Hard drive not connected properly

Verify that the hard drive connects to the computer. The back of the hard drive should have two cables connected to it, the IDE cable and the power cable. Verify these two cables are firmly connected to the back of the hard drive.

Familiarize yourself with the dangers of ESD.

Next, verify that the IDE cable connects to the motherboard.

Finally, if this is a new hard drive or another IDE drive was connected to the computer, verify the jumpers are set correctly.

Hard drive not set up in CMOS properly

Verify that the BIOS setup for the hard drive is properly set up. The computer hard drive settings should either be defined, or if the computer is a Pentium or higher the hard drive should be defined as Auto.

  • How to enter and exit the BIOS or CMOS setup.

Hard drive cable is bad

If the above two recommendations do not resolve the issue, replace the IDE cable or switch the cable with a known good IDE or EIDE cable.

Other bad hardware

If you continue to experience the same issue after following the above recommendations, likely either the hard drive or the motherboard’s IDE interface is bad. We recommend replacing the hard drive. If this does not resolve the issue then unfortunately the connector on the motherboard is bad and it should be replaced.

  • Hard drive help and support.
  • How to install computer hardware.