Windows 7 PC Sometimes loses second, third, fourth internal hard drive

[saturn2187]

Good evening all

As stated in the title, i often (mostly always at this point) cannot see my multiple internal hard drives, except for the primary.

The system is old - I'm using a Gigabyte P35 DS3L purchased in 2007. I've upgraded the CPU, and video card to close to the top of the line as far as this old system can go.

Therefore, I've got two theories:

1. Power Supply can't handle all the additional hard drives
2. Motherboard is on its way out.

I don't use the computer for anything more than light browsing, bill paying , so if I can avoid getting a whole new system that is great. Its still lightning fast for things like that considering that I put in a SSD hard drive, E8600 CPU, and 9800 GTX+ video card. I used to play games but not anymore.

Please assist in any way possible.

I am fully aware that modern systems would blow mine away in any conceivable metric but it works like a charm for simple things and is still free.

 

[Eric3742]

It may not be the power supply and motherboard.

Check this;

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/82994-drive-letter-add-change-remove-windows.html?filter[2]=Hardware%20and%20Drivers

You may need to monitor each and every HDD(s) to see anything missed.

 

[saturn2187]

The drives will still pop up occasionally. Sometimes they'll remain visible for 10 minutes, other times only for an instant.

Therefore I'm inclined to believe the Drive Settings are correct, but something is failing in the hardware.

 

[DavidE]

Look in Event Viewer and see if there are any messages that might explain what happened.

 

[saturn2187]

I tried booting with only one of the secondary hard drives plugged in, and it works fine.


The Power Supply is 10 years old.

I am leaning towards replacing it.

Thoughts?

 

[HAVOC]

When the drive disappears in Windows, can you see it in the BIOS?

 

[RolandJS]

Are all the drives always visible in the BIOS? If not, the problem just might "precede" Windows.

 

[saturn2187]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

I purchased a new power supply, and everything works fine now.

The original power supply was 10 years old, so it was nearing the end of its useful life.

Cheers.