Device verify failed in SATA BIOS

I've got a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 with an e8400 that's been running pretty solid for the last 4 years or so. It sometimes had problems on booting, which a push of the reset button solved. A few months ago, I changed the SATA settings over to AHCI mode (with the appropriate fixes in WinXP to prevent BSOD), and things continued to work after 1 typical reset.

Now, after I went to turn the PC back on after a storm (never lost power, just turned it off preemptively), it doesn't seem to recognize the HDD at all. It goes through and loads the "SATA AHCI BIOS", recognizes that there's a drive plugged in to one of the ports, says that the "device verify failed" on that drive, and prompts me to insert a system disk. Everything POSTs fine (just a single beep), and this is what was happening before that a single reset solved. I've reset the damn thing I don't know how many times and it's still not working

One of my buddies thinks the mobo is probably fried, and is bringing over a HDD tomorrow to verify the disk isn't the problem. Beyond that, is there anything else I can test? I don't have a whole lot of spare parts to test, nor a big budget to replace parts (and I'd be looking at a new CPU, mobo, and RAM since I'm on LGA775 and DDR2).

TIA!

Full specs:

GA-965P-DS3
Intel C2D e8400 @ 3.0 GHz
2x2 + 2x1 GB DDR2-800 RAM (all OCZ I believe)
OCZ ~600 W modular PSU (ModXStream IIRC)
WD 640 GB Caviar Black HDD
Rosewill card reader
SATA DVD burner

Could you describe the events a little bit more?
For instance, let's say that you don't go to the bios, what EXACTLY happens when you turn it on?

Could be the port. Try a different SATA port.

Try temporarily changing the BIOS SATA seting from AHCI to IDE, because if that causes the computer to recognized the HD at boot, it indicates the HD and SATA port are OK.

Quote from RockySosua : Could you describe the events a little bit more? For instance, let's say that you don't go to the bios, what EXACTLY happens when you turn it on?

I don't mean the regular BIOS, it's a SATA AHCI BIOS that it goes through - maybe equivalent to loading drivers?

Quote from flea : Could be the port. Try a different SATA port.

Will do

Quote from larrymoencurly : Try temporarily changing the BIOS SATA seting from AHCI to IDE, because if that causes the computer to recognized the HD at boot, it indicates the HD and SATA port are OK.

I tried turning off AHCI mode (is that the same as changing it from AHCI to IDE?), and it did something different (didn't load the AHCI drivers, I guess), but still couldn't load Windows. Not sure if it gave the same warning about inserting a system disk, I'll have to try that again

I may have to breakout the mobo manual for this one, as there's two SATA controllers on the board. What prompted me to switch to AHCI was I took out an old IDE DVD drive and replaced it with a SATA one, which seemed to cause some issues while booting.

Tried a different (orange) port, with no success. Found an option in the main BIOS for onboard SATA type, switched that to AHCI, and I then saw it detecting the DVD drive (on the other, purple set of SATA ports). Still no luck, so I used the DVD drive's cable and put it on the HDD, and it doesn't detect the HDD. So, that to me says the port works, the cable works, but the HDD doesn't (maybe it's a setting in Windows?)...

ETA: the exact wording of the message is "Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk and Press Enter"

Quote from mmathis : Tried a different (orange) port, with no success. Found an option in the main BIOS for onboard SATA type, switched that to AHCI, and I then saw it detecting the DVD drive (on the other, purple set of SATA ports). Still no luck, so I used the DVD drive's cable and put it on the HDD, and it doesn't detect the HDD. So, that to me says the port works, the cable works, but the HDD doesn't (maybe it's a setting in Windows?)... ETA: the exact wording of the message is "Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk and Press Enter"

First of all, you can go into your bios and set it to factory defaults and not have to worry if you changed something that is causing your problem.
Secondly, if you could be so kind as to

Quote : For instance, let's say that you don't go to the bios, what EXACTLY happens when you turn it on?

And thirdly, while I await your reply to the above with anticipation, be aware that something as simple as a thumb drive plugged into a USB port, can deviate some motherboards into wanting to boot from it instead of your HD with the OS, so if you have one plugged in, you could take it out for now.
If you do describe exactly what is happening, step by step, there's a good chance that we'll be able to offer a solution.

Quote from RockySosua : First of all, you can go into your bios and set it to factory defaults and not have to worry if you changed something that is causing your problem. Secondly, if you could be so kind as to And thirdly, while I await your reply to the above with anticipation, be aware that something as simple as a thumb drive plugged into a USB port, can deviate some motherboards into wanting to boot from it instead of your HD with the OS, so if you have one plugged in, you could take it out for now. If you do describe exactly what is happening, step by step, there's a good chance that we'll be able to offer a solution.

I turn on computer, it POSTs, checks the RAM, looks for IDE drives. It then loads the AHCI drivers (which it calls the SATA BIOS) for the orange SATA ports, detects the HDD but says the "device verify failed." It then prompts me to insert a system disk and press enter. As I said, I wasn't going in to the main BIOS (though, if I did, it happens before prompting me to insert a system disk).

Alternatively, with the HDD connected to a purple SATA port, it does all of the above, doesn't detect the HDD when loading the AHCI drivers (since it's not connected there), and doesn't detect it when looking for drives on the purple SATA ports. It does detect my DVD drive connected on a purple SATA port.

I have a USB keyboard and mouse attached, my monitors, and speakers. No flash drives, no DVDs in the DVD drive.

I did change the CMOS battery (google said that sometimes causes this problem), but that didn't fix it. The old battery was reading 1.2 V, so it was probably time to replace it anyway!

Quote from mmathis : I turn on computer, it POSTs, checks the RAM, looks for IDE drives. It then loads the AHCI drivers (which it calls the SATA BIOS) for the orange SATA ports, detects the HDD but says the "device verify failed." It then prompts me to insert a system disk and press enter. As I said, I wasn't going in to the main BIOS (though, if I did, it happens before prompting me to insert a system disk). Alternatively, with the HDD connected to a purple SATA port, it does all of the above, doesn't detect the HDD when loading the AHCI drivers (since it's not connected there), and doesn't detect it when looking for drives on the purple SATA ports. It does detect my DVD drive connected on a purple SATA port. I have a USB keyboard and mouse attached, my monitors, and speakers. No flash drives, no DVDs in the DVD drive. I did change the CMOS battery (google said that sometimes causes this problem), but that didn't fix it. The old battery was reading 1.2 V, so it was probably time to replace it anyway!

That's great info.
There are a couple of possibilities that I don't have much hope for, but just in case, when you swapped the DVD for the hard drive, were you using the DVD's data cable or that of the HD?
If you didn't use the DVD's cable, still plugged in where it is, it may be worth a try doing so, on the rare chance that the cable going to your hard drive is problematic.
Here comes another rare one, but not impossible.
Some peripherals can actually short a system out, even a mouse or speakers. If you could get down to just the hard drive hooked up, no DVD, GPU, mouse, keyboard, speakers, sound card, etc, and boot up to see if it reacts exactly the same.
I presume that you have already gone to the bios and reset it to default, and if not, please do so.

It is my belief that if you have 100% ruled out the HD's data cable, the peripherals and the bios settings, that would indicate that the HD itself is damaged.
I can't say it with certitude, but if I had the computer in my hands and I had definitely ruled out the other factors, then I would be quite sure.
There can be a certain level of misunderstanding, doing repairs/fixes by way of the written word, so I leave room for that, plus that occasional weird thing that leaves me thinking, "Holy Cow ! I've never seen that before !".
I wish I had something a bit better to offer right now, but I've mentioned everything I would do, before pronouncing that HD dead.

Quote from RockySosua : That's great info. There are a couple of possibilities that I don't have much hope for, but just in case, when you swapped the DVD for the hard drive, were you using the DVD's data cable or that of the HD? If you didn't use the DVD's cable, still plugged in where it is, it may be worth a try doing so, on the rare chance that the cable going to your hard drive is problematic. Here comes another rare one, but not impossible. Some peripherals can actually short a system out, even a mouse or speakers. If you could get down to just the hard drive hooked up, no DVD, GPU, mouse, keyboard, speakers, sound card, etc, and boot up to see if it reacts exactly the same. I presume that you have already gone to the bios and reset it to default, and if not, please do so. It is my belief that if you have 100% ruled out the HD's data cable, the peripherals and the bios settings, that would indicate that the HD itself is damaged. I can't say it with certitude, but if I had the computer in my hands and I had definitely ruled out the other factors, then I would be quite sure. There can be a certain level of misunderstanding, doing repairs/fixes by way of the written word, so I leave room for that, plus that occasional weird thing that leaves me thinking, "Holy Cow ! I've never seen that before !". I wish I had something a bit better to offer right now, but I've mentioned everything I would do, before pronouncing that HD dead.

Used the DVD drive's port and data cable, still no go. Reset BIOS to defaults, no go. Switched ports, no go. Plugged a friend's drive in, and it showed the Windows splash screen, so it seems that the HDD is dead :/ Gonna put it in an enclosure and try and get something off of it onto our other computer for the time being.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

Quote from mmathis : Used the DVD drive's port and data cable, still no go. Reset BIOS to defaults, no go. Switched ports, no go. Plugged a friend's drive in, and it showed the Windows splash screen, so it seems that the HDD is dead :/ Gonna put it in an enclosure and try and get something off of it onto our other computer for the time being. Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

Sorry to hear the bad news.
If the HD refuses to be recognized by a USB case, you can (if you have the resources) plug it into another PC by swapping it out with the DVD (while it's turned off) and then boot up.
There's a better chance of getting the data from a damaged drive when plugged in direct like that.

Quote from RockySosua : Sorry to hear the bad news. If the HD refuses to be recognized by a USB case, you can (if you have the resources) plug it into another PC by swapping it out with the DVD (while it's turned off) and then boot up. There's a better chance of getting the data from a damaged drive when plugged in direct like that.

No go with the external enclosure, either. It sounded like it was doing something, Win7 installed the drivers for the USB controller, but didn't install drivers for the actual disk drive. The "Ultra Disk Drive" shows up in Devices and Printers, but I can't do anything to it, drive doesn't show up in My Computer (or in Disk Management), and I can't remove the Ultra Disk Drive. Guess this means that it wasn't a corrupted MBR or anything like that...drive really is hosed.

Luckily, I have a backup of the entire drive from Wed morning, so I didn't lose a whole lot (if anything). It was made from Paragon Backup and Recovery, but I'm wondering if I can just grab portions of that image (a couple financial files, spreadsheets for our wedding in 2 weeks, etc) and transfer to our other desktop until a new HDD gets here? Anyone have experience with this? Shouldn't be a problem to put the backup drive in that external enclosure, given that the other desktop had problems installing drivers for the hosed drive?

Quote from mmathis : No go with the external enclosure, either. It sounded like it was doing something, Win7 installed the drivers for the USB controller, but didn't install drivers for the actual disk drive. The "Ultra Disk Drive" shows up in Devices and Printers, but I can't do anything to it, drive doesn't show up in My Computer (or in Disk Management), and I can't remove the Ultra Disk Drive. Guess this means that it wasn't a corrupted MBR or anything like that...drive really is hosed. Luckily, I have a backup of the entire drive from Wed morning, so I didn't lose a whole lot (if anything). It was made from Paragon Backup and Recovery, but I'm wondering if I can just grab portions of that image (a couple financial files, spreadsheets for our wedding in 2 weeks, etc) and transfer to our other desktop until a new HDD gets here? Anyone have experience with this? Shouldn't be a problem to put the backup drive in that external enclosure, given that the other desktop had problems installing drivers for the hosed drive?

I'm really glad for you that you have all your data backed up.
As for what to do or how to do it, I don't have a clue what an Ultra Disk Drive is, in fact, I couldn't even find it on Google, apart from a 2 gig thumb drive by a company called Ultradisk.
In short, I don't understand what you're saying in the first paragraph, except to agree that it certainly wasn't a corrupt MBR problem.
If you Google Paragon backup, you should be able to find out if you can get portions out, or if it's an all or nothing deal.