Troubleshooting Hard drive (HDD) issues

Troubleshooting

Problem

General hard drive troubleshooting steps for IBM workstations

Resolving The Problem

Note: Diagnostics must be completed and any error codes or messages noted prior to hard disk drive replacement. Noisy drives are not always defective. Some are just inherently noisy. Compare noise levels against another identical drive with the same field replacement unit (FRU).

Data backup is an important part of any computer security program. Some of the procedures below may result in complete data loss. Make sure all important data has been backed up before continuing.

To begin troubleshooting, check the following top issues. If your issue is listed, select the link, otherwise proceed to step 2.

	Hard drive upgrades
	IDE hard drive is not recognized, or not working properly
	Lockups, hangs, slow performance, or self-rebooting
	Drive is not recognized by the firmware or operating system
	Firmware reports that a mirrored array is in degraded mode
	"No ROM basic system haulted" error message during startup (there are no active partitions)
	One of the hard drives in a mirrored array has failed
	Operating system does not boot
	System stops responding during hard drive operating system commands to test or look for bad blocks
	System hangs when MegaRAID IDEal Software CSB6 RAID adapter ROM scans the IDE channels
	Noisy hard drives
	Bad sectors

If a new option has been added and your system is not working, complete the following procedure before continuing:
1. Remove the option that you just added.
2. Run the diagnostic tests to determine if your system is running correctly.
3. Reinstall the new device. Ensure all connections are firm and proper.
Make sure the system and controller have the latest levels of firmware code installed.
Select the type of controller your hard drive is attached to:

SATA controller

SCSI controller

ServeRAID controller

ATA-133 RAID controller

IDE / EIDE controller
If these steps have not resolved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"

	SATA controller
	SCSI controller
	ServeRAID controller
	ATA-133 RAID controller
	IDE / EIDE controller

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1962 or I999030X POST error, "OS/2!! SYS0145 OS/2!! SYS02027" error, or non-system disk error

Remove any media from the diskette drive and CD-ROM drive. If the error message "OS/2!! SYS0145 OS/2!! SYS02027" or "non-system disk or disk error" is displayed, a non-bootable floppy diskette was probably left in the drive inadvertently.
If the problem remains, proceed to "IDE Troubleshooting steps".

IDE troubleshooting

Symptoms experienced with hard disk drive problems:

Drive is not recognized / detected / or seen by the system
System starts and "Insert system diskette" message appears
System starts and a blank screen appears with a flashing cursor
System starts and a "Bad partition table" error message appears
System halts at IBM BIOS screen during bootup
Unable to FDISK or format a hard disk drive
Bad cluster messages appear during a hard disk drive format
HDD LED continuously lit during startup and system doesn't start
1762 or other POST errors appear during system start

Proceed to "IDE Troubleshooting steps" to fix these problems.

IDE Troubleshooting steps

Verify that the drive is shown properly in the Startup Sequence of the IBM System Configuration/Setup Utility. If the drive is not recognized by the system in the System Summary section of the System Configuration/Setup Utility (the BIOS), or is not working properly, use a process of elimination to determine whether hardware configuration, the drive, the data cable or the system board is at fault.
1. Press F1 during system startup to enter the System Configuration/Setup Utility.
2. From the Main Menu, select Devices, press Enter, select IDE Drives Setup and press Enter. The hard disk drive should be listed with the correct maximum hard drive space available indicated. Press Esc until the main menu is on the screen.
3. From the Main Menu, select Startup Sequence, then Enter.
4. The hard disk drive should appear on the screen as the second or third startup device, depending on the startup configuration. Typically, the sequence should be either: CD-ROM, then Diskette drive, then Hard disk drive or Diskette drive then Hard disk drive. The hard disk drive should usually be the last device in the startup sequence. This permits booting to rescue diskettes or other similar media.
5. Press Esc to return to the Main Menu, then select Save and exit to restart the system.
Disconnect all other IDE devices on the primary controller and reconfigure the hard disk drive to be the master drive on the primary controller. When checking the drive for proper jumper configuration, there are 3 settings to consider: Master, Slave and Cable Select.
- Some drives are configured using the simple Master drive or Slave drive jumpering scheme.
- Some drives can be jumpered as a single Master drive with no slave drive, as a Master drive with Slave drive, or as a Slave drive. If a new drive has been added as a Slave drive, the Master drive may need to be reconfigured as the Master drive with Slave. Refer to the drive owners manual.
- Cable Select is an alternate jumpering scheme used on newer systems. All devices on the channel must be capable of supporting Cable Select. All devices on the channel must be jumpered Cable Select.
Remove, examine and reseat the signal cable and power connections to the hard disk drive and to the system board, to ensure all connections are firm and proper. Cables should be carefully pulled near the connector when disconnecting from the hard disk drive or the system board to reduce the possibility of damage to the cable.
1. Check for bent or broken pins on the system board IDE controller and the hard drive. Replace damaged components.
2. Check the cable is correct for the drive. For ATA-66, ATA-100 or ATA-133 - 80 conductor, 40 pin cables:
  1. Connect the blue connector to the system board.
  2. Connect the black end connector of the cable to the Master drive.
  3. Connect the gray middle connector of the cable to the Slave drive.
3. Check for cut cable conductors. Make sure that cables do not interfere with drive trays when they are closed. Swap with another cable if possible.
4. Check for proper pin 1 to pin 1 connection orientation. It may be possible to incorrectly flip cable connectors.
5. Check the power connector to the hard disk drive is making a good connection to the drive. Swap with another connector if possible. This is important if the drive will not spin up, to check if it is getting power. Try a different cable and power connection if available.
If the other system board controller is known to be good, move the drive and cable assembly to that controller and check the BIOS for drive recognition. The original controller or connector may be faulty.
If the drive uses sound and vibration insulators, use a screwdriver or install a jumper wire between the drive and chassis to ensure the drive is fully grounded. Ensure that the mounting screws you are using are not too long, as they may be shorting out the drive.
Remove the drive from the chassis, and operate the hard drive outside the chassis to eliminate possible heat, or electrical shorting problems.
Check if the drive is recognized by the BIOS in another working system. If not, the drive is defective and needs to be replaced.
Run diagnostics on the hard disk drive. Replace drive if diagnostic testing reveals a failure.

Click here to download the latest diagnostics for your system.
Check if a firmware update is available for the drive.

Click here to view downloads available for your system.
FDISK and format the drive, then reload the operating system using the available recovery media. If the operating system fails to load, or the hard disk drive is still not recognized or working correctly, then replace the hard disk drive. Use FDISK to verify the drive is partitioned and active. This requires a bootable or startup diskette and the FDISK.EXE utility. Option four on the FDISK menu will display the current partition information for the hard drive.

Warning: FDISK and format will result in the loss of all existing data on the hard disk drive. Make sure you have a backup of all data before performing this action as a last resort before replacing drives.
Check partition information within the operating system to check if the drive is seen correctly. For Windows 2000 and XP:
1. Right click My Computer, then click Manage.
2. Select Disk Management from the Computer Management list and verify the partitions are correct.
If these steps have not solved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"

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Lockups, hangs, slow performance, or self-rebooting symptoms

Many symptoms such as lockups, hangs, slow performance, rebooting, error messages, etc. are caused by the installation of software that was not preloaded or by viruses, but are incorrectly attributed to the hard drive.

Before replacing a hard drive for these symptoms, check the drive using the latest virus definitions. Removal of some viruses may require specific steps using special software to successfully and completely remove the virus. Also, pay careful attention to computer performance after non-preloaded software is installed to identify when offending software is reloaded. Some software can cause significant undesirable results when installed with other software.

Before replacing a hard disk drive for these symptoms:

Check the hard disk drive using the latest anti-virus definitions.
Clear temporary files from your hard disk drive. This includes Microsoft Internet Explorer cache, Netscape cache, temp files, .chk files, and emptying the Recycle bin.
If hard disk drive performance is still an issue, then perform the following steps.

Warning: FDISK and format will result in the loss of all existing data on the hard disk drive. Make sure you have a backup of all data before performing this action as a last resort before replacing drives.
1. Unconditionally format the hard drive (e.g. format c: /u)
2. Reload the operating system.
3. Pay careful attention to non-preloaded software installed after this to identify when the offending software is reloaded.
If these steps have not solved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"

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Noisy hard drives

Some drives are inherently noisier than others by design. A hard disk drive making a grinding or continuous clicking noise can usually be considered defective, but before replacing any hard disk drive:

Verify the hard disk drive is the source of the noise by removing the cover of the system and identifying the hard disk drive as the source of the noise. Occasionally the mounting method may cause a higher than expected noise level.
If the drive uses sound and vibration insulators, use a screwdriver or install a jumper wire between the drive and chassis to ensure the drive is fully grounded.
Run diagnostics on the hard disk drive. Replace drive if diagnostic testing reveals a failure.

Click here to download the latest diagnostics for your system.

Note: Applications provided by IBM may report an "imminent failure" message during operation. Such drives can be replaced as defective. Additional testing of confirmed noisy drives with diagnostics is not necessary for these drives.
If these steps have not solved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"

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Bad sectors

Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP may run a chkdsk program on boot up if the system was not shut down properly or if it detects a hard drive error on boot up. When the chkdsk program is finished, a list of information will show up on the screen showing various information about how much space is used and available.

The message "x number of Sectors on the HDD are Bad" may appear, where x is the number of bad sectors that were found. This may be caused by a corrupted file, or the hard drive may be bad. The system will attempt to correct the problem. It is recommended that diagnostics be run to determine if there is a problem with the hard drive, especially if there are a number of these errors showing up or if these messages are happening frequently and the system is being shut down properly. Click here to download the latest diagnostics for your system.