Cavier Black doesn't appear in POST or Windows

WD Internal Drives Desktop & Mobile Drives
1

I recently purchased a Western Digital 1TB Cavier Black drive and my computer does not recognize it. I’ve switched out the cables, controller port, and even got a new drive and I can’t get my system to detect it. 

Here’s the specs of my computer from Sandra:

SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Model : BIOSTAR Group TA790GXE
Processor

Model : AMD Phenom™ II X4 965 Processor
Speed : 3.4GHz
Cores per Processor : 4 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Quad-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 4x 64kB, Synchronous, Write-Back, 2-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 4x 512kB, ECC, Synchronous, Write-Back, 16-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size
L3 On-board Cache : 6MB, ECC, Synchronous, Write-Back, 48-way, 64 byte line size, 4 threads sharing

Computer
Mainboard : BIOSTAR Group TA790GXE
BIOS : AMI 080014 06/09/2010
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 8GB DIMM DDR2

Chipset
Model : AMD RS780 Host Bridge
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 2GHz (4GHz)
Channels : 1
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 100MHz (200MHz)

Chipset
Model : AMD F10h Athlon 64/Opteron/Sempron HT Hub
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 2GHz (4GHz)
Total Memory : 8GB DIMM DDR2
Channels : 2
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 400MHz (800MHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : OCZ OCZ2B800C42G 2GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-5-5-18 3-24-6-3)
Memory Module : OCZ OCZ2B800C42G 2GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-5-5-18 3-24-6-3)
Memory Module : PNY 2GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-5-5-18 3-23-6-3)
Memory Module : PNY 2GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-5-5-18 3-23-6-3)

Video System
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM v1.1) (240 SM4.0 1.2GHz, 1GB DDR3 2x1.1GHz, PCIe 2.00 x16)

Graphics Processor

Storage Devices
WL320GSA872 320GB (SATA300, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 298GB (C:)
WDC WD7500AACS-65D6B0 (750.2GB, SATA300, 3.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 699GB (E:)
HP DVD Writer 1260t (SATA150, DVD±RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : 7GB (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
System Reserved : 100MB (NTFS)
DATA1 (E:) : 699GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD7500AACS-65D6B0 (750.2GB, SATA300, 3.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache)
Hard Disk (C:) : 298GB (NTFS) @ WL320GSA872 320GB (SATA300, NCQ, 16MB Cache)
Pro Tools (D:) : 7GB (CDFS) @ HP DVD Writer 1260t (SATA150, DVD±RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Biostar Microtech IXP SB600 SMBUS Controller
LPC Hub Controller 2 : Biostar Microtech SB700 LPC host controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : ITE IT8718F
Audio Device : Biostar Microtech IXP SB600 High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semiconductor Realtek 662 High Definition Audio
Serial Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : Biostar Microtech SB700 SATA Controller [IDE mode]
Disk Controller : ATI (AMD) SB700 IDE
USB Controller 1 : Biostar Microtech SB700 USB OHCI0 Controller
USB Controller 2 : Biostar Microtech SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller
USB Controller 3 : Biostar Microtech SB700 USB EHCI Controller
USB Controller 4 : Biostar Microtech SB700 USB OHCI0 Controller
USB Controller 5 : Biostar Microtech SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller
USB Controller 6 : Biostar Microtech SB700 USB EHCI Controller
USB Controller 7 : Biostar Microtech SB700 USB OHCI2 Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : Lucent/Agere Systems (Was: AT&T MicroElectronics) FW322/323 IEEE1394 OHCI FireWire Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : ATI SB600 SMBus
SMBus/i2c Controller 2 : ATI AFS SMBus

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Jon

2

The drives does not shows on the Bios or Windows Explorer?

If secondary drive, make sure to initialize

3

I don’t see it anywhere, BIOS or Windows. I have two other SATA drives and they both work fine.

How do I initialize the drive?

I’m thinking about RMA’ing it to WD, I don’t want to go back to the store I got it from and get a third faulty drive.

4

Getting back to the store is the recommended thing to do

replacing with WD will have you change a new drive for a recertified unit and that’s never good

5

If the BIOS does not see the drive, most likely the controller board for the drive is defective as it is not communicating with your motherboard.  Get it replaced at the store you bought it from because, if you try to RMA  the drive through WD, you will not receive a definite turnaround time on the replacement drive, as they currently do not have any in stock (that was what I was told two days ago by a CSR at WD phone support) and they have no idea when they will. 

6

So, I brought the drive back and exchanged it for another new one. Same issue. This is the third drive to do this. I know the SATA controller isn’t bad because I disconnected the cables from a working drive and plugged them into the Caviar to no avail. I’m really hoping I didn’t just flush $120 down the drain, because CompUSA doesn’t do refunds on service parts.

7

I exchanged it for a fourth drive, this time having the sales associate actually plug the drive in and verify that it works, which it did. However, when I got home and plugged it into my computer, I had the same issue as before. This doesn’t make any sense and is becoming quite irritating. If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate the advice.

Thanks