Hard drive not detected by OS

[Ali Abuklam]

Hello guys,

So I have a Lenovo y50-70 and I'm fixing it for a friend. The laptop had windows 8.1 on it and and was able to format it into new OS. The laptop does not read the hdd sometimes and won't let me boot from the hdd. It works only once every 15 times, if I keep restarting the laptop. However, it still read it on the bios. I tried to change the settings on the bios such is AHCI to compatible, but still not luck to get it working currently. Any suggestion maybe? Thank you for your help in advance.

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Start at beginning...possibly heat problem. Have you cleaned it?
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo...n-cleaning-Back-cover-fan-outlet/td-p/2138127

 

[Ali Abuklam]

Thanks for your answer, but no there is not sign for any heat

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Maybe because it is under a blanket (of dust). If the machine has been used for a couple of years without cleaning, this could be the reason for sporadic errors - and it is a good thing to do.

Do not change from AHCI if it was set up as AHCI.

 

[Cycloid Torus]

"The laptop had windows 8.1 on it and and was able to format it into new OS." What is the new OS? Do you still have recovery partition or was that removed by new OS? Do you have recovery disks?

You said, "The laptop does not read the hdd sometimes and won't let me boot from the hdd. It works only once every 15 times, if I keep restarting the laptop." Does this mean that you are booting from another device (USB stick, DVD, etc)? Perhaps, Lenovo has diagnostic utility? Can you install some monitoring software (SMART reader, temperature, voltage)? Is the HDD SMART report 100% life remaining or less?

It is good news that you can see the HDD in BIOS, but it may still be 'failing' - which is why I hope it is a heat issue.

 

[Ali Abuklam]

Just tried that without any luck..

 

[Ali Abuklam]

No I cleaned the whole HDD, I have a windows 8.1 on bootable usb, but it won't find the hdd when after hitting the install button. I will try to install a monitoring software. hopefully I get something. ..right now if turn on the laptop without the bootable usb I get the error: default boot device missing or boot failed.

 

[Ali Abuklam]

Well I was able to go to windows repair, so I just started it and it went through and found windows, then the laptop restarted and now even bios is not detecting the HDD..is it dead?

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Just to confirm I understand where you are - You started and ran windows repair from USB stick with the object being to repair the OS you had previously installed on the AHCI HDD and when restarted as the end of the windows repair, the computer no longer shows HDD in BIOS...phew, you have been busy.

Please check BIOS to confirm that AHCI is enabled and if possible for your machine that AHCI loads at start. I hope if you now power cycle that you will get the HDD to come back (in BIOS and in Explorer).

" Some operating systems, notably Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10, do not configure themselves to load the AHCI driver upon boot if the SATA controller was not in AHCI mode at the time of installation. This can cause failure to boot, with an error message, if the SATA controller is later switched to AHCI mode. For this reason, Intel recommends changing the drive controller to AHCI or RAID before installing an operating system.[1] (It may also be necessary to load chipset-specific AHCI or RAID drivers at installation time, for example from a USB flash drive.) " from Wikipedia

Please take some time away from the laptop.

things to consider...
1> please review Automatic Repair and confirm it operated properly by viewing

completely and seeing what the steps are supposed to be

2> if it succeeded (sounds so), then did you power cycle after the repair completed?

3> "now even bios is not detecting the HDD..is it dead?" hope not, hope it is a BIOS reset to not runnning AHCI

still problems, review steps which addresses INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE =>

Hope it helps... keep careful notes!

 

[Ali Abuklam]

Thank you so much for your time man. I did a hdd monitoring test and got this:

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Looks a bit hot. Note 56C in red at top of page. This is about 10C above where it should be - which might be 'ok' if you use the machine out in the sun or on a 36C day. The good news is that the Health is 100% which is just where you want it to be.