -0400, "Patrick Keenan" <test(a)dev.null> wrote:

>"Deanna" <Deanna(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>news:6B98636B-D1FD-4C2F-8703-CCA5D0564D19(a)microsoft.com...
>>
>>
>> My computer was on and i was away from it and i guess it tried to reboot
>> itself which has never happened before.
>>
>> It then said "not a system disk" so i put in my XP System Recovery disk in
>> to try and just get windows going again....and pressed a key. It then
>> said
>> " No hard disk found"
>>
>> Does this mean my hard drive is fried? Not sure what caused it but it is
>> an
>> older computer. Is there any way to save it?
>>
>> Thanks for any help :(
>
>If your system has SATA hard disks, the message can mean that the driver
>isn't installed.
>
>Regardless, your best effort at this point would be to back up your data.
>Simply remove the drive from your system, attach it to another (perhaps
>using a USB2 drive case) XP system with enough drive space, and copy the
>files off.
>
>HTH
>-pk
>


Sorry about this but my Intel motherboard with no SATA disk was still giving the
messsage - "no disks found" and I have floppy I need to use - it is marked
IT8212 ATAPI. To use that I have to hit F6 early in the setup. I then get the
chance to use that floppie - later in the installation I need the Raid Driver
and if I install any further SATA's I still need to use the first floppie again.

So it is the motherboard that needs to know in the first place.

B|rge in sunny Perth, Australia
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