This post is more than 5 years old
14 Posts
0
64761
Drives are disappearing.
I have an XPS9100. My configuration is Win7 Ultimate (64-bit), 9GB Ram, Core i7-930
WD 1TB hard drive on C (SATA Port 2): Contains OS and a few main programs (MS Office, etc.)
Seagate 1TB hard drive on X (SATA Port 3 as of today): Contains my data (My Docs, Outlook pst, etc.) and secondary programs (games)
Seagate 500GB hard drive on Y (SATE Port 4 as of today): Contains storage (secondary backup of photos, videos)
TSST DVD on D (SATA Port 0):
Media drive (no drive letter shown until something is plugged in.)
Today I started losing access to my X-drive. It just wasn't there in Windows. Since I first got the computer, over a year ago, whenever I ran the Dell Support Center diagnostic, the X-drive would disappear. A reboot would generally bring it back and I didn't address it when I had tech support because I thought, "Eh, I'll just never run that diagnostic." Shoulda, woulda, coulda.
Today, a reboot did not bring it back the first 2 times (I checked the BIOS setup, and the drive appeared there, but it was not there after Windows startup, and did not show in Device Manager), then on the third reboot (panic in full force, and I ran the Dell Support center hardware diagnostic with no errors other then the X-drive not being there) it did appear normal after completely booting up, only to disappear after 10 minutes of inactivity (computer did not sleep, but maybe there was some background stuff going on??). I cracked the case, and swapped the SATA cables connecting drives X and Y, so that they were now on different ports (as seen above) and the cables were now different. Problem solved ...ish.
My computer was SLOWWWW. I had all sorts of issues trying to get any right-click functions to work. Clicking on Windows Explorer in the taskbar brought up the window almost immediately, but hitting Windows+E had a long (3 minutes+) delay. I ran Norton AV scanner. No issues found. Malwarebytes. No issues found. Ran Windows System File Checker (SFC /verifyonly). No issues found.
Pretty much as soon as Norton was done, a warning pops up from the taskbar notification area from the Intel Rapid Storage Technology app (which came installed on the system), telling me that Port 0 disconnected. Sure enough, no DVD drive in Windows Explorer. I opened Device Manager, scanned for new hardware, and the drive reappeared for about a minute before disappearing again. I tried scan for new hardware. No joy.
So, same day, two different SATA drives disappear. What is going on here? Hardware conflict? They don't use IRQs anymore, do they? Failing controller on the MOBO? Failing power supply?
BTW, the incredible slowdown of my computer (responses to right-clicks and Start Menu selections) seems to have abated. Maybe the system was stuck doing a lot in background to figure out what how to handle the switching of the ports or something. I'm just grasping at straws here.
osprey4
4 Operator
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
1
January 12th, 2012 16:00
Yes, I think it's hardware. Is it the 1TB Seagate giving the sub-optimal readings?
osprey4
4 Operator
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
0
January 10th, 2012 17:00
Hi PullingOutHair,
Things I would check:
1. Updated RAID driver
2. Updated Intel RST
3. Power settings (is any drive set to spin down)
PullingOutHair
14 Posts
0
January 10th, 2012 18:00
Hi Osprey,
PullingOutHair
14 Posts
0
January 11th, 2012 11:00
FYI, when I run Dell Support Center (DSC), the hard drive gets disconnected still, even with the DVD physically disconnected. There's either a conflict somewhere, or a hardware issue--maybe with the hard drive. Again, until just recently, the drive ONLY disconnected/disappeared when running DSC; otherwise, it was functioning perfectly.
PullingOutHair
14 Posts
0
January 11th, 2012 14:00
Per Hard Drive Sentinel 3.70 Pro, the Spin Retry Count of the offending drive is a 10 on the "Event Count." The other drives are 0. Per the utility, "Retry count of spin start attempts. Indicate problem with motor, bearings or power supply." Okay, so maybe the hard drive has issues. But is it a chicken/egg thing? Has some other problem (conflict, etc.) external to the drive led to tripping this flag or has an issue with the drive (or power supply) led to the exhibited problem?
PullingOutHair
14 Posts
0
January 11th, 2012 15:00
Further info from Hard Disk Sentinel's overview of the drive: Performance is 100%. Heath is 70% (Other drives are 100%). "Problems occurred during the spin up of the disk 10 times. This can be caused by the disk itself or huge power load (weak power supply)."
I have had the power supply replaced once, but this was due to noise, like a bum fan or bearings or something. I guess I could replace the drive, but how would that explain why would the DVD drive on Port 0 has been disconnecting/disappearing? Also the issue of the hdd disappearing in the Dell Support Center diagnostic was happening prior to the psu replacement--pretty much from Day 1.
osprey4
4 Operator
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
0
January 11th, 2012 17:00
There are two things. There's the driver, and then there is the application. It can't hurt to try both. Here are your downloads. The most up to date Intel RST can be found on the Intel site.
PullingOutHair
14 Posts
0
January 11th, 2012 22:00
Your link was to the same driver that is currently installed on my machine.
osprey4
4 Operator
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
0
January 12th, 2012 09:00
How about the RST application?
PullingOutHair
14 Posts
0
January 12th, 2012 12:00
I have uninstalled RST altogether in the hopes that it might be the source of the issues, and notice a slightly less responsive machine, but give the not-in-BIOS issue, I'm not too optimistic about getting through the day.
PullingOutHair
14 Posts
0
January 12th, 2012 12:00
i installed the updated RST from the Intel site, 10.8.0.1003. Unfortunately, I have a new development. I'd been hanging my hat on the fact that the drive showed in the BIOS and failed in the OS. I was in the middle of working when the drive failed. I restarted and the drive didn't appear in the BIOS--twice. Only after a shutdown and reboot (power off completely) did the drive reappear in the BIOS. So it's got to be hardware (either drive, psu, or mobo), right?
PullingOutHair
14 Posts
0
January 12th, 2012 18:00
Yes, it's that drive. According to folks on the Seagate forums, the specific sub-optimal readings I got are apparently "not generally necessarily" indicative of a true issue. Even if it is the drive, that doesn't explain why the DVD drive on port 0 was disappearing. As the drive hadn't disappeared since I uninstalled RST (7 hours of straight use now), I attempted to the Dell Support Center and see what happens, and the X-Drive (Port 3) disappeared again. I was able to run a diagnostic on the DVD drive without incident.
PullingOutHair
14 Posts
0
January 12th, 2012 20:00
More good news (sarcasm). After the most recent DSC test, I shut down my computer completely.15 minutes later, when I went to reboot... nothing! The Dell logo on the front lit up, but nothing else. the power button on top (white when on, flashing white when in sleep mode, amber sometimes) was black. I unplugged, replugged. Nothing. Unplugged, went aware in a stupor for 20 minutes contemplating why I did this to myself (the work I'd been doing all day I saved to the C-drive thinking that if the X-drive disappeared I'd still have my work), replugged, booted up. Whew, but I lost a few weeks of my live in stress there.
Julie DC
31 Posts
0
January 13th, 2012 17:00
I have the same problem on my brand new XPS. Couldn't turn it off, couldn't shut down. Baffling and frankly, pretty scarey.
osprey4
4 Operator
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
0
January 14th, 2012 03:00
Are you getting a solid or blinking amber light?