Disk Drive Problems

[Technoob]

My computer with windows 7 that I built about a month ago just started having trouble with my disk drive. If I switch SATA slots while the computer is off it will come up in the menu, but then disappear again.

 

[Scataphagos]

You should try a different hard drive and see if it's OK. You want to determine whether the problem is mobo, HDD, or software. If you can narrow it down to the HDD, try to copy your important data to another medium and replace the HDD immediately. Once a HDD starts glitching, it's only a matter of time before a failure.

 

[Technoob]

I meant my DVD/CD drive writer thing

 

[Scataphagos]

It's likely either the drive, the SATA cable, or the mobo/SATA port. Most likely it's the drive and needs to be replaced.

 

[NetTecture]

Yeah, probably a bad drive.

* Replace the cabling. You should have some spares, if not... they dont cost.
* If the problem persists, get a new one.

 

[Technoob]

I switched out the cable and now it is working, if the DVD drive still operated like normal (opens and closes, flashing light while reading disk) then could it have really been the problem

 

[NetTecture]

Definitely. Many people overlook the prolem cables CAN be, because they really are normally reliable

 

[Scataphagos]

Quote from Technoob:

I switched out the cable and now it is working, if the DVD drive still operated like normal (opens and closes, flashing light while reading disk) then could it have really been the problem

Could be that the other cable is OK, just needed to be re-seated. You might try swapping in the old cable and see if it works normally now.