REinstall SuSe 10.2 64bit on SAME box: "no hard disks found"

[PKR951]

Hey there boys and girls

If there would be a price for "the weirdest problem of the month" -if not, the year- I'm sure I stand a good chance of winning it

First and foremost, though I'm starting to doubt my sanity, I've not (yet) been diagnosed as crazy.

Up to a couple days ago, my less than a year old Compaq Presario SR2030NX PC with AMD64 processor was running smoothly with SuSe 10.2 64bit installed. Roughly a month ago I decided to also install Ubuntu Server 7.04 (64bit) on the system since I was interested in it and also wanted to experiment with Beryl. I ended up with a dual boot system and everything was just hunky-dory. Since then I frequently booted alternating the Linux flavors without a hitch.

A few days back, while running SuSe, I ran the Online Software updater and it installed a bunch of updated packages, amongst which apparently a new kernel, since upon completion it was recommended I rebooted the system. I did, and when presented with the boot menu, I selected SuSe, and to my surprise (and shock!) it returned an error, (I believe 15??), stating a "file not found" (or something along that line). The error message was not explicit as to which file was 'missing' so I did not write the message down.

Long story short, no matter what I tried, SuSe refused to boot, period. I googled trying to figure out what the problem could be, to no avail. I finally said, "<bleep> this, I'll just re-install SuSe" using the same DVD I used for the initial install. It boots just fine from the DVD, then presents the flash menu from which I selected to install (installer v2.1.17) with "ACPI Disabled" (otherwise it would hang starting udev), and after selecting the language and agreeing to the EULA the hardware probe reported "No hard disks were found for the installation. Please check your hardware!". This situation too I googled for hours but again, without finding a solution.

Becoming somewhat frustrated, I tried to install Ubuntu; result: no problems at all; it found the disk, so I opted to use the entire disk, discarding earlier partitions and the install was successful. Then tried SuSe 10.2 64bit: same problem, it reported no hard disk! I then put in the SuSe 10.2 32bit DVD; again, no problems installing, it found the disk and I installed successfully using the entire disk. Tried SuSe 10.2 64bit: same problem, no hard disk! Then installed Fedora 7: no problem, it found the disk. Tried SuSe 64bit once more: sure enough: no disk!

I tried booting from the SuSe 10.2 64bit DVD with options I found in various forums, despite this already being kernel 2.6.18.2-34-default:
insmod=ide-generic
insmod=sata-generic
insmod=sata-sis
but nothing seems to make a difference. No matter what I try, it keeps coming back with "No hard disks found".

Some hardware details I was able to find:
CPU AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3800+
IDE interface Hewlett-Packard Company MCP51 IDE
Details -> Drivers -> 4 Modules categories:
1st with "modprobe amd74xx", 2nd "modprobe pata_amd", 3rd "modprobe sata_nv", 4th "modprobe generic"
IDE interface Hewlett-Packard Company MCP51 Serial ATA Controller
Details -> Drivers -> 2 Modules categories, 1st "modprobe sata_nv", 2nd "generic"
IDE interface Hewlett-Packard Company MCP51 Serial ATA Controller
Details -> Drivers -> 2 Modules categories, 1st "modprobe sata_nv", 2nd "generic"
I have no idea why the Serial ATA Controller is listed twice, but it is.
If you'd need more info, tell me what and where I can find it and I'll post it in an update.

This is beyond my knowledge and experience; I'm at a complete loss now, hence my plea for help from the experts out there.

Once again: it's the exact same box, no changes to BIOS or whatever, and SuSe 10.2 64bit installed form the exact same DVD (on which I did successfully run a check) used to work on this box just fine for months! I'm just trying to RE-install the O/S.

Eagerly awaiting your suggestions!

[PKR951]

Thanks to the Ultimate Boot CD (cool stuff!!) I was able to figure out the following details of the hard disk:

Model : WDC WD2000JS-60NCB1
Firmware : 10.02E02
C H S : 387621 16 63
Capacity : 200G
Drive : 0 Port : 0x9F0

I just finished the quick test, which returned no errors. Currently running the extended test, and will run the other tests as well.
I'll probably end up doing a (low level) format and hope that SuSe will find the disk and like it afterwards.

[PKR951]

Come on guys, no takers at all? Nobody got any idea?

I know it's truly weird and I obviously don't expect "the ultimate solution" minutes after I post the problem, but this silence is deafening.

I just finished installing Fedora 7 including a GRUB boot manager. Power up the box, GRUB menu appears, and from there Fedora boots okay.
After booting from the original SuSe DVD which I used before, once again the hardware probe returns 'no disks found'.

There has to be someone out there who can make an educated guess as to where the problem lies and maybe even a suggestion how to rectify it?
Is this SATA drive toast, no longer SuSe installable? If I were to buy a new SATA disk, made it the primary and the current one secondary, would you expect SuSe to install on the new disk? If so, would I be able to use the current disk under a separate mount point? Help, PLEASE!