Hello,

I just built a computer after buying all the individual hardware from Newegg. Everything is good so far except that the computer cannot detect a hard drive. I made sure all the connections were in properly, and tried to switch the SATA port.

Any ideas? Obviously it could be a bad drive, but I'm really hoping it isn't. It is a "Western Digital Caviar Black WD7502AAEX 750GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive."

Try it in a different machine.

When you're trying to install the OS, does it just not detect the hard drive? Are there any error messages?

When you connect a bare drive, sometimes you need to buy an adapter for power/data, and sometimes you don't. There should be two cables going into the hard drive -- one for power going to your Power Supply and one for data going to the motherboard. Double check both are present?

/edit: Some older motherboards have the SATA ports numbers, and you can only add drives in the order of the numbers. (ie. if the drive isn't connected to SATA port 1 on the motherboard, it won't be detected). Chances are your board isn't old though if you just got it off newegg, but it's a thought.

This post was edited by krazi_mofo111 on Jul 16 2011 02:58am

Yes of course the power supply and SATA cables are connected

At the beginning of the startup it says "hard drive not detected" or whatever, and when I try to continue and attempt to install Windows 7, it also says cannot detect the hard drive when it asks where it should install the OS on.

Definitely not an old motherboard, and I did originally have it connected to SATA port 1 first anyways.

Just checking w/ the cables

I worked in computer repair a few years ago during the summer, so a lot of my info is out of date. I know that hard drives often include a CD that will format the drive. Using that CD was vital for a windows XP install since XP didn't have generic SATA drivers baked in (I'm 95% win7 does though). If the drive did come with a CD, try loading that CD (you should be able to boot from it) and see if the manufacturer's program can detect the drive.

other than that, i'm out of suggestions. You might wanna try the computer hardware forum or waiting until daytime when more people are one. There's also always westerndigital support

This post was edited by krazi_mofo111 on Jul 16 2011 03:03am

Uh well my house is an absolute mess right now with all these packaging stuff and boxes from the hardware, so I can't remember what came with what at the moment (wife trying to find the original box) but I'm pretty sure that the only shit that came with the HD was a lot of bubble wrap, lol...

Have you tried to enter BIOS? I mean, I don't wanna push you into that if you are not familiar with BIOS at all ^^
Mybe you have SATA disabled in BIOS

not sure whats up with it unless the hd got some static, just installed the WD caviar black myself and works fine, didnt need cd's.

Yeh tried to go into the BIOS and change some settings, but nothing worked >.>



I have handled many HDs, so this would be the first dead one I have personally ever encountered.. I don't think static killed it considering I was grounded.