Is it too late?

My power supply has been killing hard drives. I'm getting a new power
supply, but I have one hard drive that when I turned on the computer last
time, it sounded like the hard drive was turning off and on very rapidly.
If I replace the power supply now, will I be able to save my hard drive or
is it that once it starts behaving like this, it's too late? Thanks.

 

If it is turning on and off rapidly, it is not completely
dead. That might not be good for the drive, but if it is
still flapping around, then it hasn't completely failed.
If it just stopped doing it, then its dead

The only way to be sure, it to wait until the new supply
is connected.

Do you own a multimeter/voltmeter ? Grab a molex drive connector
and measure the +5V and +12V on there. That will give you
some idea how screwed up the bad supply is. If the voltages
are within 5% of nominal, it might be a drive problem.

The flapping about, could be a defect on the hard drive
controller itself. Do you have more than one disk drive
connected, and are they all doing it ?

Paul

 

I have two hard disks connected. The *one* that's flapping around did for
about three seconds, stopped flapping, but once Windows started up, the hard
drive was working normally and I had no problems. (Meaning that at the end
of the flapping, it stayed on.) I have on occasion been working on the
computer and hear the hard drive turn on, (I don't ever hear it turn off,
however) but when this happens, it still responds properly even in the
middle of this, so it apparently doesn't shut off long enough to cause any
problems. One died a month ago, and now this one. I now have my
replacement hard drive for the one that died a month ago. The one that died
a month ago was acting similar to how the one that's acting up now is,
except for the last one didn't flap around rapidly. It just started making
grinding noises, so I began backing up my data immediately. I was playing
music in Windows Media Player, and the computer just suddenly halted, and I
once again heard a grinding noise. Then I waited a little longer, and then
I heard it turn off and on (although not rapidly). I shut off the computer
and turned it back on and it was no longer detected. (Although I do believe
that hard drive came back on.) My video card also died a week after the
hard drive died, although that might have been in part due to that card
being a cheap one anyway. (It was underclocked.)

 

Could be a faulty power line/connector. I've experianced device
failure simply due to a week power rail. When I switch
lines/connectors it helped...go figure...

 

Should I disconnect the drive that's having problems or will it not hurt to
keep running it? If that hard drive fails, I'm going to get a SATA hard
drive because my K8N supports them. (I used to have an A7V333.)

 

I agree with Bill, I've seen bad pin crimps on the molex HD connectors
that caused odd HD problems. I've also seen mobo voltage regulator
problems look like PS problems, iow, the CPU regulator was failing due
to bad caps and it looked and sounded just like the HD was having a
serious problem. In fact, the mobo Vcore regulator circuit was
seriously affecting the stability of the PS 5v rail. The symptoms of
a failure are never entirely predictable. This could also be a heat
problem, have you cleaned out the machine lately to get rid of the
build up of dust, dirt and other undesirable phlegma?

--
Best regards,
Kyle
| Could be a faulty power line/connector. I've experianced device
| failure simply due to a week power rail. When I switch
| lines/connectors it helped...go figure...
|
|
| On Mon, 15 May 2006 01:23:31 GMT, "Travis King" <>
| wrote:
|
| >I have two hard disks connected. The *one* that's flapping around
did for
| >about three seconds, stopped flapping, but once Windows started up,
the hard
| >drive was working normally and I had no problems. (Meaning that at
the end
| >of the flapping, it stayed on.) I have on occasion been working on
the
| >computer and hear the hard drive turn on, (I don't ever hear it
turn off,
| >however) but when this happens, it still responds properly even in
the
| >middle of this, so it apparently doesn't shut off long enough to
cause any
| >problems. One died a month ago, and now this one. I now have my
| >replacement hard drive for the one that died a month ago. The one
that died
| >a month ago was acting similar to how the one that's acting up now
is,
| >except for the last one didn't flap around rapidly. It just
started making
| >grinding noises, so I began backing up my data immediately. I was
playing
| >music in Windows Media Player, and the computer just suddenly
halted, and I
| >once again heard a grinding noise. Then I waited a little longer,
and then
| >I heard it turn off and on (although not rapidly). I shut off the
computer
| >and turned it back on and it was no longer detected. (Although I
do believe
| >that hard drive came back on.) My video card also died a week
after the
| >hard drive died, although that might have been in part due to that
card
| >being a cheap one anyway. (It was underclocked.)
| >| >> In article <[email protected]_s72>, "Travis King"
| >>
| >>> My power supply has been killing hard drives. I'm getting a new
power
| >>> supply, but I have one hard drive that when I turned on the
computer last
| >>> time, it sounded like the hard drive was turning off and on very
rapidly.
| >>> If I replace the power supply now, will I be able to save my
hard drive
| >>> or
| >>> is it that once it starts behaving like this, it's too late?
Thanks.
| >>
| >> If it is turning on and off rapidly, it is not completely
| >> dead. That might not be good for the drive, but if it is
| >> still flapping around, then it hasn't completely failed.
| >> If it just stopped doing it, then its dead
| >>
| >> The only way to be sure, it to wait until the new supply
| >> is connected.
| >>
| >> Do you own a multimeter/voltmeter ? Grab a molex drive connector
| >> and measure the +5V and +12V on there. That will give you
| >> some idea how screwed up the bad supply is. If the voltages
| >> are within 5% of nominal, it might be a drive problem.
| >>
| >> The flapping about, could be a defect on the hard drive
| >> controller itself. Do you have more than one disk drive
| >> connected, and are they all doing it ?
| >>
| >> Paul
| >

 

I clean out my computer regularly, so there's hardly any dust.

 

One other problem which I've been introduced to, is a "contact failure"
which takes place between the drive's controller board and casing.
That is: On the controller board, is a couple of rows of contacts, with
solder blobs on them. These mate with a small strip of "spikes", on
the drive casing. I had--what I thought to be--a dead drive. Using a
small tool, I burnished the solder blobs (effectively "closing the holes"),
re-assembled, and the drive has performed like new, ever since.

Jeff

http://jefftturner.com

 

Well, the new PSU arrived today, so I'm just about to try it out.

 

Well, it's working so far.