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Question

Two identical HDDs randomly not showing in BIOS/Windows

Mar 29, 2015 8:20AM PDT

Hi everyone!
I am a bit desperate because I consider myself to be knowledgeable in hardware but this is driving me crazy. If I could have your help please...

I decided to upgrade my computer, but save some money while doing it, so I got some components on ebay (I'm saying it because I know there's a possibility of a faulty device). I work as a video producer.


This is my configuration:
- AMD 8350 (used, ebay, seems to be working perfectly)
- ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0 (used, ebay, the same seller, -could- be the problem)
- G.SKILL F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2x4GB RAM (working well, the next thing to upgrade)
- ZOTAC GTX760 (used, ebay, different seller, working well, rocks on games as well as Premiere)
- Crucial CX600 (new, I thought my old 600W no name PSU was to blame, so I got this one)
- Samsung EVO 850 250GB (new, working well, partitioned as a 110GB boot + 125GB current video editing project)
- Seagate ST3320620AS (old 320GB drive, using it as a downloads/unimportant drive)
- 2x Samsung HD103SJ (1TB drives, used to be in RAID 0, now I use them as storage/backup in AHCI mode, -could- be the problem)


So, what happens is my two Samsung 1TB drives sometimes don't show up in BIOS (randomly), or Windows (randomly). Usually when I boot the computer they are gone (not always), but after the restart they are back. Once in a while it even happens that the computer freezes on POST or in Windows when trying to restart. Other than that the system works great and so do the drives once they're visible. It's just annoying having to restart all the time.

I read a lot of posts and tired a lot of suggestions, nothing worked. I tried all I could think of - I updated the BIOS, tried rearranging/swapping the SATA cables, then power cables, in BIOS tried default settings, tried turning off S.M.A.R.T. check, tried using them in IDE mode, I tried removing all USB devices (read somewhere that they could cause conflicts), tried a bunch of setting in BIOS, all to no avail.

The weird thing is that two of the identical drives disappear always together, while the SSD and the other HDD are always there, regardless of SATA socket configuration. So I guess it's harder to blame the MB. However, once the drives are visible, they both work well and I tested them, all good. Since it's happening to two drives at once, it's hard to say it's a faulty drive.

One thing that comes to mind is the drives take too long to initialize, so at boot they are not ready when POST is looking for them, or they freeze it, but when I restart, they are already initialized and spinning, so BIOS and Windows sees them. But how can this be, they are modern fast drives...

Can anyone think of anything else to try? Thank you!

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Seems folk have seen that.
Mar 29, 2015 8:35AM PDT
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Yeah, I googled
Mar 29, 2015 8:46AM PDT

I know how to google, I've been reading other people's problems for days Wink
If you read my post again, you can see that this is an AMD motherboard with a 990x chipset, there are no Marvell or Intel controllers. And you can also read that I have tried switching trough different SATA port configurations, whichever port I use, the system acts the same.

Do you have any more specific answers? Thank you!

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Yes. Try other motherboads.
Mar 29, 2015 9:01AM PDT

That's what we do in the shop.
Bob

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yeah
Mar 29, 2015 11:02AM PDT

It seems I will have to Sad

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While they covered it, BIOS version?
Mar 29, 2015 11:39AM PDT

Some older bios versions didn't give enough time for drives to become ready. You don't see it too often, but it was one of the common answers.

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I updated
Mar 29, 2015 7:00PM PDT

I updated the BIOS to the latest version...

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Answer
Lots of stories ...
Mar 29, 2015 12:13PM PDT

I've read a lot here in the forums about buying used parts and things going awry .
You have to bench test everything individually to be certain every part is working , maybe?

Digger

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How
Mar 29, 2015 7:01PM PDT

How do I bench test the motherboard?

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Answer
Have you given the drives
Mar 29, 2015 7:41PM PDT

volume or labels? Like "drive_1" and "drive_2" When you see them again, right clk on them, give each a different label/volume name, see if it makes a difference.

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yes
Mar 29, 2015 10:09PM PDT

There were named Storage1 and Storage2, but I don't think it makes any difference...

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Answer
You never said what OS?
Mar 29, 2015 8:01PM PDT

"Windows" is very generic, could be anything from XP to W10. What is the exact windows you are using and are you dual booting to it or them? I see your motherboard is the newer UEFI-BIOS type. How you set it can make a big difference in what you see or don't see. You could be using MBR partition and booting system, or using GPT (GUID Partition Table) instead. If the latter and you've two windows systems on it, the older may have corrupted the "protective MBR" set up under the newer windows system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface

http://www.howtogeek.com/175649/what-you-need-to-know-about-using-uefi-instead-of-the-bios/

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win 8.1
Mar 29, 2015 10:16PM PDT

Thanks for the reply.
It's Windows 8.1, no dual boot, and I did the "diskpart" "clean all" command in command prompt after using them in RAID, reinitialized it in Drive management and set GUID, so I don't think that is to blame. If the boot record was corrupt they would never show up, and this is so random and unpredictable. At this point I think the motherboard is faulty and I'm going out to buy a new one today.

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but how are you running w8?
Mar 30, 2015 4:41AM PDT

It can be loaded as 32 bit system under MBR, or 64 bit system under GPT on that motherboard. What are the settings in the UEFI? Have you tried changing them to see if it makes a difference? Have you tried booting with both Secure Boot and Fast Boot option turned off? If you can boot with both those off and consistently see all drives, then the problem is UEFI settings. Did you register the drives in the UEFI so Secure Boot would allow them?

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Answer
Most likely
Mar 30, 2015 12:17AM PDT

Sammy FW acting weird. I couldn't solve no matter what, so dumped all of them and went with Hitachi, now HGST.

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Oh I hope not
Mar 30, 2015 2:06AM PDT

I just bought a new motherboard and going home to try it...
They were working perfectly for a couple of years in RAID, I hope they're not the problem. We'll see, I'll update with the results of switching the motherboard.

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It was the drives!
Mar 30, 2015 9:07AM PDT

I installed a new motherboard and everything works well except the drives again! I can't believe that both of the drives became faulty at the same time.
They are now not visible in BIOS... I don't get it.

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Sorry to hear
Mar 30, 2015 9:56AM PDT

I wish mine had died outright so it would be easy to figure, but no, they started by "disappearing" then reappearing, and eventually couldn't even be detected in a USB dock. Could be signal margin errors in electronics or heads or whatever with FW dumb enough not to correct. Anyway I threw up my hands and said s...w it! Good thing 1TB disks are cheap enuf nowadays. WD Blacks good too if you like speed and don't mind a bit of noise.

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Same
Mar 30, 2015 11:16AM PDT

That's exactly what was happening with mine... Luckily, I backed up all the important data and all that was left on the disk was a lot of po*n, so now I just have to rebuild my collection Happy
But damn, what a weird way to malfunction, two identical drives malfunctioning identically, must be something I did :-/
Thanks for the advice