After several hours of trial and error (and error, and error) my Gigabyte DS3L mobo finally decided to POST, and all was good. The mobo speaker was making a strange sequence of beeps that was undefined in the manual (2 long beeps and a short one), but at least everything was running. Unfortunately, when the time came to install Vista Home Premium 64 bit, I was unable to continue; Windows could find no trace of my 320GB SATA hard drive.

It told me to insert the SATA drivers that came packaged with my mobo, but a full scan of the disk revealed nothing of value. Besides, my SATA DVD burner works perfectly, so SATA drivers should not be necessary. I checked the BIOS for a listing of my hard drive, and there was only a blank space where the hard drive's name should have been (my SATA DVD burner was listed by its name/serial number, and slots with no attached hardware read "None"). I selected the option to auto-detect the hard drive in Slot 0, but it made the BIOS freeze! All I could do was reset my computer and listen to it make its strange beeps, which I have discovered are definitely associated with my hard drive's connection to the PSU.

If anyone could help me with this problem, or at least give me an idea of what might be causing it (hopefully not DOA hard drive, but it would be nice to know if it is) I would be extremely grateful.

Hello Fatalclarity Welcome to PCHF

I would suggest going to your hard drive manufacturer's website and downloading a diagnostics utility for it. It should be free and it will let you make a bootable CD/DVD that you boot to to run the diagnostics on the hard drive. If even that utility can't detect your hard drive, it could be a bad drive. Try different SATA ports and a different SATA power connection. Maybe even a different data cable.

As far as the beep code, not having a hard drive connected shouldn't make a beep code. If it is a problem with your hard drive, it would more likely be bad SATA ports causing the beep code. If you have a bad hard drive there shouldn't be a beep code. I am thinking there is another problem on your motherboard. You should double check all your connections, reseat your memory, video card, peripherals, etc., reseat your CMOS battery, etc.

You can also try unplugging all your peripherals and hard drive but leave your memory and see if you still get the same beep code. Also, try taking your memory out completely and see if you get a different beep code. If you get a different or additional beep code after that, then you know there is a problem on the motherboard. If you get the same beep code, it could mean a problem with the memory or memory controller.

I would suggest checking who makes your BIOS then going to this website - Bios Central

Maybe your beep code will be listed there. If not, try doing a search for your BIOS manufacturer beep code list. You should be able to find it somewhere.

Hopefully that at least leads you in the right direction lol. Good luck and let me know what you find out

Thank you for your response sir

I actually believe that the beeping is coming from the hard drive, not the motherboard. The motherboard made its "everything is fine" single short beep while the other noise was going on. The hard drive beeping also sounds different than the motherboard's beeping.

When the hard drive was connected only to the SATA port, it (obviously) wasn't detected at all and no beep was made. But when it was connected only by the power supply's SATA connector, it made the sound. So I think it is either all of the power supply's SATA power connectors that are bad (unlikely or impossible, since all of the other connectors are working fine) or the hard drive.

I will definitely try this diagnostic utility, and hopefully it will work without an operating system installed. Thanks again for your help.

Yeah, the diagnostics utility starts before any OS loads. You will create a bootable disk and boot to it. When you run the utility it will first search for hard drives to diagnose. If your hard drive doesn't appear on the list, it is most likely a bad drive. Especially if you get a hard drive diagnostic utility from the manufacturer of your hard drive.

And as far as the hard drive beeping....wow....I can't say I've heard a hard drive make noise before lol. I didn't think other components had speakers in them.

If you are certain the noise is actually coming out of the hard drive, you might want to contact the hard drive manufacturer and see if they have their own beep codes. Or see if the hard drive is even supposed to make noise lol.

Well, the drive still isn't working. Sending it back to Newegg seems like my only option now, even though I'll surely die waiting a week for my computer to be operational (if I'm lucky; it may still not work). I have a feeing that I'll be back here soon enough once my new hard drive gets here, so prepare for even more noobishness