[johnbora]

Hi there, we have a x, y controlled mill being run on an Acu Rite system. When we turn the machine on it comes up with the message cant configure the hard drive controller, consiquently it will not boot up rendering the machine useless, Any ideas where the problem may lie??? cheers JB

[holbieone]

try replacing the bios battery

[zamarco]

the machine don't see the hard disk...or the hard disk is demaged ?
do you ear some clicks coming from the hard disk ?

[CNCRouterMan]

There are a few things that can cause this problem. You need to go in the bios and see if the bios can see the hard drive. Most computers today only use the battery for the time set. If the bios does see the hard drive then you might have a problem with the drive. If it doesn't see the hard drive you might want to make sure that the cables are pluged in. Unplug all the cables and reseat them and see if that works.

[JEST]

Please be sure there is no power to the board when you reseat cables. Power still applied will corrupt data quik!

As it appears you are not familiar with the trouble shooting of your controller, I would suggest you remove the drive and have a mirror made FIRST! From that position, you are looking at part/connection repair/replace only. If you are not careful, you can lose data as well as components.

[CNCRouterMan]

My Bad. Yes Power should be off and drained first. Didn't think anyone would do this live.
But you never know. Good Catch Jest

[johnbora]

the machine don't see the hard disk...or the hard disk is demaged ?
do you ear some clicks coming from the hard disk ?

yes the hard drive is ticking as normal

[johnbora]

try replacing the bios battery

cheers will do. will let you know the outcome. JB

[johnbora]

There are a few things that can cause this problem. You need to go in the bios and see if the bios can see the hard drive. Most computers today only use the battery for the time set. If the bios does see the hard drive then you might have a problem with the drive. If it doesn't see the hard drive you might want to make sure that the cables are pluged in. Unplug all the cables and reseat them and see if that works.

The system we are running is about 20 years old, when i go into the bios it shows that the primary drive is there but if you go in to dos you cant access it via the c: path. i will check the bios battery and do as you suggest. cheers JB

[JEST]

If the bios shows the drive, by default the battery is not affecting the problem.

It is possible that the controller, cable or drive is bad. It is more likely that you are in the first phase of drive failure.

Remove the drive.
Hook the drive up as a secondary primary drive in a known good system.
It must be a master, not a slave due to manufacture type conflicts.

Can the new system see the data (not just the drive)?

yes- board, controller, or cable is bad in old system. SAVE DATA NOW! Do not put drive back into old system without backup being made.

no- drive is bad or corrupted. Some data may be recovered.

[CNCRouterMan]

If the computer is 20 years old it might not work in a newer computer if your old one is an ata33 or 66. Look at the cable, they might be different.