[SOLVED] Faulty Motherboard?

[Steve202]

I've got a PC on the bench with a faulty hard drive. I replaced the drive, and Windows loaded fine but when restarting it, an error comes up saying "No boot disk has been detected and the disk has failed".

I've installed another drive, just in case that was playing up, but the same thing happens so I doubt it's a problem with the hard drives.

However if I reset the BIOS back to defaults, Windows will load and will work fine until the computer is powered off and then I get the no boot disk error.

What I've tried:
Memtest says the memory is fine.
Reseated memory.
Running the onboard diagnostics says the disks are fine.
Replaced cmos battery.
Updated bios.
Turning off fast boot.
Tried different sata cable.
Tried different sata port.
PSU tester tells me there's an error, swapped psu with a known good one, same things happens.
If I unplug one of the cloned disks and put the other one in, it boots fine without resetting the bios but then will display the no boot disk error upon restart.

Ideas?

 

[Kitten Kong]

Does sound board related to me Steve.

 

[Moltuae]

Agreed, probably mobo but ....... the hard drives you tried, same make/model?

If they are, try a different brand, especially one that is of the same vintage as the motherboard. I've seen HDD/mobo timing compatibility issues similar to what you describe.

 

[Markverhyden]

Agreed, probably the MB. But have you tried a live linux cd/thumb drive? How about a 3rd party sata card.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

Is this a system that has a boot menu option on bootup? If so does it do it when you open the boot menu and select the hard drive directly?

 

[Mike McCall]

If the PS was faulty, then there may be MB damage as a result. I suppose I might pull the battery and reset the CMOS just to be sure.

 

[NETWizz]

I would try a new motherboard AND a new Power Supply... Then see if the original drive works. If not try a new replacement.

 

[Steve202]

Ok, I've replaced the motherboard and also the power supply. Same thing happens. I'm going to strip it out and run it outside of the case, but appreciate any suggestions?

 

[Steve202]

Agreed, probably mobo but ....... the hard drives you tried, same make/model?

If they are, try a different brand, especially one that is of the same vintage as the motherboard. I've seen HDD/mobo timing compatibility issues similar to what you describe.

All different makes. The original drive was a 2TB, I've tried both a 2TB and 1TB drive.

Agreed, probably the MB. But have you tried a live linux cd/thumb drive? How about a 3rd party sata card.

I haven't tried a 3rd part sata card.

Is this a system that has a boot menu option on bootup? If so does it do it when you open the boot menu and select the hard drive directly?

Same thing happens if I tell it to boot from the hard drive from the boot menu.

 

[Rayspcsolutions]

Try just booting with just the hard drive, video card (unless onboard) and keyboard and mouse plugged in. Remove All other items that can be removed. If problem still persists try different keyboard/mouse combos. I had a usb keyboard cause a similar problem in the past.

 

[lan101]

Try just booting with just the hard drive, video card (unless onboard) and keyboard and mouse plugged. Remove All other items that can be removed. If problem still persists try different keyboard/mouse combos. I had a usb keyboard cause a similar problem in the past.

Yeah I had a bad usb mouse cause a booting glitch like this before. After all kinds of stuff that was the culprit somehow lol.

 

[FremontPC]

What's the model of the system? If we're dealing with EFI, then possibly a secureboot issue (likes the original drive on the original port, but not the clones)? Certainly if you switch sata ports and the BIOS is set to look for a certain port first (then failover to CD/USB/NIC) you might well get that message.

 

[Steve202]

Just as a test, I've reinstalled Windows 10 on a spare drive and it appears to be working. No issues when booting.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

Just as a test, I've reinstalled Windows 10 on a spare drive and it appears to be working. No issues when booting.

huh? thought you had tried another drive already

 

[Steve202]

huh? thought you had tried another drive already

I cloned the original drive to two different drives. This was a fresh install.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

I cloned the original drive to two different drives. This was a fresh install.

I'd normally say BAD STEVE! but the whole bios to defaults making it work for a single boot throws me off. Anyone got any ideas as far as an explanation? I dont know this one but then again don't have a lot of experience with boot issues on modern machines.

 

[FremontPC]

What's the model of the PC, or if custom, the model of the mobo?

 

[Steve202]

What's the model of the PC, or if custom, the model of the mobo?

It was an HP Pavilion P6

 

[FremontPC]

Bizarre results. But you were able to fix it with the fresh load of Win10?

Something smells like Intel RST or it's ilk.

 

[Steve202]

Bizarre results. But you were able to fix it with the fresh load of Win10?

Something smells like Intel RST or it's ilk.

Yeah, a fresh install sorted it.