[Cest_Bon]

This is my computer: Link Gateway GT5228
This is my motherboard: Link FIC K2BC51 Motherboard with NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Chipset
This is my new HDD: Link WD Caviar Black Model: WD1002FAEX

Brief history of the problem:•

After an office move, old HDD failed 4 times in 2 weeks; recovered, reformatted, re-crashed, each CHKDSK revealing more and more bad clusters… figured it for physically toasted & bought a new HDD

• Installed new HDD; did nothing but open the case, slide the new drive into an empty spot in the bay, secure screws, and swap the power & data cables from the old HDD to the new at the drive end; taking precautions, re: static discharge, of course
• Powered machine up & it would not progress beyond the Gateway splash screen w/F2 for BIOS and F10 for Setup; no response to F-key presses whatsoever, would sit as long as overnight with nothing whatsoever happening or changing
• Tried all 7 USB (keyboard) ports, just in case: no change. Tried a PS2 keyboard: no change.
• Checked HDD cable connections, tight; no change.
• Carefully removed & re-seated memory – no change.
• Cleared CMOS w/jumper: no change. Removed battery for 2 hours & replaced: no change.
• Tried to boot with original Gateway O/S disc in CD-ROM drive: no change. Tried boot with new Windows 7 disc in CD-ROM drive: no change.

With all of the above, system powers on, fan runs, don’t hear any POST beeps at all… failing somewhere early on… can’t even boot into BIOS no matter what.

Next: disconnect BOTH the old and new HDD and powered on, pressing F2 and yessssss…. Right away can hear click, click, click, click… system recognizing key press… and it boots into BIOS… progress! But now I am stuck for what to do next. Disconnecting HDD allowed keyboard to be recognized. I’ve got video, keyboard, BIOS. What is failing when I can’t boot to BIOS with my HDD connected, but I can get into BIOS when I disconnect the HDD?

[seahwk83]

If it is an IDE hard drive, check to see what the drive is set to on back near where you would plug in the data cable.
-Should be set to master and if it is set to master and this is still happening, set it to CS (Cable Select)

See if that helps, don't know how common but have run into a few situations were CS would work where Master would not

[Cest_Bon]

Hey seahwk83... thanks for replying to my post... I appreciate it! It's a SATA drive, and I'm happy to report that the problem is solved. At the suggestion of a user on another board, I tried plugging into the other SATA port on the motherboard, and that was it! Not sure what could/did go wrong with the port I had been plugged in to... but... luckily there is a second one and for now I only need one good one.

[seahwk83]

Glad to hear worked out.