Hdd unknown

over60plus · 11-08-2009, 03:46 AM

After formatting my old desktop was having freeze problems, i was asked to fdisk for partitioning along the way I selected the wrong instruction now it is saying my HDD IS UNKNOWN, do i need to go into bios to auto search fot the settings if so any help on how to do this I would be most grateful.

**grimx133** · 11-08-2009, 04:33 AM

Your bios says the hard drive is unknown? Not sure exactly what you mean, the bios won't show partitions, but should show the manufacturer and model of the hard drive. Clearing your cmos should allow the bios to reacquire your hardware. Check the motherboard manual for the exact procedure for your board. Or, you can unplug from the wall and remove the coin cell battery from that motherboard. The amount of time this takes varies, sometimes right away, other times half an hour won't do it. You can tell it worked if you have to reset the time and date upon entering the bios. Battery and jumpers work best, look near the battery for jumpers, usually called CLR_RTC or CLR_CMOS or something similar. If it's 3 pins with a jumper cap on pins 1&2, you move the jumper to pins 3&4 for at least ten seconds, and then move it back again. Best to do this with the battery out, and always clear it with the psu unplugged. Some boards, like gigabyte for one, will have 2 pins and no jumper, in that case you short the pins with a screwdriver or other metallic object.
Check the bios first though, see if the hard drive is recognized properly by name. It may be a windows issue, not a bios issue.

11-08-2009, 03:46 AM	#1 (permalink)
over60plus Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 5 OS: VISTA	Hdd unknown After formatting my old desktop was having freeze problems, i was asked to fdisk for partitioning along the way I selected the wrong instruction now it is saying my HDD IS UNKNOWN, do i need to go into bios to auto search fot the settings if so any help on how to do this I would be most grateful.

11-08-2009, 04:33 AM	#2 (permalink)
grimx133 Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Canada eh Posts: 3,144 OS: xp mce sp2, xp pro sp2, windows 7 beta My System	Re: Hdd unknown Your bios says the hard drive is unknown? Not sure exactly what you mean, the bios won't show partitions, but should show the manufacturer and model of the hard drive. Clearing your cmos should allow the bios to reacquire your hardware. Check the motherboard manual for the exact procedure for your board. Or, you can unplug from the wall and remove the coin cell battery from that motherboard. The amount of time this takes varies, sometimes right away, other times half an hour won't do it. You can tell it worked if you have to reset the time and date upon entering the bios. Battery and jumpers work best, look near the battery for jumpers, usually called CLR_RTC or CLR_CMOS or something similar. If it's 3 pins with a jumper cap on pins 1&2, you move the jumper to pins 3&4 for at least ten seconds, and then move it back again. Best to do this with the battery out, and always clear it with the psu unplugged. Some boards, like gigabyte for one, will have 2 pins and no jumper, in that case you short the pins with a screwdriver or other metallic object. Check the bios first though, see if the hard drive is recognized properly by name. It may be a windows issue, not a bios issue. __________________