Reference number: CH000454

Hard Disk Fail (10), (20), or (80).

Issue:

Hard Disk Fail (10), (20), or (80).

Additional information:

The Hard disk fail (10), (20) or (80) errors are related to the computer hard disk drive. If you are looking for information about the Floppy disk fail (40) or (80) error message relating to the computer floppy disk drive, please see issue CH000426.

Cause:

This issue can be caused by any of the below possibilities.

1. Hard disk drive not connected properly.
2. Hard disk drive not setup in CMOS properly.
3. Hard disk drive cable is bad.
4. Other bad hardware.

Solutions:

Hard disk drive not connected properly

Note: When inside the computer, ensure you are familiar with ESD.

Verify that the hard disk drive is properly connected to the computer. The back of the hard disk drive should have two cables connected to it, the IDE cable and the power cable. Verify these two cables are firmly connected to the back of the hard disk drive.

Next, verify that the IDE cable is connected to the motherboard.

Finally, if this is a new hard disk drive or another IDE drive has been connected to the computer, verify that the jumpers are properly set.

Hard disk drive not setup in CMOS properly

Verify that the CMOS setup for the hard disk drive is properly setup. The computer hard disk drive settings should either be defined, or if the computer is a Pentium or higher the hard disk drive should be defined as Auto. See document CH000192.

Hard disk drive cable is bad

If the above two recommendations do not resolve the issue, replace the IDE cable or switch the cable with a known good IDE or EIDE cable.

Other bad hardware

Finally, if you continue to experience the same issue and have followed the above recommendations and have not recently added IDE device connected to the computer, unfortunately it is possible that either the hard disk drive or the motherboard/interface board is bad.

We suggest first replacing the hard disk drive. If this does not resolve the issue then unfortunately the connector on the motherboard is bad and it should be replaced.

Additional information about installing hardware including a hard disk drive and motherboard can be found on document CHADD.