second hard drive (controller?) seems dead

[TrueCompass]

My Pavilion dv9000z notebook (having two SATA hard drives) will not boot to Windows if the secondary hard drive is in place. It boot-loops through the BIOS.  The BIOS hard drive diagnostic utility only recognizes the primary hard drive as being present (and it passes the test).

I would normally think simply "dead secondary hard drive", but wait:  I cannot even boot from a diagnostic CD if the secondary HD is in place.  If I replace it with a brand new HD, I have the same results:  The system boot-loops through the BIOS and cannot boot either to Windows or to CD.

If I remove the secondary HD, then the system is fine: I can boot to Windows from the primary HD, and I can boot to the diagnostic CD.

I run the CD's motherboard diagnostic program, including SATA controllers, and it passes (though from experience I do not have complete confidence in this program).

Does anyone know how could I get a reliable diagnosis of the secondary HD controller on this system, and if it is dead, how difficult and expensive would it be to replace?

Thanks,

TrueCompass

[Tech_Head]

Try this online scanner....it might help...

[Radamad]

To be perfectly honest, it would seem there's some confusion in the BIOS. You might try installing the latest version of you BIOS firmware from HP's website.

Getting the part replaced through HP, if it's out of warranty, would probably cost you around 450 bucks. (They'd replace the entire Motherboard, though.) I don't personally think the issue is with the Hard Drive controller, though. I would be more willing to bet that the issue was related to your BIOS being corrupt. Get that updated first.