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Internal HDD (laptop) not seen in BIOS

4K views 7 replies 3 participants last post by  wyldephang 
#1 ·
Hello all. I have an HP G60-235DX laptop, purchased in May 2009. A few months ago, the hard drive in the machine failed and could not be restored. Now, I'm making an effort to fix the computer.

I purchased a new hard drive to replace the old broken device, and it should be compatible. The computer used to use a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320 GB SATA, and I replaced that with a Samsung 500 GB SATA. After installation, I was able to go into BIOS and, under the Diagnostics tab, initiate and complete the Primary Hard Disk Self Test. This finished without any problems, and the hard disk checked out okay.

Still, I can't locate the drive in BIOS. It's my understanding that the hard drive should be located somewhere in the Main tab, or elsewhere, and it's not. Since the computer completed the Primary Hard Disk Self Test check, I'm going to assume that the drive is installed correctly. It's a laptop drive, anyway--I simply slid it onto the contacts and screwed it in place, so I don't think the installation is at fault. My version of BIOS is F.35, if that helps.

Incidentally, I'm pretty sure that the hard drive's absence from BIOS is related to another problem I'm having with the computer. When I tried to install my operating system, I got a "STOP: 0x0000007B" error. I'm trying to install Windows XP on the machine. The old hard drive was loaded with Vista, but my options for operating systems are limited. The Vista product key on the bottom of the computer has totally worn off and is illegible. Microsoft told me that my only option to recover the key (and to obtain a recovery disk) is to contact HP, but as the computer is out of warranty, I'm certain that I'll be charged. At any rate, the operating system is the least of my worries, now. I've got to make sure that the new hard drive is at least accessible to whatever software I attempt to load.

Does anyone have a suggestion? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.
 
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#2 ·
#3 ·
I'm not 100 percent sure about the reliability of the drive. It's brand new, but I know that doesn't mean much. When I removed it from the packaging, I didn't change any jumper pins. When I used to change the hard drive in my old tower, it was necessary to move the jumper pins in order to distinguish between master and slave. I didn't think it was necessary to do this on a 2.5" SATA laptop drive, so I plugged in the drive without messing with the pins.

If it helps, I noticed something while trying to boot the computer up last night: in the boot options field (not in BIOS), I could either select the CD-ROM or my hard drive as my boot device. The CD-ROM was default because I was using the optical drive to boot Windows, but I noticed that it named my HDD properly and recognized it as a Samsung device. In BIOS, the hard drive is not selectable as a boot device. Not sure if this information helps at all.
 
#4 ·
If the Bios Boot Sequence shows the Drive by manufacturer name, then the Bios is seeing the drive. Windows XP does not have native support for SATA drives. You must change the HDD mode in the Bios from AHCI to IDE or Compatibility Mode. Or you must Silpstream your SATA drivers into your XP disc with nLite. However, this computer shipped with Vista and HP does not have drivers for XP for this computer.
 
#5 ·
Thanks, everyone. I'll check the boot sequence out tonight to be sure that the drive registers with the computer. It sounds like XP incompatibility is the primary factor, here. Since the PC shipped with Vista, none of the components are configured to default to Windows XP. I was hoping I could install drivers after installing XP, but if I can't get that far, then I might attempt to recover my Windows product key and obtain a recovery disk. HP, more than likely, will charge me for the service as my computer is out of warranty, but it's better than nothing.

I'll report back with what I find. Thanks, again.
 
#6 ·
O.K. When the computer starts, it immediately attempts to boot to either the CD drive or hard drive--no POST or anything. Before it tries to boot, I can get into the Startup Menu with Esc, where the options visible to me are System Information, System Diagnostics, Boot Device Options, BIOS Setup, System Recovery.

System Information lists: Notebook Model, Product Number, System Board ID, Processor Type, Total Memory, InsydeH20 Version, Serial Number, UUID Number, Product Configuration ID, Factory Installed OS.

Under System Diagnostics, I'm able to run a hard drive disk check. The hard drive seems to pass this procedure, and it doesn't report any errors.

Boot Device Options lists the CD-ROM drive and the HDD (Samsung HN-M500MBB). This is the first and only time that the computer has actually named the hard drive.

So, thus far, the hard drive only really appears in the Boot Device Options screen. I don't see it in BIOS or the System Information screen. Does anyone have a clue why I can't access the drive in BIOS? And, since the drive isn't visible, does this mean that I cannot use the HDD on this computer? If the drive is incompatible, then I won't bother trying to reinstall an OS--not even Vista, which was the original system. I'll just chalk it up to a hardware error.

Thanks, once again.
 
#7 ·
Boot Device Options lists the CD-ROM drive and the HDD (Samsung HN-M500MBB)
If you go into Boot Device Options, do you still see the Samsung drive listed? If so, this is part of the Bios, so, the Bios does see the drive. You still have the problem of not having XP drivers, You should be able to install Vista or 7 however, as those are supported.
 
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