Intermittent Issue with SATA Harddisk

Tange1Tange1
edited December 2006 in Hardware
Hello, I have a dell dimension 4600. My primary drive is a SATA 36 GB raptor. I have an intermittent issue with this drive/SATA connector. Every once in a while my system completely locks up (mouse cant move, responds to no keys, etc). When this occurs my hard disk light goes solid but I don't hear the drive moving. When this occurs, I power off, power on and it tells me that it cant find my primary disk. What I've found is i have to open my case and re-seat the SATA cable on the primary drive then I'm back in business.

So, any thoughts? The drives past WD's diag tools.

Unfortunately I don't have a dell diagnostic CD and dell doesn't seem to offer an ISO CD image for mine, just floppy disk images (who uses floppy's anymore?) So I cant run dells diagnostics without making a request for a new CD. The system will be out of warenty come summer (4 yrs).

Comments

  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    First thing I would try is replacing that SATA cable. If that doesn't fix it try the drive in another known-to-be-working system, to see if it gives the same issue, if it does, then the drive may need to be replaced, if it doesn't, then the issue is likely in the MoBo, which would be a big deal...

    But, start with that cable, since that is the cheapest, easiest step.
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