Keep getting 3f2 error on bootup

[Rob04]

On my 3 year old Pavilion Laptop, I started getting a 3f2 hard drive failure every time I turn my laptop on. I assumed the drive was failing so I replaced it. After replacing the hard drive, I was still getting the error. I have reseated the drive, unplugged and replugged the sata ribbon cable, and I've done the hardware scan in the BIOS. The BIOS scan showed both the old and the new hard drives were good and healthy. 

I'm a bit confused as to what it could be, any help would be appreciated. 

[Grzwacz]

Hi,

Seeing the same problem using two HDDs could suggest the SATA cable may be in trouble or the motherboard SATA controller has issues. Or the DVD drive is causing the error.

HP diagnostics pass but the error persists.

Regards

[Rob04 · Accepted solution]

Wow, completely out of left field. 

Yes, it turned out to be the disk drive. I have no idea what would cause that. The disk drive still reads CDs, but to avoid getting the error I removed the drive and sealed where it was.