I just installed a new PC and I have a problem that I had before and I’ve never tried to solve. The disk in question even in the old PC would run only in IDE, if I set the SATA to AHCI the pc crashed on boot without access to the BIOS.
With the new PC does exactly the same thing I just do not work even if I leave the SATA to IDE, the mainboard Asrock Extreme 4 crashes on boot with error A3.
There aren’t jumpers on the drive, I tried to attach the disk to the secondary ASMEDIA controller set to IDE, however, blocked the same. It block the PC in every conditions.
There is a firmware update for this disk? I do not find on the WD site.
SMART test of the disk are all OK, at this moment i run the DLDIAG with extended test in the oldest pc
I just happen to have that drive and a PC which is in the middle of repair. I placed the drive inside, connected the cables, and powered it on. BIOS (this is an Intel board) saw the drive, with the SATA type set at AHCI from before. I exited BIOS and was prompted to install an OS. So there is nothing wrong with that type of drive per se. This drive was connected to a SATA 6 Gbit/s port. My drive has no jumper.
I wonder if your motherboard has a problem with the drive for whatever reason. Do you have SATA connections for 3 Gbit/s to match the drive? It shouldn’t matter, but maybe your board cannot handle different SATA types.
Do you have an external USB dock with which you could run Lifeguard tests?
The mainboard is new and don’t have any problems with other 2 disk, a SSD and a SATA.
This disk had the same problem in the oldest PC but with the SATA set on IDE it always works. With the new mainboard it don’t work in any configuration and any controller (both Z97 controller or Asmedia).
At this moment the disk is on the oldest PC running the extend test of Lifeguard, when it finished i post the result
Does the drive already have an operating system installed? If so, it sounds like it could be incorrect/corrupted drivers for the motherboard’s SATA controller. All motherboards use different drives but not all of the drives are built into the OS. Also, if you install the drive with the BIOS set to EIDE/IDE you cannot change the port to AHCI without reinstalling the OS, which installs the correct driver set.
Can you boot to something other than the hard drive, like a CD/DVD or Flash stick to try and install Windows? This way you can see if the drive is recognized by the Windows installation or if it needs a set of drivers from the computer/motherboard manufacturer.
A low level format just resets the drives ‘geometry’. I don’t think that it would help. Since the drive just has data on it, it sounds like it may be a drive issue, especially since you’ve tried it in different computers.
If you need the data on the drive, did you try a SATA-to-USB converter or dock? Otherwise, if the drive is under warranty you may want to replace it.
