HELP! Win XP can not recognize my 02 Hard Drives and DO NOT BOOT!!

[franklogus]

I need help to solve a big trouble. My "back-up" PC (P4 1.6, Asus P4SDX, 01 HD ATA-133 120 GB Maxtor & 01 HD ATA-100 40 GB Seagate) is having a boot problem since this morning... The message is "DISK BOOT FAILURE-INSERT DISK SYSTEM...".

So, I put my MoBo CD in my drive of DVD and I could access DOS (only drive "A" - the program "called" my drive of DVD - normally named D by Windows - as drive "A")), but I can not reach my 02 hard drives (as if they were "missing"...). Inside BIOS, within BOOT menu, I can not set Primary Master and Slave, because they "disappeared" (appears only NONE inside this option... - as if I do not had any HDD...) Very strange, as I didn't change any setting of my PC.

Well, I need a technical help to solve this odd problem; what can I do to make my PC to recognize my 02 HD's, please??

Thanks a lot in advance for any help!!!!

 

[Masque]

It appears you may have a hard drive that went bad. Change out the ribbon cable to be on the safe side.

 

[Goalie]

What drives do the BIOS detect?

If the bios isn't detecting the drive, Masque is almost certainly right.

If it is detecting it, Masque may still be right, but the problem may lie elsewhere as well. (Bad partition tables, file tables, etc.)

 

[RealBlackStuff]

It being a backup PC, maybe it was not used for a while and it's battery is down?
Check (in BIOS) if you can get the HD-detection page to work (auto-detect).

 

[poertner_1274]

I would suggest reseating the ribbon from the drive as well as the mobo. Also try reseating the power to the drive. It might just not be making good contact. But that isn't usually the problem.

 

[franklogus]

Thanks a lot for your attention; Masque, Goalie, realblackstuff & poertner_1274 !!
Well, I am not good with these matters, but I can say that when the PC had the first problem of Boot, I entered in the BIOS and the Master HD (Where is the OS) was listed/detected, but the BIOS do not "load" it... Sorry if I am not clear, thats because my knowledge of computers is bad... But, at the second attempt to enter in the BIOS, it was not more listed/detected (as if it was disappeared). I never could to find my Secundary/Slave HD... So, at first view, I am thinking that it can be a bad contact, right ??...
As I dont know to operate with computers (I am afraid to open the case and damage my PC), i will take it and deliver to a technical professional. If it was only a software problem, I could try to solve; but, as it needs to open the case...
Anyways, thanks all for your help !! Its very useful to know in advance what can be the problem; so, I can to understand better what the professional will have to do...

 

[poertner_1274]

It's really not that hard to do, but if you have even the slightest regards about doing it, it is best to let a professional do it. Good luck with everything, and be sure to post back and let us know what they did to fix it.