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wolfboy1 · ‎12-20-2011

HELP!

About a month ago whenever I powered up my G74sx laptop I have heard this strange high pitched noise coming from the bottom of the laptop. Sometimes it will continue for a long time and the ASUS logo will stay for a while and then windows will load. However, when I go to my computer tab the only hard drive that shows up is the first one. The second one does not seem to exist or show up at all and when I run my scan for new hardware it does not come up either.

Other times the hard drive will show up and then a minute later the computer will freeze for about half a minute and then when I hit refresh on the screen which shows the hard drives the second one will have disappeared. The windows OS is on the first hard drive so the computer will still run as I only use the second drive for pictures and games.

If anyone could please point me in the direction of some help it would be greatly appreciated. I've done everything I know how to and could use some outside help. Thanks.

JRd1st · ‎12-20-2011

Sounds like you have a bad HDD. You can either RMA your whole notebook, or buy a new HDD.

You could try reseating that HDD connector, though. This involves unpowering the notebook, pull the power plug, open up the bottom cover, and removing the drive then taking the connector off and putting it back on a few times. This will help if there is oxidation on the connector contacts.

I'm not sure which drive is the Data drive, but it won't hurt to do that on the System drive, too.

Read the User's Manual for more info. 😄

G74SX-A1 BIOS 203
Intel 6230 WiFi/BT
LG E2350 LED LCD Monitor
Intel Series 510 120 GB SSD

Drivers, Apps and How To's
Latest nVidia Drivers

JRd1st on DeviantArt.com

wolfboy1 · ‎12-20-2011

According to the drive loadout C: is the OS, D is SDATA, E: is DATA, and F: is SDATA2...when this problem happens both the D and F drive disappear.

JRd1st · ‎12-20-2011

Then 😧 and F: are partitions on the same drive. What I meant was that I'm not sure if the drive on the left or the one on the right is the non-System drive when you look at it when the notebook is opened up. 😄

Read the User's Manual for more info. 😄

G74SX-A1 BIOS 203
Intel 6230 WiFi/BT
LG E2350 LED LCD Monitor
Intel Series 510 120 GB SSD

Drivers, Apps and How To's
Latest nVidia Drivers

JRd1st on DeviantArt.com

wolfboy1 · ‎12-20-2011

Ahh yes, I see what you mean. I do wonder if that drive might have been jostled loose or something. It does not sound loose or anything but I will give it a shot. If the HDD is going bad however after only 4-5 months of use that not saying anything good.

Also, when the drive dissappears and I go to disk management and rescan it see it again. and labels the drives F and G now. I dont think that has any bearing on my issue though. Also when I go into the drives and try to load or do anything with a file it will read it and then promptly shut down the drives again forcing me to rescan and do this process over and over. Don't know if that gives you any more info into the problem.

JRd1st · ‎12-20-2011

Well, think of it this way, this gives you a chance to upgrade your system drive to an SSD, then you can move all your data to the remaining good drive. 😄

Whether that drive sounds loose or not, reseat the connectors. Oxidation doesn't care if the drive seems loose or not. lol

Read the User's Manual for more info. 😄

G74SX-A1 BIOS 203
Intel 6230 WiFi/BT
LG E2350 LED LCD Monitor
Intel Series 510 120 GB SSD

Drivers, Apps and How To's
Latest nVidia Drivers

JRd1st on DeviantArt.com

wolfboy1 · ‎12-20-2011

Thanks for your help on this. Hopefully this will solve the problem.

BrodyBoy · ‎12-20-2011

You want to consider re-installing the chipset and RST drivers. It sounds entirely possible that tis is a hadrware issue, either in the drive itself or the laptop's SATA connector. A couple ways to narrow down that possibility are to:
(1) re-install the above drivers (to eliminate a corrupt SATA driver as one possibility), and
(2) physically swap the two hard disks on the SATA connectors.* If the problem persists with that same HDD, that strongly suggests a drive issue. If the problem "moves" to the OS drive, that would suggest an issue with one of the computer's SATA ports.

*If you swap the drives, you need to go into the BIOS upon restart and change the boot priority.

Second hard drive dissappears or does not load!