Unable to locate MBR or HDD until system shut off for a few hours

Mystictrust

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Apologies if this is in the wrong forum, this is my first time here. If this post is too long, I can try and condense it.

I usually leave PC in sleep mode, last night was no exception. I am used to it occasionally turning itself back on every few days (not sure why) so no surprise to see lights on my comp when I woke up. However, the screen was black with white text, with an error message something to the effect of the system being unable to locate the boot drive. Restart did nothing. I went into BIOS to swap my other internal HDD into boot drive but there's no Master Boot Record on it so the BIOS only saw my primary drive and DVD drive.

I booted into Win7 DVD and tried to auto repair which didn't work after reboot. Trying to recover from system restore gave me an error. I attempted to do an in-place upgrade with Win7 to perhaps rebuild the MBR but it wouldn't let me use the upgrade option since I needed to be within Windows. Tried the custom install, it didn't even recognize my main HDD, it only saw my lesser 500GB WD drive and I wasn't about to choose to overwrite one of my partitions.

I shut down the computer and went back to sleep perplexed. I woke up, turned on PC one last time (Was about to go out and buy a new HDD to install Win7 to so I could try and recover my missing HDD's files). Interestingly enough, the system asked me if I wanted to boot into safe mode because it was shut down improperly. Now it boots into Windows just fine with no problems.

What's going on? Was told at electronic's store that it could be a fault SATA connector on my Mobo, meaning I'd need to replace the whole thing. Could it be the (4 month old) HDD? What else could it be? Why was the system fine after it had been off for awhile rather than through countless hard and soft reboots? :confused:
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Pro 64-bitIntel Core 2 Quad Q6600Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2 800EVGA GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Myself
OS
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Motherboard
Asus P5Q Deluxe
Memory
Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2 800
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB
Sound Card
On-board audio
Monitor(s) Displays
Acer 22" Widescreen
Screen Resolution
1680x1050
Hard Drives
WD Caviar Blue 500GB
Hitachi Deskstar 1TB
PSU
Antec NeoPower 650W
Case
Antec Nine Hundred
Cooling
5 fans
THe HD may be overheating.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

ME/XP/Vista/Win7
OS
ME/XP/Vista/Win7
Hmm, that's something I've never thought of. Would the temp reading for my CPU/Mobo within the BIOS be accurate (if so, what is the ideal temp?) or is there a more ideal way to gauge if overheating is the issue?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Pro 64-bitIntel Core 2 Quad Q6600Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2 800EVGA GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Myself
OS
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Motherboard
Asus P5Q Deluxe
Memory
Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2 800
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB
Sound Card
On-board audio
Monitor(s) Displays
Acer 22" Widescreen
Screen Resolution
1680x1050
Hard Drives
WD Caviar Blue 500GB
Hitachi Deskstar 1TB
PSU
Antec NeoPower 650W
Case
Antec Nine Hundred
Cooling
5 fans
May be look in to geting a case fan, HD fan.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

ME/XP/Vista/Win7
OS
ME/XP/Vista/Win7
I have the Antec Nine Hundred, and have two case fans one on top of the other in the front. One of the fans flows directly over both of my HDD's.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Pro 64-bitIntel Core 2 Quad Q6600Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2 800EVGA GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Myself
OS
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Motherboard
Asus P5Q Deluxe
Memory
Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2 800
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB
Sound Card
On-board audio
Monitor(s) Displays
Acer 22" Widescreen
Screen Resolution
1680x1050
Hard Drives
WD Caviar Blue 500GB
Hitachi Deskstar 1TB
PSU
Antec NeoPower 650W
Case
Antec Nine Hundred
Cooling
5 fans
Get rid of the fish eggs and Deathstar.
Don't buy another hard drive unless it says Samsung on it.
The coolest, quietest, and most reliable hard drives made.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Win7 Win 10, Win 8.1AMD FX-8350, Corsair H100i16GB G.SKILL Ripjaws DDR3EVGA GTX 980, EVGA GTX 860
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Made by Dixon Butz
OS
Win7 Win 10, Win 8.1
CPU
AMD FX-8350, Corsair H100i
Motherboard
ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z
Memory
16GB G.SKILL Ripjaws DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA GTX 980, EVGA GTX 860
Sound Card
Denon x4200 Dolby AMOS!
Monitor(s) Displays
65" Samsung 4K, +3 27inch
Screen Resolution
4K, 1080x3
Hard Drives
2TB Samsung hd204ui

1X Samsung 850 SSD
PSU
1000w EVGA, 2000VA UPS, 1000VA UPS and many others
Case
Lian Li
Cooling
Corsair H100i
Keyboard
Logitech K800
Mouse
Logitech Couch Mouse
Internet Speed
Gigabit!
Antivirus
Defender
Browser
Slimjet Chrome
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