disappearing e: drive

D

daithi

Registered User
Messages
159
Hi I have a dell dimension 5100 desktop cpu and lately,the e:drive icon seems
to come and go from the "my computer" screen.The e: drive ceases to function at the same time. I haven't installed anything new, and my firewall and antiviral software are up to date.Can anyone help??

Cheers,

daithi
 
What is the E: drive normally? A hard disk? A CD/DVD drive? Something else?

[broken link removed] might be of relevance to you. Check the details and see if they tally with your experience. My laptop seems to suffer from it intermittently (maybe one reboot in every 20 or so). I haven't attempted the manual workarounds as I am still monitoring things to gather more info. My experience is not 100% in line with that described in the article but near enough to make this the number one suspected cause.
 
The E: drive on my new dell is my MP3 player - the E: drive is only visible when I hook the MP3 up via the USB.
 
I don't understand the relevance of that to the original poster's query...
 
Clubman,further to your enquiry.. my e: drive is the cd/dvd drive.I have also noticed in the dos screen on bootup,the following message has appeared:
Drive 1 Not found Serial ATA SATA-2
Drive 3 Not found Parallel ATA PATA-1(PRI-IDE Slave)


I have gone into the setup and have set all operations to the factory default settings,to no avail..the c and d drives seem totally unaffected however....

daithi
ps thanks for the reply,but im not a techie and just looking at the link you posted has hurt my poor little brain!!
d
 
Last edited:
Did you check for the details (e.g. in the Windows System Event Log - right click on My Computer on the desktop, choose Manage, click on the + beside Event Viewer and then click on System and check for any red error events etc.) in the article that I posted?

One simple thing to check might be (after switching off and isolating your PC from the mains) to make sure that all IDE drive cables are firmly connected and that nothing is loose.
 
ClubMan said:
I don't understand the relevance of that to the original poster's query...
Click to expand...

The relevance is that the OP's E: drive appears/disappears randomly - I was suggesting that it may be due to connecting/disconnecting an external device such as an MP3 player.
 
I'd recommend slaving it off the d drive. (assuming thats your other cdrom/dvd drive). Might be a faulty sata connector.
 
daithi - sound like a loose cable or power lead. If the drive sometimes appears and sometimes doesn't appear at the very startup of the machine (BIOS, not DOS) then something might be loose. If you are comfortable with it, then open the machine up and reseat all the cables that come out of the motherboard and into the drives.

z
 
I'd get onto your supplier if the PC is still under warranty as afaik some manufactures claim your warranty is void if you open the PC.

It does sound like a loose power lead or IDE cable you can just remove and reseat the cables.
 
I followed your instructions re checking for loose cabling ,and it seems to have done the trick. Thanks for all the help!

daithi
 
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