Sudden loss of IDE HDD in Bios and Win XP

[garbo7441]

I am trying to assist a Craigslist poster who was ripped off by someone else 'helping' him. The guy stole his WinXp install disk and install key.

Anyway, he had tried to upgrade to SP2 on his WinXP system. It flailed half way through and left him with several problems. A clean install of WinXp solved most of the problems. However, one very mystifying problem remains. Now, his IDE hard drive does not appear in either the mobo bios or Windows.
It also does not appear in a Belarc scan. Prior to the failed SP2 upgrade everything functioned correctly.

System: Asus P5P800 mobo / Intel P4 3ghz proc / 1gb DDR400 ram / WD SATA 37.5 gb hdd as primary OS drive.

Diagnostic process to date:

1. installed known good IDE hard drive. Still not seen. Installed original drive in another computer and it functioned correctly and appeared in bios and WinXP.

2. Changed out IDE flat cable with brand new one. No go.

3. Since the Memorex CD burner on the secondary IDE port was visible in bios and WinXP , moved hard drive to secondary IDE port. No go.

4. Tested power supply. Tested good. (Not sure about the wattage rating)

The problem would seem to point to the motherboard. Or ???

Thanks for reading this post and for any suggestions/thoughts/prayers you may be able to offer.

[Paul Komski]

installed known good IDE hard drive. Still not seen. Installed original drive in another computer and it functioned correctly and appeared in bios and WinXP.

Try resetting the CMOS.
Consider trying a new CMOS battery.
Set IDE/ATA controller to auto.

It also does not appear in a Belarc scan.
Is this on the same or another PC? Though if not seen in the BIOS of any PC it will hardly be seen by any software running on the same PC.

[garbo7441]

Thank you for responding, Paul.

I will try resetting the CMOS and plug in a new battery. I'm also pondering flashing the Bios, which I generally try to avoid.
IDE/Sata Controller is set to 'auto'.

The Belarc scan was run on the PC in question.

[Paul Komski]

Dodgy PSU or bad IDE power (or data) connection/cable must both be unlikely though possible reasons. Grasping at stores but does the drive have all of its 39/40 pins - I have seen this affect a drive in just one but not another PC. Is there any vibration at all from the hard drive when it is thought to be on. If this PC was once working OK its very hard to implicate the BIOS as needing to be upgraded. Bad RAM can do about anything as well. I suppose its also worth trying the drive via USB (convertor-cable or enclosure).

[garbo7441]

I tested the power supply using a fairly expensive power supply tester. It tested good for all output voltages. Yet, it obviously does not test under load conditions. The thought on a bad ide power supply connection is definitely something to be checked. Logically, I didn't think the bios should be implicated unless the bios chip itself took a hit. I should also point out that the PC owner, who had cracked the case and noodled around inside, was not aware of the dire consequences of ESD.

Due to schedule conflicts it will be Wednesday before I can continue with this exercise. I will advise results then.

Thanks again, Paul, for your interest in helping. Much appreciated.

[garbo7441]

Problem resolved: several dead IDE power supply connections. Replaced PSU.

Thanks for the help, Paul.