HP Laptop Doesn't Recognize Any Hard Drive

[sapphirescales]

Well, this is an unusual one for sure. I have an HP laptop (newer 5th gen i5) x360 15" that won't recognize any hard drive. I replaced the cable but it didn't solve the problem. I can hear/feel the hard drive spinning up, but when you turn the system on all you get is a message that the hard drive can't be found. Things I've tried:

1. Replace the HDD cable
2. Flash the BIOS
3. Tried an SSD/other brand of hard drive
4. Tried booting in legacy and UEFI modes - doesn't make a difference
5. Resetting all BIOS settings to default (tried this before and after flashing the BIOS)
6. Cleaned the contacts between the motherboard and the HDD cable.

The computer boots fine from flash drives in both legacy and UEFI modes. Unfortunately, HP doesn't support anything other than a SATA based hard drive/SSD on this model so I can't even put in a mSATA or m.2 drive. There are no bent pins on the motherboard where the HDD cable connects and it's making good contact. I'm frankly at a loss here. Anyone else ever experience this? The next thing I'm going to try is a shim between the cable and the top part of the clip where it connects to the motherboard. Maybe it's NOT making good contact? I have no idea.

 

[Mick]

Disk Controller gone west? Although if it boots to a PE that kind of points away from that idea...

 

[wavey]

SATA controller chip?
Does the DVD work, if it has one?

 

[Diggs]

Did you try a formatted and ready to run bootable drive from another computer? (Yes it will error but will find a boot sector just as a check.)

 

[GTP]

I thought you charged enough to just give the client another one and move on?

I sell Dell Latitude E7450's for $699 all day long. I get them for $200 including the SSD. If the motherboard fails and I have to give them another one, I'm still in profit. It's not the Windows XP days anymore. Things are MUCH simpler now.

One great thing about focusing on business class computers is there are only so many different models. If someone comes in with a business class laptop I sold them a few months/years ago, chances are I have the exact same model in stock. This makes replacing parts quick and easy (or just swapping out the entire laptop if the situation warrants it). If you're doubling or tripling your money when you sell a product, it's not a big deal if you have to eat the cost of a replacement every once in a while.

 

[mikeroq]

Model number? HP has many x360 laptops.

I've had a few laptops do this. Always something with the motherboard. We just replace the board and move on.

 

[sapphirescales]

I thought you charged enough to just give the client another one and move on?

Oh trust me, if I had sold them this then I would've just thrown this one in the bin a long time ago. HP's consumer grade stuff is just trash.

Did you try a formatted and ready to run bootable drive from another computer? (Yes it will error but will find a boot sector just as a check.)

Seeing as I use images exclusively, yes, the drive I put in is all ready to go. I've also booted with the Windows 10 install USB and it couldn't find a drive and neither could my portable copy of Windows 10 that runs on an external SSD.

SATA controller chip?
Does the DVD work, if it has one?

Nope, no DVD drive unfortunately. If it had one, I'd just cram the HDD into the optical drive bay and call it a day.

Model number? HP has many x360 laptops.

I've had a few laptops do this. Always something with the motherboard. We just replace the board and move on.

That's my thinking. I just want to make sure that I'm not missing something obvious. This is a less than 3 year old laptop that was over $1,000 so I don't want to tell them to trash it unless I'm 100% sure here.

 

[Kitten Kong]

does the drive appear in the bios at all?

have you tried diskpart.

just in case

 

[sapphirescales]

does the drive appear in the bios at all?

have you tried diskpart.

just in case

Nope. Nothing in the BIOS. But I can hear the drive spin up and die when I turn the computer off.

I tried the shim thing but unfortunately that didn't work either. Apparently it is making a good connection. I guess I'm stuck with suggesting either a motherboard replacement or a trade in for a business class machine. Here's hoping they decide to trade it in. I'm sick and tired of this consumer grade garbage.

 

[MichaelBits]

We got a stack of those X360's from a local school last year.

When I went through and tested them (some were in rough shape from teenage abuse), I recall having one where I couldn't detect any sata drive connected. Pretty sure I determined the sata controller had died on it.

More than likely same issue with the one you have.