[Dorcas]

Hi!

I have a five year old Sager D900K/C9750, which for the past few months has had problems recognizing my secondary internal HD. It'd see it at first, then it would disappear between 1 minute and 12 hours from power on. I switched the positions of the 2 HDs inside my laptop, which helped temporarily. A week ago, I turned on my computer, and got a blinking cursor instead of the Windows splash screen. I ran Windows Setup and was able to repair the installed XP, but still received the blinking cursor. Twice, though, when I tried to start up, the computer didn't even recognize that the HDs were there. After powering off and on again, it would recognize them sometimes.

I removed the HD from my computer, put it in my external case, and retrieved most of what I need, so I know it's not the HD itself that's the problem. Interestingly, when I restarted the working computer with my Sager's HD still connected, it must have tried to boot from USB first, and received the blinking cursor instead of loading Windows 7.

The thing is, I reseated the hard drive in the old Sager, and it's not recognizing the drive again. So it seems like I have two problems: Windows not booting, and my computer's HD controller gone bad? Am I right? Am I missing something? Should I bother trying to fix the old computer? Should I just reformat the Sager's HDs for storage at this point?

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I removed the HD from my computer, put it in my external case, and retrieved most of what I need, so I know it's not the HD itself that's the problem.

Although probably correct, it does not absolutely indicate that the hard drive is not failing.
Your first job is to run a disk check on both drives.
If you know the make of drive use the manufacturers utility.

The other possibility is that the computer has a hardware fault, probably on the motherboard that is preventing the HDD from being seen.

Twice, though, when I tried to start up, the computer didn't even recognize that the HDs were there. After powering off and on again, it would recognize them sometimes.

Is the HDD seen in the BIOS.

I would also check the ram. If a stick of ram has gone bad, this may be a possible cause.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 16 August 2011 - 04:56 PM.

[Macboatmaster]

I removed the HD from my computer, put it in my external case, and retrieved most of what I need, so I know it's not the HD itself that's the problem.

Although probably correct, it does not absolutely indicate that the hard drive is not failing.
Your first job is to run a disk check on both drives.
If you know the make of drive use the manufacturers utility.

The other possibility is that the computer has a hardware fault, probably on the motherboard that is preventing the HDD from being seen.

Twice, though, when I tried to start up, the computer didn't even recognize that the HDs were there. After powering off and on again, it would recognize them sometimes.

Is the HDD seen in the BIOS.

I would also check the ram. If a stick of ram has gone bad, this may be a possible cause.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 16 August 2011 - 04:56 PM.

[Macboatmaster]

Dorcas
It is now some 18 days since you asked for help.
Would you please post as to how matters are progressing.
If the problem has been solved and you no longer require help please indicate that in your reply.
Thank you.