Re: Hard drive power lead question

Tech Tip: Click here to run a free scan for Windows Errors and optimize PC performance

The ps only sees a load, it doesn't see individual devices. The devices don't
see one another either, at least not from a power perspective. If there was a
dead short the supply would only see the short and not turn on the whole
system. If you had a short you would have never even been able to power up.
Computer power supplies are protected by feedback loops for over and under
voltage & current both on the input and output.

Brian Vagnoni

"Brian Vagnoni" wrote:

Not, unless one of the devices is a dead short the electrons don't care. You
have a bad connector plain and simple. I have 4 and 5 devics daisy chained on
one cable. Maybe you are using a ps not rated for your board & cpu, or not
enogh watts like trying to run a p4, a couple of drives, pci cards, and
memory off a 150 watt micro atx power supply.

If everything is rated ok, and as I stated one device isn't a dead short or
clse to it, the one device shouldn't affect the others operation. It's simply
+5 volts dc, and +12 volts dc on that connector. Nothing fancy.

Brian

"Jon" wrote:


"Evils Dark" <insert_user_here@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:894D948C-ECB9-42AC-BF17-689B22718B32@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Jon" wrote:

I am no hardware expert, as you will soon observe.

Turned on one of my computers this morning and it would not boot. It had
been working fine the previous day, with no changes. The hard drive was
not
even detected in the BIOS, although the cdrom was.

Took off the case, and swapped the power connector to the hard drive for
one
of the spare ones, and now the computer boots. Everything hunky-dory. A
case
of a failed power connector. Or so it seems.

I also noticed that the power connector, for which it was not working,
seemed to be linked to the cdrom. So I'm wondering whether it's better
practice to use a power connector for a hard drive, that is not also
linked
to any other device, and whether that may have lead to the problem.

Alternatively is it more likely to be symptomatic of a hard drive close
to
the end of its life, or some other cause (like a failing motherboard,
CMOS
battery etc)? Thanks.


I connected a fan to a drive power cable and the fan ran OK, but a drive
on
the same power cable was not detected. Swap the cables back and see if the
drive works OK. If it doesn't, its probably the CD. If it does, it might
just
have been loose.

Thanks for your response.

From that, it does sound like having 2 different devices on the same power
cable can sometimes cause problems for one of them. So thanks for confirming
that possibility.

Yes, it did occur to me that I may have jogged the machine in some way and
hence loosened a power lead. The odd thing is that what seemed like the
same problem occurred a few months back, and doing what you suggested solved
the problem at that time ie I opened up the machine - unplugged and
replugged in a few power connectors, making sure that they were all tight,
and the machine then booted fine. Not this time though, unfortunately. Had
to swap the power lead for one of the spare ones to get it to work.

Am thinking of adding a new hard drive to the machine in the near future, so
may experiment a bit more with it at that stage. Thanks again.

Jon



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: A8N-SLI & EATX
    ... The 24 pin power connector is the same as the 20 pin connector, ... The EZ-Plug connectors ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)
  • Re: OT help with part numbers
    ... The power cable is about 6 inches long, ... power connector found on modern ATX power supplies. ... nothing more than a pair of 68-pin SCSI connectors and a SCSI ... everything I need here to make you a set of cables for your ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware)
  • RE: OT - Toshiba M400 Laptop repair
    ... OT - Toshiba M400 Laptop repair ... ALL brands of laptop computers these days suffer from the failed power ... HP has had a class action lawsuit about this power connector mess. ...
    (alt.sys.pc-clone.dell)
  • Re: Hard drive power lead question
    ... Think you are right about it being a faulty power connector. ... Popped in an extra hard drive this afternoon, into the computer - on another power socket - and it's taken that perfectly. ... The power connector had perhaps been on gradual decline for a while, since I had a similar problem in January. ... Swap the cables back and see>> if the ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: Really stumped: PS inoperative
    ... of the three power busses. ... video card from the MB, CPU power connector, ... all front panel connectors and optionally the power switch, ... If these voltages fail to rise properly, remove the MB and PSU to see ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc)