[RESOLVED] Western Digital HDD causes BIOS to hang

Gavia · 04-14-2007, 01:32 AM

Through a series of unfortunate events which can be found described here my BIOS now hangs when my Western Digital HDD is connected. It gets to the point of detection, says that both my hard drives have been detected and the status is OK and then it just hangs. You can't even get into the BIOS setup options. Is my HDD dead or is there some way to recover it? If it helps, my mobo is an Asus P4P800 Deluxe and the BIOS is American Megatrend v2.51.

**PanamaGal** · 04-14-2007, 05:04 PM

I would run WD hard drive diagnostic on the drive first. But, with the computer hanging, you'll likely have to do it attached to another computer. By the way, if it does the same thing on another computer, you'll knwo it's the drive. Also, I would make sure I had the latest BIOS from Asus for the board. If the drive checks out OK, and it still hangs with the latest BIOS, I think it would be a motherboard or memory problem.

Gavia · 04-14-2007, 07:21 PM

If I don't have the latest BIOS, how do I update it? I've never done it before and I hear that if you stuff something up your seriously screwed.

Tumbleweed36 · 04-14-2007, 07:52 PM

Well, I must admit that someplace I lost whether this drive has actually worked in this configuration. If it works without the second drive (I think that is what you said), but it won't with the WD hooked up, then tell us about the drive setup you are using. Types of all drives (SATA, IDE) you have on this rig, brand names of all drives, where they are connected (especially if IDE), how jumpered if IDE, what is on each ribbon cable, and if IDE, where on the ribbon cable. When we get that info and can make sure you are hooked up correctly, then we can move on to the other possible cause of this problem.

Gavia · 04-14-2007, 09:04 PM

Alright I'll explain how the drives work. At first I had 2 160GB Western Digital HDDs (WD1600JB). That's been running smoothly for about 3 years. Lets call them WD1 and WD2. On WD1 there is (in this order) an XP intsallation, 5gb of unpartitioned space, a 50GB partition, my Vista installation and then 17gb of unpartitioned space. WD2 is one big partition which i keep all my backed up movies on. I installed vista not long ago onto WD1 and everything was fine, then I tried to install XP again to the 17gb of unpartitioned space (I forgot to create it in XP setup). Thats where the problems started. After testing a whole lot of things to get the bootloader working properly again for my initial Vista, I did something wrong and now whenever WD1 is connected to the computer (it doesn't matter whether it's a master or a slave) the BIOS just hangs. At the moment I'm using an old 20gb drive I found to host XP until I can get WD1 up and running again. So currently my setup is a Seagate 20GB HDD as Master and WD2 as slave. Both work fine.

Now to the drive setup. Every drive is IDE. The IDE cable connects to the motherboard, then connects to the slave, then to the master. In the WD1 and WD2 configuration, I had the jumper on WD1 set as [::I::] and the jumper on WD2 was set as [:::I:]. According to the picture on the top of the drive, that means that WD1 is set as Master and WD2 is set as slave.

I want to run diagnostics on the drive but I can't get past BIOS to let the CD launch and run them. I think that at some point of my tampering, I actually did something to the drive and it just can't launch properly. To tell you the truth, I just want to get my important files off it then I'm happy to wipe everything off it and start again or if needed to get a new HDD.

Tumbleweed36 · 04-15-2007, 08:48 AM

Just for kicks, try setting both drives to Cable Select and see if they show. Take it for a test run and report back.

If no satisfacty results, lets experiment a bit with these drives. Take the one you want to work most, remove all the jumpers and place it on the end of the ribbon cable. (that is master with no slave setting for WD drives). Remove all other hard drives that you are not testing.

Be sure you have the Data Lifeguard tools downloaded on a floppy, and also make sure your boot order is set to:

CDRom - 1st
Floppy - 2nd
Hard Drive - One you are testing for the boot area

Note: If your bios setup menu has a hard drive priority area, make sure you have THIS drive listed first.

Note: Don't forget to save before you exit if you make changes.

Test it this way and post back with EXACT results. (note, if this works, then do all the drives to make sure all have intact integrity and are working properly.

Gavia · 04-16-2007, 06:43 AM

Ok so I set both drives as cable select and they both showed but the BIOS still hung. Heres what I got:

Code:

Auto-Detecting Pri Master..IDE Hard Drive
Auto-Detecting Pri Slave..IDE Hard Drive
Auto-Detecting Sec Master..Atapi CD-Rom
Auto-Detecting Sec Slave..Atapi CD-Rom

Pri Master: WDC WD1600JB-00DUA3   75.13B75
            Ultra DMA Mode-5, S.M.A.R.T. Capable and Status OK

That's where it hung.

I then removed the jumpers on the trouble HDD, put it at the end of the cable and removed the rest of the HDDs. Result was exactly the same.

There wasn't anything else I could do after that because when it hangs at that point, I can hit del and the screen says it will enter setup, but nothing happens.

Tumbleweed36 · 04-16-2007, 12:25 PM

Give the BIOS a flash and see if that helps. Here are the instructions:

Bios updates

dai · 04-16-2007, 01:09 PM

wd drives jumper setting is different to most
you set the jumper on the master to
master with slave
not to master

Gavia · 04-16-2007, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tumbleweed36

Give the BIOS a flash and see if that helps. Here are the instructions:

Bios updates

Before flashing the BIOS, should I try the HDD on another computer? And then if the same thing happens could we assume that it isn't the BIOS?

Tumbleweed36 · 04-16-2007, 08:29 PM

Sure won't hurt to try it in another computer. What can you lose and it won't harm the drive. If the same thing happens, it would not be the BIOS as a rule.

Gavia · 04-22-2007, 05:07 AM

It's confirmed, the HDD is seriously screwed. I put it in an a special external HDD case that takes internal HDDs, booted it up and it just kept on restarting. Decided to get a new external HDD. Namely: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=224

Thoughts?

Tumbleweed36 · 04-22-2007, 05:52 AM

Excellent choice, I would go for that if I were you.

04-14-2007, 01:32 AM	#1 (permalink)
Gavia Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 18 OS: Vista	[RESOLVED] Western Digital HDD causes BIOS to hang Through a series of unfortunate events which can be found described here my BIOS now hangs when my Western Digital HDD is connected. It gets to the point of detection, says that both my hard drives have been detected and the status is OK and then it just hangs. You can't even get into the BIOS setup options. Is my HDD dead or is there some way to recover it? If it helps, my mobo is an Asus P4P800 Deluxe and the BIOS is American Megatrend v2.51.

04-14-2007, 05:04 PM	#2 (permalink)
PanamaGal Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Panama Posts: 1,240 OS: WinXP Pro SP2; Windows Server 2003; Windows Vista Ultimate; Vista Business	Re: Western Digital HDD causes BIOS to hang I would run WD hard drive diagnostic on the drive first. But, with the computer hanging, you'll likely have to do it attached to another computer. By the way, if it does the same thing on another computer, you'll knwo it's the drive. Also, I would make sure I had the latest BIOS from Asus for the board. If the drive checks out OK, and it still hangs with the latest BIOS, I think it would be a motherboard or memory problem. __________________ It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. Last edited by PanamaGal; 04-14-2007 at 05:06 PM.

04-14-2007, 07:21 PM	#3 (permalink)
Gavia Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 18 OS: Vista	Re: Western Digital HDD causes BIOS to hang If I don't have the latest BIOS, how do I update it? I've never done it before and I hear that if you stuff something up your seriously screwed.

04-14-2007, 07:52 PM	#4 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 19,467 OS: XP Professional	Re: Western Digital HDD causes BIOS to hang Well, I must admit that someplace I lost whether this drive has actually worked in this configuration. If it works without the second drive (I think that is what you said), but it won't with the WD hooked up, then tell us about the drive setup you are using. Types of all drives (SATA, IDE) you have on this rig, brand names of all drives, where they are connected (especially if IDE), how jumpered if IDE, what is on each ribbon cable, and if IDE, where on the ribbon cable. When we get that info and can make sure you are hooked up correctly, then we can move on to the other possible cause of this problem. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread.

04-14-2007, 09:04 PM	#5 (permalink)
Gavia Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 18 OS: Vista	Re: Western Digital HDD causes BIOS to hang Alright I'll explain how the drives work. At first I had 2 160GB Western Digital HDDs (WD1600JB). That's been running smoothly for about 3 years. Lets call them WD1 and WD2. On WD1 there is (in this order) an XP intsallation, 5gb of unpartitioned space, a 50GB partition, my Vista installation and then 17gb of unpartitioned space. WD2 is one big partition which i keep all my backed up movies on. I installed vista not long ago onto WD1 and everything was fine, then I tried to install XP again to the 17gb of unpartitioned space (I forgot to create it in XP setup). Thats where the problems started. After testing a whole lot of things to get the bootloader working properly again for my initial Vista, I did something wrong and now whenever WD1 is connected to the computer (it doesn't matter whether it's a master or a slave) the BIOS just hangs. At the moment I'm using an old 20gb drive I found to host XP until I can get WD1 up and running again. So currently my setup is a Seagate 20GB HDD as Master and WD2 as slave. Both work fine. Now to the drive setup. Every drive is IDE. The IDE cable connects to the motherboard, then connects to the slave, then to the master. In the WD1 and WD2 configuration, I had the jumper on WD1 set as [::I::] and the jumper on WD2 was set as [:::I:]. According to the picture on the top of the drive, that means that WD1 is set as Master and WD2 is set as slave. I want to run diagnostics on the drive but I can't get past BIOS to let the CD launch and run them. I think that at some point of my tampering, I actually did something to the drive and it just can't launch properly. To tell you the truth, I just want to get my important files off it then I'm happy to wipe everything off it and start again or if needed to get a new HDD.

04-15-2007, 08:48 AM	#6 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 19,467 OS: XP Professional	Re: Western Digital HDD causes BIOS to hang Just for kicks, try setting both drives to Cable Select and see if they show. Take it for a test run and report back. If no satisfacty results, lets experiment a bit with these drives. Take the one you want to work most, remove all the jumpers and place it on the end of the ribbon cable. (that is master with no slave setting for WD drives). Remove all other hard drives that you are not testing. Be sure you have the Data Lifeguard tools downloaded on a floppy, and also make sure your boot order is set to: CDRom - 1st Floppy - 2nd Hard Drive - One you are testing for the boot area Note: If your bios setup menu has a hard drive priority area, make sure you have THIS drive listed first. Note: Don't forget to save before you exit if you make changes. Test it this way and post back with EXACT results. (note, if this works, then do all the drives to make sure all have intact integrity and are working properly. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread. Last edited by Tumbleweed36; 04-15-2007 at 08:49 AM.

04-16-2007, 06:43 AM	#7 (permalink)
Gavia Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 18 OS: Vista	Re: Western Digital HDD causes BIOS to hang Ok so I set both drives as cable select and they both showed but the BIOS still hung. Heres what I got: Code: Auto-Detecting Pri Master..IDE Hard Drive Auto-Detecting Pri Slave..IDE Hard Drive Auto-Detecting Sec Master..Atapi CD-Rom Auto-Detecting Sec Slave..Atapi CD-Rom Pri Master: WDC WD1600JB-00DUA3 75.13B75 Ultra DMA Mode-5, S.M.A.R.T. Capable and Status OK That's where it hung. I then removed the jumpers on the trouble HDD, put it at the end of the cable and removed the rest of the HDDs. Result was exactly the same. There wasn't anything else I could do after that because when it hangs at that point, I can hit del and the screen says it will enter setup, but nothing happens.

04-16-2007, 12:25 PM	#8 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 19,467 OS: XP Professional	Re: Western Digital HDD causes BIOS to hang Give the BIOS a flash and see if that helps. Here are the instructions: Bios updates __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread.

04-16-2007, 01:09 PM	#9 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,200 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Western Digital HDD causes BIOS to hang wd drives jumper setting is different to most you set the jumper on the master to master with slave not to master __________________

04-16-2007, 08:29 PM	#11 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 19,467 OS: XP Professional	Re: Western Digital HDD causes BIOS to hang Sure won't hurt to try it in another computer. What can you lose and it won't harm the drive. If the same thing happens, it would not be the BIOS as a rule. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread.

04-22-2007, 05:07 AM	#12 (permalink)
Gavia Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 18 OS: Vista	Re: Western Digital HDD causes BIOS to hang It's confirmed, the HDD is seriously screwed. I put it in an a special external HDD case that takes internal HDDs, booted it up and it just kept on restarting. Decided to get a new external HDD. Namely: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=224 Thoughts?

04-22-2007, 05:52 AM	#13 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 19,467 OS: XP Professional	Re: Western Digital HDD causes BIOS to hang Excellent choice, I would go for that if I were you. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread.