WD5000AAKS HD not recognized in BIOS

[2kReturner]

System: DG33BU
OS:
-Current: Win XP Pro 32 bit
-Unrecognizable SATA HD: Linux, Win XP Pro 64 bit

Using my previous motherboard, my Sata HD works but due to a memory module problem, that motherboard has become unusable. Now on my new mobo, my Sata HD will not recognize in BIOS. I have tried the things below and still wasn't able to do get my HD to recognize in windows or in the BIOS:

1. Installed SCSI drivers through Win XP Pro 32 bit
2. Installing a Boot loader (will not detect HD)
3. Installing Linux again (without primary IDE and the SATA only, displays nothing)
4. Installing chipset drivers (still no go)
5. Updating BIOS (Had to update it to the one of my last mobo for the DG33BU G33 Chipset)
6. Putting it into a HD enclosure (It saw right through my plan and wouldn't load)

On the Win XP and in some cases, it shows my Sata HD but says something similar to "there is a disk in this sector but is innacessible". Other times, it goes straight to an 0x0000007B error or 0x00000050 something or another. At start up, I would get a DOS screen with a blinker. If I don't have my primary IDE drive in, it would go to a "no bootable device" error and hang there.

What I don't understand is that on my past mobo, the SATA HD DID work. I've researched this problem and some have said it is a common firmware issue while other experts I've asked said HD just can't be swapped into different mobos like your other hardware. Also, I've heard of a bad PCB could make the drive act like it's dead. To my belief, if the drive was dead, I wouldn't of gotten any clicks when I turned it on. At this moment, it doesn't make any but does get hot. I don't think a truly dead HD would even do the aforementioned.

I've tried to find a reasonable price as my funds are extrememly low at this point. If any, I'd like to find software that could recover my crashed/locked hard drive instead of being "scammed" out of a couple hundred dollars for something that's not even worth the price! Throwing the HD away isn't an option because of my music studio files that is on the drive.

[BlackST]

Try on a known good pc. If not recognised, data recovery necessary. If head problem, 1700/2500 €/$. If fw or electronics, it will cost less. No you can't repair yourself.

[Steve]

System: DG33BU
OS:
-Current: Win XP Pro 32 bit
-Unrecognizable SATA HD: Linux, Win XP Pro 64 bit

Using my previous motherboard, my Sata HD works but due to a memory module problem, that motherboard has become unusable. Now on my new mobo, my Sata HD will not recognize in BIOS. I have tried the things below and still wasn't able to do get my HD to recognize in windows or in the BIOS:

1. Installed SCSI drivers through Win XP Pro 32 bit
2. Installing a Boot loader (will not detect HD)
3. Installing Linux again (without primary IDE and the SATA only, displays nothing)
4. Installing chipset drivers (still no go)
5. Updating BIOS (Had to update it to the one of my last mobo for the DG33BU G33 Chipset)
6. Putting it into a HD enclosure (It saw right through my plan and wouldn't load)

On the Win XP and in some cases, it shows my Sata HD but says something similar to "there is a disk in this sector but is innacessible". Other times, it goes straight to an 0x0000007B error or 0x00000050 something or another. At start up, I would get a DOS screen with a blinker. If I don't have my primary IDE drive in, it would go to a "no bootable device" error and hang there.

What I don't understand is that on my past mobo, the SATA HD DID work. I've researched this problem and some have said it is a common firmware issue while other experts I've asked said HD just can't be swapped into different mobos like your other hardware. Also, I've heard of a bad PCB could make the drive act like it's dead. To my belief, if the drive was dead, I wouldn't of gotten any clicks when I turned it on. At this moment, it doesn't make any but does get hot. I don't think a truly dead HD would even do the aforementioned.

I've tried to find a reasonable price as my funds are extrememly low at this point. If any, I'd like to find software that could recover my crashed/locked hard drive instead of being "scammed" out of a couple hundred dollars for something that's not even worth the price! Throwing the HD away isn't an option because of my music studio files that is on the drive.

I'm really sorry you feel this way ..
The cost of recovery has NOTHING to do with the value of the drive.
I wouldn't work on corrupted file system problems for less than
a few hundred dollars. And you have a drive that is not
recognised in bios. Which means that there is a major problem.
Then on top of that you have a WD5000aaks which is usually
a major pain in the posterior.

If your Music Studio files are of value to you then pay someone
that knows what they are doing

[BlackST]

Well, before winning a Grammy everyone has fund problems

[Steve]

Well, before winning a Grammy everyone has fund problems

I have done a lot of work for musicians, and recording studios,
and tv production houses (commercials). And they ALWAYS
place a high value on their work (even if it sux )
So I can only assume that the OP doesn't place ANY value
on his work. Which is why he doesn't place any value
in ours.

[drc]

I can only assume that the OP doesn't place ANY value
on his work. Which is why he doesn't place any value
in ours.

Oh, snap!

[2kReturner]

head problem, 1700/2500 €/$. If fw or electronics, it will cost less.

I wouldn't expect a head problem to be that much. I would like to find software where I could diagnose the problem instead of getting scammed by someone for more than my budget for something I could do myself.

Some people keep telling me to dump the drive and move on. That's not an option at this point because of the priority of recovering this drive with important stuff. I don't know if this is true but I've been hearing about HD's with things already on it can't be transfered easily to another mobo without the right drivers. Unfortunately Western Digital's data life tools don't work on a multi-boot/dual boot system. What software could do that?

[beto]

well on first u should identify the problem , to know the solutions, its not possible to exchange PCB at this models the mp has adaptive info needs to links to SA on platters, on first u should know, if hdd its getting his "readiness" by ATA registers, and if its ok, so could be

1.- Does hdd did the full recalibrations process. ( u can heard that)?
2.- Reach readiness DRDY DSC.?
3.- Does answer to ATA read sectors commands, ?
4.- If no wich ATA registers show, ABRT at all sectors, UNC, IDNF, AMNF at some region´s
5.- Access to Eng Cylinders and check Structure, if there are some problems ( a lot of money on that equipment involved, and need experience on that field)


From this way u could identify the problem : Bad surface, Bad or weak Heads, SA problems , etc

if u doesnt know how to do tha then t u need to send to a proof DR Company

[2kReturner]

well on first u should identify the problem , to know the solutions, its not possible to exchange PCB at this models the mp has adaptive info needs to links to SA on platters, on first u should know, if hdd its getting his "readiness" by ATA registers, and if its ok, so could be

1.- Does hdd did the full recalibrations process. ( u can heard that)?
2.- Reach readiness DRDY DSC.?
3.- Does answer to ATA read sectors commands, ?
4.- If no wich ATA registers show, ABRT at all sectors, UNC, IDNF, AMNF at some region´s
5.- Access to Eng Cylinders and check Structure, if there are some problems ( a lot of money on that equipment involved, and need experience on that field)


From this way u could identify the problem : Bad surface, Bad or weak Heads, SA problems , etc

if u doesnt know how to do tha then t u need to send to a proof DR Company

I hear nothing coming from my drive, unfortunately.

[beto]

If u cant heard nothing from the HDD, so could be PCB problems, on that models its very common damaged on spindle controller, or MP , the problem its that family doesnt support exchange PCB because, the adaptive info (microcode wich its stored on MP links to SA on platters) and cannot be replaced

[drc]

Your motherboard should not make any difference. What you need to do is take your drive to a functioning computer and examine it with something like MHDD to see if it is really having problems or if you are just having software-based issues. If it truly does not show up in the BIOS then no software out there is going to help you with that.

[BlackST]

Face the reality. You want to get paid for your music when you play? If the drive has physical damage no software will revive it. Need PRO intervention.

[HDD Spaz]

If the data is important you must send it to a pro. Many pro's will offer NO DATA NO FEE, this works both ways, NO FEE NO DATA! Accept your data loss and get out the credit card.

[BlackST]

Hoping you won't refuse the queote and receive back the drive with platters upside down or... ooops... there was a magnet on the loose or... hey... 3 drives on the table, we can play Hanoi tower... THIS would be a scam, not a honest and professional job done. Anyway I won't be of any help.

[Zorb]

...

I wouldn't expect a head problem to be that much. I would like to find software where I could diagnose the problem instead of getting scammed by someone for more than my budget for something I could do myself.

Some people keep telling me to dump the drive and move on. That's not an option at this point because of the priority of recovering this drive with important stuff. I don't know if this is true but I've been hearing about HD's with things already on it can't be transfered easily to another mobo without the right drivers. Unfortunately Western Digital's data life tools don't work on a multi-boot/dual boot system. What software could do that?

Software isn't going to diagnose a non-reporting drive.

DLG works fine on dual boot/multi boot. It doesn't care about your operating system or partition layout unless you're asking it to clone a drive. It can test, repartition, format, or erase any WD drive in your machine, not caring what's on it. They just may say dual boot not supported because if you use it to clone a drive with some types of dual boot configurations set up, it won't understand it, and will screw it up.

You can take a drive between motherboards easily as long as it's not part of a RAID and the board you're taking it to is compatible with its interface. You can't take an installed operating system between machines, but you can take information files. Put the drive back in the old machine and see if it works. If it does, set the SATA mode jumper to the more compatible SATA 150 mode, and try it back in the machine where it doesn't work. If it still doesn't work, it's your computer. Throw it in the garbage. If it doesn't work back in the old machine, it's your hard drive, and if you aren't willing to spend the money on a professional evaluation to at least tell you what's wrong with it, give up (and throw it in the garbage).

<rant>
A scam implies willful deception as to the value or benefit of goods or services to be provided. A reputable service would provide you a list of what they did upon your request. It's one reason I don't like a lot of the big recovery houses, some of them would just happily charge you $2000 for a logical recovery from a corrupted filing system. Honest services would charge you a few hundred dollars for it. Most people, myself included, resent the implication that any of their services is a "scam".

Non-Data-Related Example: Quick oil change shops are a scam. Hiring a monkey from the zoo and home he doesn't screw up someone's car by dropping a banana into the air cleaner is one thing. These places nail you for everything, they charge $25 to change a $6 PCV that takes two minutes, $25 for a cheap (lower than factory quality) $6 air filter that takes two minutes to install, an extra $4 per quart of oil if your car uses more than five, $99 transmission flush service (don't ever use a flush to change fluid on an automatic transmission, all the major manufacturers recommend against it, stating that it can do damage) that involves hooking the car up to a machine which uses the transmission's pump to remove the old fluid, while feeding it new stuff, using twice the amount of fluid needed due to the inefficiency of the procedure.
A mechanic shop at $75/Hr is not a scam. He likely knows what he's doing. In that $75 hour, he can do all of the above services, change your transmission oil the right way, bill you for materials and his hour of time only, and you actually end up paying a good amount less, for work being done to a far higher standard of quality.

- A magic sticker you stick behind the battery of a phone for $10 to supposedly boost your signal, is a scam. They are paper with metallic ink, they do nothing, and being that they are promoted as a meter long antenna or whatever, a meter is longer than the signal your phone uses, so would do no better than a 12cm antenna.
- A magnetic antenna you stick on the roof of your car with a wire that plugs into your phone is not a scam, it works quite well, even with that little 12-20cm antenna found on most of them.

Scams capitalize on people's lack of knowledge and exploit it in a dishonest fashion. High priced services are not a scam. $10000 in tools, subscriptions for updates and data services, and other things like that must be paid for somehow. What about time? If it takes someone 15 hours of work, using $5000+ in tools that have to be periodically upgraded or replaced, possibly requiring a couple hundred dollars in spare parts, why isn't the job worth $2000?

You are not entitled to free evaluations without obligation. That's a scam perpetrated by the customer. You send me something, I tell you what's wrong, you call up the neighbor's computer-punk kid and have him crack it up trying to fix it. The only good part for me is that if it truly is important, and you try the neighbor's kid method unsuccessfully, you will probably come back to me with the device worse damaged, costing you more to correct. I give estimates effectively for free, I probably shouldn't but I do. I charge $60 to evaluate. The evaluation charge is credited toward the repair cost. If it's not fixable, I don't charge for evaluation. What a scam!

Anyway, sorry about the long tangential rant, but the word scam being applied here really ticked me off.
</rant>

EDIT: Didn't notice that your old board was dead. Ok, what kind of board was it? That may be of some relevance, or whatever killed it may have killed your drive too. Memory doesn't kill boards. If by change it will still power up even it unstable, see if your drive works on it. If it does, something's up with your new board. Also, make sure your SATA settings are ok in your BIOS and try another SATA port.

[2kReturner]

EDIT: Didn't notice that your old board was dead. Ok, what kind of board was it? That may be of some relevance, or whatever killed it may have killed your drive too. Memory doesn't kill boards. If by change it will still power up even it unstable, see if your drive works on it. If it does, something's up with your new board. Also, make sure your SATA settings are ok in your BIOS and try another SATA port.

Old board starting working fine until I added a new sound card, which works fine on my new mobo! It too was a DG33bu. Currently, I put my old mobo back together and it keeps giving me three long beeps (Intel states its a memory error). The problem was that I tried different memory sticks in them. They'd work for a while and then the computer would go ca-put with that same stupid error. I thought i bought the right memory for it but now it won't go.

Now my HD, I believe, isn't the problem because it's worked in the past mobos I had it in. It's just in this new one, it won't work. In the Win XP installation screen, it sees something in the sector but can't access it. Lately, it's been giving me a 0x0000007b error. at one time it was a 0x00000050 error.

You said something about a HD can't just be swapped to another computer and is expected to work, confirming that rumor I've been hearing. DLG won't recognize my HD but the Win XP installation does but with the aforementioned results.

[Zorb]

If the board was the same, that takes compatibility out of the equation.

Drive will swap fine and be recognized. There's no excuse here for DLG not seeing it, it's a hardware problem somewhere, either the drive or the board. Set your BIOS to auto detect on ALL SATA channels that don't show any devices, reset the computer, and then see if it works. If it doesn't, use the tool in the BIOS setup to detect the drive parameters, then save that setting if it finds it correctly. If it detects something incorrect, say, 2TB, post that. If it finds nothing, move the drive to another SATA connector and try again. Disconnect the working drive and plug it into that connector, it it still isn't identified in BIOS, it's the drive. You might try setting your board's SATA controller to IDE/Legacy mode, and connect the drive to the channel that is emulating either Primary or Secondary Master, then setting MHDD to that port, and using the ID command. See if it displays anything. It often sees flaky drives that don't identify to the BIOS.

The only problem moving a drive from computer to computer is if you try to start the machine from that drive. If you installed an operating system on a hard drive on one machine, then moved that drive to another with different hardware, the OS won't work usually, because the required drivers are different. Your machine would see the drive, it would operate just fine, the OS just wouldn't boot from it. In Windows, you would just get a BSOD on startup, it would restart, and you would get another BSOD and so on.

What does the Windows XP installer say about the drive?

[2kReturner]

If the board was the same, that takes compatibility out of the equation.

Drive will swap fine and be recognized. There's no excuse here for DLG not seeing it, it's a hardware problem somewhere, either the drive or the board. Set your BIOS to auto detect on ALL SATA channels that don't show any devices, reset the computer, and then see if it works. If it doesn't, use the tool in the BIOS setup to detect the drive parameters, then save that setting if it finds it correctly. If it detects something incorrect, say, 2TB, post that. If it finds nothing, move the drive to another SATA connector and try again. Disconnect the working drive and plug it into that connector, it it still isn't identified in BIOS, it's the drive. You might try setting your board's SATA controller to IDE/Legacy mode, and connect the drive to the channel that is emulating either Primary or Secondary Master, then setting MHDD to that port, and using the ID command. See if it displays anything. It often sees flaky drives that don't identify to the BIOS.

Intel's mobo BIOS is sorta obscure when it comes to setting SATA controller.

This is what my settings say:

????: Legacy or Native
Configure SATA as: IDE or AHCI
SMART: Enable or Disable
Sata Ports:
0 [HD plugged in but won't show!]
1 [SATA DVD-Ram]
4
5

The only problem moving a drive from computer to computer is if you try to start the machine from that drive. If you installed an operating system on a hard drive on one machine, then moved that drive to another with different hardware, the OS won't work usually, because the required drivers are different.

I DO recall, after installing Win xp on my IDE HD, I took it out and the computer LET me install windows XP 64 bit on my HD. On top of that, I installed Xubuntu. Around that time, I bought a new sound card, updated my BIOS and then things started to get a little sticky--memory error--wasted money on new memory, worked for a while and now, the thing won't boot up. Nothing but a black screen! I switched it to a different computer and it shows nothing.

What does the Windows XP installer say about the drive?

Something similar to a "Something is in this drive sector but is inaccessible". But now it just gives me a 0x0000007b error. At one time, it gave me a 0x00000050 error. Do you know what either of the two mean?

[Zorb]

The error messages generated by the Windows NT installers are not well documented. There are a few things that can cause 0x0000007b messages. I haven't seen 0x00000050.

Download the MHDD as a floppy or ISO version, create a disk or burn the ISO, set your BIOS to Legacy mode for SATA, boot the computer from it, you may have to set MHDD to allow use of the first channel, then once MHDD's running, select the Primary IDE Master device (1) and type "ID" at the prompt, without the quotes. See what that does and post that.

If the data is important, professional help is still the best bet.

[drc]

To the original poster:

Not trying to be offensive, but I really don't think you know enough about what you're doing to successfully do it yourself, except maybe by happy accident doing something someone else told you to do. Why not take your drive and/or computer in to a local shop (i.e. NOT best buy) for a real diagnosis by someone who does computers for a living? For all you know us people on the internet could be basement nutjobs who get off on tricking people like you into breaking their stuff. Even beside that, there is NO substitute for having an experienced person actually get their hands on your hardware. There's probably something very simple that you just lack the conceptual understanding or experience to think of. Either that or your hard drive is toast. In any case, the problem seems beyond your ability to address, and from this thread it seems like you're just going around in circles. Again, this is not a slight against you. If my car engine started making funny noises I would take it to the mechanic instead of trying to get random strangers on the internet to try to make a long-distance diagnosis and tell me how to fix it myself.