Hard drives can not only be locked up due to a BIOS setting getting changed which is actually a rarity, it is also possible that the problem can occur due to corrupt system files due to a virus infection or the customized hard drive being corrupted to the extent of getting a pop up that you need to type a password to unlock the hard drive. The root cause could be software based, mechanical or BIOS firmware corruption.. Usually it is a solid red light indicating that the hard drive is active but it is locked because it should be a blinking red light if it saves or reads from the hard drive. Now the question is how to repair locked up hard drives.
Let us deal with the situation in this way, if it locks up after booting was successful and you wee doing some work when the hard drive suddenly locked up and it froze the computer as well then the strong possibility is that it is a virus infection or an incompatible software application that you were trying to run. You need virus removal support in this context. If it locks up while booting up then it is again a frozen computer but the red light for the hard drive is solid once again indicating that the hard drive is locked. A strong possibility is that you have added a new hardware like a graphics card may be or it could be a faulty power supply for the hard drive or it could be that the BIOS has the “auto hard drive lock” enabled and the BIOS is behaving in a weird way. A third situation is there as well where a computer wants you to type the password for the hard drive as well.
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Whereas the software problem is easier to detect because you are going to run a full scan for viruses on the computer’s hard drive, pin-point the resource hungry application that you were running before the computer locked up and that is in all senses, I mean the computer froze up along with a solid red light for the hard drive. Run a system file check and a hard drive check with sfc /scannow and a self test from the BIOS. This will check the system files and check the hard drive directly from the BIOS for hardware related faults like physical bad sectors. Use the operating system CD to repair the OS once. It is good to peep into the control panel system properties and into the hard drive settings for possible auto checked marked locked hard drive!!
Now to deal with the mechanical part of the problem, open the tower, change the hard drive cable and try a new SMPS (power supply). Try to cross check the hard drive with another motherboard. Check out the jumper settings and check for dirt in the jumper area. It is a probable mechanical fault if the hard drive gets locked during machine boot up. Disable “auto hard driver lock” in the BIOS. Also check for a direct option saying “HDD Password” (if that is there) which might enable you to remove the problem from a simple BIOS firmware setting. Most importantly, do a power drain of the computer by unplugging the power cable from the computer and drain it of extra static by touching it with an earthed wire.
My recommendation is, do not try all these without a technician guiding you as it might worsen the situation. You can get in touch with computer services company for getting tech support.
Author Resource:-
Hard drives could be locked up for both software and hardware problems. Consulting a computer help provider for assistance is a very good idea.
