Symptom Possible Cause Items to Check Typical Solution


 

Defective external enclo- Move drive to a dif-

 

sure. ferent enclosure or

 

connect drive to an

 

internal host adapter.


If the drive tests okays in a different enclosure or when connected directly to a host adapter, replace the enclo-sure.


 

Defective hard disk. Test drive with

 

vendor-supplied test

 

utility (Figure 9-5) or

 

with CHKDSK.


If the drive has errors, retest. If the drive continues to have errors during retest, replace the drive.


 

Slow per- Drive has less than 15% of

 

formance space available.


 

Check the disk space Use the Disk

 

remaining with the Cleanup tool on

 

drive properties sheet. the drive properties

 

sheet’s General tab

 

to delete unneeded

 

files, and then

 

defragment.


 

Disk fragmentation. Check the drive If the drive needs
  fragmentation with defragmentation,
  DEFRAG. run DEFRAG and
    schedule DEFRAG
    to run regularly.
     
PATA: Drive speed limited Check the data cable Replace a 40-wire
by data cable type. type in use. with a 80-wire data
    cable.
     
PATA: Drive speed limited Verify available drive If possible, move
by hard disk and optical connections. the PATA optical
drive on same cable.   drive to a different
    host adapter.
     
PATA: Drive speed limited Check jumper block If drive is configured
by jumper block on drive. settings. to run at reduced
    speed compared to
    system configura-
    tion, change drive
    configuration to run
    at maximum speed.
    (Jumper blocks or
    utility program from
    vendor can be used
    to set drive speed.)
     

Chapter 9: Troubleshooting 173

 

 

Symptom Possible Cause Items to Check Typical Solution
       
  PATA: Bus mastering driv- Check Device Install latest moth-
  ers not installed for host Manager to determine erboard chipset
  adapters. what drivers are in drivers for version
    use for PATA host of Windows in use;
    adapters. see the mother-
      board’s or system
      vendor’s website.
       
  PATA: Drive not set to use Check Device After installing
  DMA transfers. Manager to see if latest motherboard
    DMA transfers are chipset vendors,
    configured for the configure hard
    drive. disks to run in
      DMA mode; check
      documentation
      for optical drives
      and set supported
      drives to run in
      DMA mode.
       
  SATA: Drive speed limited Check the host Configure the host
  by host adapter settings. adapter settings in adapter to run at
    the CMOS setup (see the fastest speed
    Figure 9-6). supported by drive
      or use Auto.
      During initial
      setup, select
      AHCI to support
      Native Command
      Queuing.
      (Changing this
      option later might
      prevent your sys-
      tem from booting
      until you change it
      back to native or
      IDE.)
       
  SATA: Drive speed limited Check the host If the host adapter
  by jumper block on drive. adapter settings in the and drive support
    CMOS setup. 3Gbps or 6Gbps
    Check the drive con- speeds and the
    drive is jumpered
    figuration.
    to run at 1.5Gbps,
     
      rejumper the drive
      to support faster
      speeds.
       

174 CompTIA A+ Quick Reference

 

Table 9-4 Continued

Symptom Possible Cause Items to Check Typical Solution
       
  SSD: TRIM command not Enable the TRIM Use a vendor-sup-
  enabled (Windows 7). command. plied utility.
       
  SSD: Operating system not Disable SuperFetch, Use SSD Tweak
  optimized. defragment, and other (also known as
    services not designed SSD Tweaker
    for SSDs. (online freeware
      from www.
      elpamsoft.com) to
      configure Windows
      XP/Vista/7 for best
      performance with
      SSDs.
       
Loud click- Internal or external drive: Back up the drive Replace drive.
ing noise Drive failure imminent. immediately if up-to-  
    date backups are not  
    available.  
    Test drive with a  
    vendor-supplied diag-  
    nostic software.  
       
  External drive: Problem Move the drive to a If drive stops click-
  with enclosure. different enclosure or ing, replace the
    connect to the inter- enclosure.
    nal host adapter. If drive continues
     
      to click, replace the
      drive.


 

Failure to Incorrect CMOS settings for

 

boot boot order or CMOS cor-

 

rupted.


Check the CMOS settings to verify that the correct drives are listed as bootable.


 

Configure the CMOS to list the hard disk in the boot sequence, save the settings, and retry the boot.


 

Drive not Internal drives: Loose or

 

recognized missing power or data

 

cables.


 

Check the data and Replace defec-

 

power cable connec- tive power cable

 

tions to drive. extenders or

 

Y-splitters.

 

Verify that all

 

cables are properly

 

connected at both

 

ends.


Chapter 9: Troubleshooting 175

 

 

Symptom Possible Cause Items to Check Typical Solution
       
  PATA drives: Incorrect jum- Verify the correct 80-wire cable:
  pering. jumper settings for Jumper both drives
    the drive position and as Cable Select
    cable type. (preferred); jumper
      single drive per
      vendor recommen-
      dations.
      40-wire cable:
      Jumper primary
      drive as Master,
      secondary drive as
      Slave (can also be
      used for 80-wire
      cable if Cable
      Select doesn’t
      work).
       
  PATA drives: Incorrect cable Verify the correct 80-wire cable: Blue
  installation. data cable installation to host adapter,
    on the host adapter black to primary
    and drives. drive, gray to
      secondary drive;
      jumper both drives
      as Cable Select;
      see vendor recom-
      mendations for
      single-drive instal-
      lation.
      40-wire cable:
      verify cable not
      reversed (colored
      edge to pin 1).
       
  USB or FireWire drive: Verify the data cable Desktop drives use
  Data or power cable loose. connections between data and power
    drive and port, and cables.
    the power connection Portable drives use
    between the drive and
    only power cables.
    AC outlet.
     
       

176 CompTIA A+ Quick Reference

 

Table 9-4 Continued

Symptom Possible Cause Items to Check Typical Solution
       
  Bus-powered USB drive: Check the avail- Connect drive
  Not enough power. able power for the directly to USB
    USB port in Device root hub rather than
    Manager and com- generic hub.
    pare to the drive Use the Y–adapter
    requirements.
    cable to provide
     
      more power for the
      bus-powered drive.
      (The cable has an
      additional USB
      connector to go
      to a second USB
      port.)
       
OS not Nonbootable disk in drive Verify no disk is in Remove the disk
found A: (or other bootable media drive A: (or other or media (if pres-
  drives). bootable media ent) and restart the
    drives). computer.
       
  Incorrect boot sequence. Make sure the correct Start the CMOS
    hard disk is listed in setup, change the
    boot sequence. boot sequence as
      needed, and save
      the changes.
       
  Incorrect installation of Windows rules: If old version of
  another operating system. Install older versions Windows was
    before newer ver- installed after new
    sions. version or if Linux
      was installed after
      Windows, install and
      configure a custom
      Boot Manager.
       
RAID not RAID disabled in system Check CMOS set- Start the CMOS
found BIOS. tings for RAID. setup, reset the
      RAID configura-
      tion and save the
      changes.


 

Power or data cables not properly connected or defective.


 

Check the power and data cable connec-tions.


Remove and recon-nect the power and data cables.

 

Replace worn-looking or dam-aged power or data cables.


Chapter 9: Troubleshooting 177

 

 

Symptom Possible Cause Items to Check Typical Solution
       
RAID not One (or more) drives in the Determine the failed Replace the failed
working array has stopped working. drive. drive and re-create
      or rebuild the array
      (RAID 1, 5, 10).
      Restore the latest
      backup (RAID 0).
      If multiple drives
      have stopped work-
      ing, replace them,
      rebuild or re-create
      the array, and
      restore the latest
      backup.
       
BSOD Various problems with Note the STOP error Research the STOP
(STOP Windows configuration or code. error code at
error) hardware.   http://support.
      microsoft.com.
      Replace any defec-
      tive or incompat-
      ible hardware or
      software.
       


 

 

Figure 9-5 Testing a hard disk with vendor-supplied diagnostic software.


178 CompTIA A+ Quick Reference

 

 

Figure 9-6 Selecting the speed for onboard SATA host adapters.