Hard Drive Controller Failure??

Question

I have a Latitude C840. At first I thought the drive failed but it appears that the hard drive controller has failed. Both the hard drive and CD/DVD player are not recognized as being present by the bios, the floppy drive is present in the bios. Not just a coincidence I think.   My first question is: how do I test this and make sure it is indeed the hard drive controller?   My second is, if it is the hard drive controller, can it be repaired? By me or do I have to send it to a shop or back to dell?   Thanks!!   Paul

ejn63 · Answer

It is far more likely the hard drive itself failed, not the controller. If you have a faulty or not-installed hard drive, the optical drive won't show up, as it is a slave device. Go into the BIOS. If the hard drive is not detected, reseat it. Be sure the blade adapter is present on the back of the drive (not bare pins) or the drive isn't connected. If that doesn't work, replace the drive with a new one, being sure to transfer the blade adapter. Hard drive controller failures are exceedingly rare. Hard drive failures, on the other hand, are the most common failure on any computer system.

pskeem · Answer

So if the hard drive fails the slave device (CD/DVD) won't show up in BIOS either? Not sure that makes sense to me. Shouldn't the BIOS show all connected and recognized drives regardless of whether they are slave or master?

ejn63 · Answer

Not on this model - both drives are on one channel. When the hard drive fails, or if it is not installed, the CD/DVD drive won't show up either.

pskeem · Answer

Thanks! Good to know.

Storage, Drives & Media

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