Second internal drive shows in BIOS, not in Windows

[carmen617]

OK first off apologies as I am really not a hardware person - self taught, only do the most basic hardware repairs such as replacing hard drives, swapping out RAM, or installing graphics adapters - generally can handle all of that!

Customer drops off a fully functional Vista desktop and a "new" refurbished HP Desktop for a system migration. Tells me he bought the refurb several months ago but just hasn't had time to set it up. The system is loaded with Windows 7 but he wants a 10 upgrade which is the first thing I did with it. He tells me he wants all the data from the old system onto the new, and btw the old system has a 2TB data drive so make sure to grab that data too, and he wants the drive back.

I remove the 2TB drive from the Vista system, hook it up via USB, all works fine, see it is 3/4 full so really no option but to just install it in the new system which only has a 1TB drive. Hook that all up, fire up the new system - no new drive shows up in device manager or in disk management. I go into the BIOS, see that the drive is recognized there. I poke around, don't see anything in there that's making me think it will fix my problem, but decide to load BIOS defaults regardless.

Reboot system, fails to boot, shows me the following error: 2234-HECI error during initialization. I google that, says possibly a failed motherboard, crap. Turn system off, turn it on again, boots fine, drive still not found.

Any suggestions? Is it a bad refurb/motherboard? Am I missing some change I should make in the BIOS? Thanks for any help!

 

[HFultzjr]

Did you run a full test on the hard drives?
They may be bad. Lots of failing "bigger" hard drives.

 

[carmen617]

no, not a bad idea, heading out but will try seatools on it when i return, thanks

 

[Markverhyden]

Is the 2TB the boot drive on the old box? Did you image the drive after the first fail to see in Windoze?

 

[nlinecomputers]

So the "new" HP is the one not seeing the drive? Have you tried another drive in that unit? Bad cable? What happens if you place that drive in yet another PC?

For what it is worth most 2234 errors are dead Mobos. It is a refurb unit. Nuff said.

 

[HFultzjr]

no, not a bad idea, heading out but will try seatools on it when i return, thanks

May I suggest GSmartcontrol?
http://gsmartcontrol.sourceforge.net/home/index.php/Downloads

 

[carmen617]

I tried a different cable, and different connectors for the cable, no luck. The drive was recognized perfectly well via USB in a dock. I haven't tried another drive in the unit, and I haven't imaged the drive. The 2TB wasn't the boot drive in the older unit, it was just a data drive, which is what i want it to be on this drive as well. Apart from the one 2234 error the system has booted fine, it just isn't recognizing that there is a second drive in place except in the BIOS. I only have the client's word that the older system was working properly as I never booted it up myself, just removed the drives to transfer the data.

I don't know when the client bought the refurb unit or from whom, but my gut feeling is that whatever warranty it might have come with is passed. This is a system bought for his wife, with Windows 7 on it, to replace a Vista machine. She's the person who brought me in as she was "tired of things not getting done around here".

 

[Markverhyden]

I'd try flashing the BIOS then.

 

[carmen617]

No BIOS update i can find, currently running diagnostics on the disk. I'm thinking, though, that it might be some sort of RAID setting in the BIOS which is something about which I know nothing. The system is some sort of commercial tower that I'm not familiar with, called an HP Compaq 8200 Elite Convertible MiniTower - does that mean anything to anybody?

 

[Markverhyden]

Yep, that a business machine. What is the serial number and/or HP part number? Should be on a barcoded sticker somewhere.

 

[FremontPC]

Is Intel RST installed? You might want to try getting rid of that, I've gotten pretty weird results from it in the past.

I'd also try booting from a Linux CD, Ubuntu or the like to see if it registers there.

 

[fencepost]

Checking it on a bootable Linux is an excellent plan. I'm actually going to suggest spending $10-ish on Parted Magic.

Also, does the drive show up in Disk Management in Windows?

D'oh, missed it in the first post.

 

[mr m]

As crazy as this sounds go to control panel/admin tools/win memory diag. Let the PC reboot and run the mem diag. After it runs Win will see the data drive.

 

[FremontPC]

Also, does the drive show up in Disk Management in Windows?

OP said he checked Disk Management and Device Manager.

 

[carmen617]

As crazy as this sounds go to control panel/admin tools/win memory diag. Let the PC reboot and run the mem diag. After it runs Win will see the data drive.

Thank you VERY much, that absolutely did the trick! Now, if you could please tell me why and how the heck you knew it would work . .. .

 

[nlinecomputers]

Wait what? That worked?

 

[NETWizz]

Yeah, why would running the Windows Memory Diagnostics have anything whatsoever to do with it not seeing a Hard Drive? I would think it would be a bad SCSI/RAID driver, dying disk, disabled in motherboard setup/BIOS, etc...

Please do explain how you knew that would fix it.

 

[fencepost]

Count me in on that, I had to go look to confirm that it existed - I'm 99% sure I've never used it, if I suspect memory problems it's always been tested with MemTest.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Speculation? The HDD is not in the correct mode and somehow running the Windows Memory Diagnostic resets the drive as it is accessed from a much more primitive OS? Booting from Linux might have done the same thing???

 

[FremontPC]

Windows resets some hardware cache by running the mem diag? I'm still wondering if Intel RST is installed. AFAIK, this drive only got hooked to the system after Win10 was installed (was it a clean install or an upgrade), so that might have had something to do with it too.