# [SOLVED] Need help, &quot;3rd Hard Disk Error&quot;



## Johnnycakes (Jan 24, 2012)

Hello Ladies and Gents, 
First I'd like to thank you for even reading this if you did. I am currently having a problem with my PC. As far as I gather it's a custom build I got from one of the "rent to own" style places. It worked great for the two years I had it. But much like vehicles, as soon as it's paid off, things went wrong. 

I ended up somehow frying the motherboard and got it replaced for free due to still being under warranty. Since then I put in a new graphics card and a higher wattage power supply to support the graphic card. Now the warranty is up and I've got a new problem that has stumped me. 

I was doing some gaming and the game started freezing. I thought it might be lag so I tabbed out to try to recover some FPS. Well that didnt happen. I was forced to restart seeing as it was still frozen on the game. Upon restart, I am now getting "3rd Master Hard Disk Error. Press F1 to Resume"

When I press F1 I get "Reboot and select proper Boot Device or insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press any key"

As i\m looking at my BIOS Setup Utility I see 
Primary IDE Master :[ATAPI DVD A DH2]
Primary IDE Slave :[Not Detected]
SATA 1 :[WDC WD3200AAKS-00V]
SATA 2 :[Not Detected]

And on Boot Device Priority I see:
1st Boot Device [Hard Drive]
2nd Boot Device [CDROMM-ATAPI DVD]
3rd Boot Device [Disabled]

Does this mean anything to anyone. The only other thing... As i listen to the hard drive I hear feint spinning, then a few ticks sounding like the second hand on a clock then back to the feint spinning.

I'd appreciate any help an can get. Thanks in advance
-John


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Need help, "3rd Hard Disk Error"*

Nothing obvious. I don't know why the error would say "3rd master" as you only a single HDD installed.

You can get the WD disk tools and test the drive. The tools are available on the WD website. You can get the bootable CD version.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

*Re: Need help, "3rd Hard Disk Error"*

The DVD is an* IDE Master*. Also the HDD may be plugged into SATA* port 3 *instead of Port *0,1, or 2,* usually it is plugged into *Port 0*) It looks like the HDD has failed. As Dogg said, Download the ISO image for Data Life Guard for WD HDD's and burn the image to CD using *IMGBurn *in my signature boot off of the newly created CD and run the *Short and Extended* tests on the HDD. If it can't fix any errors then the drive needs to be replaced.


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## Johnnycakes (Jan 24, 2012)

*Re: Need help, "3rd Hard Disk Error"*

I have done just about everything listed except downloading the tool from WD's site. I'm not too sure it will work as I cant even get into windows on that pc. Dont I need windows first to access anything on a cd? Thank you for your help currently, really appreciate it.

stuff i've done: 
taken out and replaced the Cmos battery
Replaced the SATA cable


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Need help, "3rd Hard Disk Error"*

If you get the bootable CD version from WD, it won't matter what is on the HDD. The CD itself is bootable.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

*Re: Need help, "3rd Hard Disk Error"*



> Download the ISO image for  Data Life Guard for WD HDD's and burn the image to CD using *IMGBurn *in my signature boot off of the newly created CD and run the *Short and Extended* tests on the HDD.


If you follow the link inf the quote and download  Data Life Guard ISO image, and follow the instructions in the Quote, you will be booting off of the CD, and not into Windows to test the HDD.


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## Johnnycakes (Jan 24, 2012)

*Re: Need help, "3rd Hard Disk Error"*

So, I downloaded the ISO image onto a disk, put it in ran the extended test and I got an Error 0108 and the program told me to contact thier tech support. I was then informed that that error code meant that the hard drive had some corrupted components and that is what is causeing it to not function. 

I went to a local store and bought a Seagate 500gb SATA HDD. And now I got some new problems. Windows is reinstalled now but its not reading my Ethernet, Graphic Card or sound. When I look at my device manager it reads 4 items with "!" on them. If it isnt one thing its another. Any ideas now or do you guys think this is a whole new issue?


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## Networks (Mar 20, 2011)

*Re: Need help, "3rd Hard Disk Error"*

Your "new" issue is the lack of drivers for your motherboard after the new OS install. Goto the motherboard manufacturer website and dowload the needed drivers for your OS


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

*Re: Need help, "3rd Hard Disk Error"*

Is this a name brand computer (HP, Dell etc)? or a custom build? As *Network* said, go to the manufacturer (either name brand PC, or Motherboard manufacturer if custom) *Support/Download Drivers* site and type in your service tag# or make and model # and download the drivers you need in the Device Manager, start with the *Chipset* Driver. Copy them to a USB Flash Drive and transfer them over to the troubled computer to install them.


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## jansmith77 (Feb 9, 2012)

*Re: Need help, "3rd Hard Disk Error"*

Hi, if you still have the drivers cd that came with the motherboard then just use that to install the drivers and during installation, when it asks for a restart ( if you are using Windows XP), please restart it to avoid complications in the installation. Some try to install all the drivers and ignore the restart prompts. That could get some drivers corrupted. I hope this helps.


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## Johnnycakes (Jan 24, 2012)

*Re: Need help, "3rd Hard Disk Error"*

Hi again, Just wanted to let you guys know how totally awesome you guys are. Everything is in good running order now. I followed all the steps, located my Motherboard drivers, GFX drivers, and everything else I needed. I had a problem with the PCI communicator but as soon as I had internet access the prob was solved. 

I greatly appreciate everything you guys helped me with


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## Networks (Mar 20, 2011)

Good deal thanks for the follow up I will mark the thread solved


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