[Squishy Jay]

Hey, I currently have 2 computers at home as I bought my work one home over Easter and both are suffering from the same problem.

Yesterday a 'friend' of mine decided that, whilst I was out, it would be funny to switch the hard drives round in my computers. I have since replaced the correct hard drives into the correct machines however now windows will not boot on either of them as they do not recognise that there are hard drives in them. Can any body help me?

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Hello Squishy Jay.... Welcome to
GeeksToGo,


I'm sorry to hear about your issue. We will try to help you resolve this as soon as possible.

• Please understand we are all volunteers and we are not here all the time.
• Sometimes it may be a extended amount of time to get back to you. If it has been
  more then 3 days please shoot me a PM and I will try to get back to you quickly
  then.
• Please do the following and supply the requested information as needed. If you
  don't understand my instructions please ask and I will try to explain them
  clearer for you.
• Do not attempt any steps unless instructed or ask before to
  make sure they will not cause any further issues.

This is going to get real confusing quickly so I suggest we work on one system at a time.
Please provide the system specs for the one you want to work on first.
Is it a name brand system like Dell, Hp or Compaq?
If so what make and model?
If custom build then the above won't apply.
Do you know are the drives in question both IDE or SATA or is one IDE and the other SATA?
Are you sure they have power connected?

[rshaffer61]

Hello Squishy Jay.... Welcome to
GeeksToGo,


I'm sorry to hear about your issue. We will try to help you resolve this as soon as possible.

• Please understand we are all volunteers and we are not here all the time.
• Sometimes it may be a extended amount of time to get back to you. If it has been
  more then 3 days please shoot me a PM and I will try to get back to you quickly
  then.
• Please do the following and supply the requested information as needed. If you
  don't understand my instructions please ask and I will try to explain them
  clearer for you.
• Do not attempt any steps unless instructed or ask before to
  make sure they will not cause any further issues.

This is going to get real confusing quickly so I suggest we work on one system at a time.
Please provide the system specs for the one you want to work on first.
Is it a name brand system like Dell, Hp or Compaq?
If so what make and model?
If custom build then the above won't apply.
Do you know are the drives in question both IDE or SATA or is one IDE and the other SATA?
Are you sure they have power connected?

[Squishy Jay]

Well firstly, thanks for getting back to me.
Secondly, I'm now getting a disk read error on my personal system to add to the difficulties.

My system is a Novatech, Model Number PC0927TP.
The drive on my personal machine is a SATA drive.

[Squishy Jay]

My personal system is up and running perfect again after a little help from my Dad, however my other system, which has two IDE hard drives, will not boot from the hard disk.

[happyrock]

did you try swapping the cables around for the two ide drives...
only one will be the boot drive and you may have it connected to the wrong cable...
did your "friend" disconnect the computers from the wall before removing the hard drives..if not there is still power on the motherboard and he may have done hardware damage...
does your friend have any money to spend to fix the system...if so tell him to take it to a shop...
what a moron...

[Squishy Jay]

I managed to get it working by changing the cables around like you suggested, although only the data storage drive was recognised and so I've had to reinstall windows on that, luckily ive not lost my data.

[rshaffer61]

Hmm for some reason my post didn't show up about checking the location of the drives on the cable.
Did you by chance check the jumper on the back of the drive to make sure it wasn't changed?
Have you been able to get all the drives to show up now?

[Squishy Jay]

The drive that used to be the boot drive for the work pc wont power up no matter how it is connected now. So whatever he did he has destroyed that one somehow.

[rshaffer61]

OK so the work system is down now or is that the one you installed the OS on the data drive?

[Squishy Jay]

That's the one I put the OS on the data drive. They are both working now except for the fact that the original boot hard drive no longer works.

[rshaffer61]

I'm confused how you managed to install to the data drive without losing the data.

[Squishy Jay]

Oh, sorry. I didn't make that clear.
The data on the drive is gone, but my computer syncs with the server at work and everyone's data is backed up there, so I rang up and asked when the last back up was and it was before it powered down the last night it was working, so I can get my data from the work back up.

[rshaffer61]

ahh ok good
So now your friend is going to replace the bad hd for you?

[Squishy Jay]

He better do. I was given a system with two hard disks, so I can't really return with only one can I? :-P

[rshaffer61]

He better do. I was given a system with two hard disks, so I can't really return with only one can I? :-P