Symptom Possible Cause Items to Check Typical Solution

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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.

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