Very strange hard drive problem

[Flippit]

My uncle asked me to please fix his computer, which had what he described as a "hard drive problem". He had already taken it to a computer repairs place, but they weren't able to fix it.

The first thing I noticed was that the power supply was broken - it was making a whining, leaking-capacitor sort of noise. After connecting another power supply, the computer still did not boot. By not boot, I mean nothing at all - no fans, keyboard lights, nothing. Note that this is with a known-working PSU.

I then took the suspect hard drive out of his computer and put it into mine (100% working normally). My computer would boot fine without his hard drive, but as soon as I plugged the 4-pin molex power connector into it, my computer also refused to boot! Removing the power from the hard drive caused the computer to operate like normal again! This happened both with the IDE cable in and out, and in both my computer and his!

Has anyone heard of anything like this before? As far as I understand, even if the hard drive is very broken, just plugging it into the power supply shouldn't cause the rest of the computer to break??? Help!!!!

 

[killadoob]

i think if its got some sort of damage that may affect the other components the pc wont boot, sort of a protection thing i would imagine

 

[XCalibre]

Jumper config right?

 

[bullfrog]

Probably a short in the hdd. So when your computer tries to boot, the psu shorts immediately and doesn't come on.

 

[NoADSLyet]

That hardrive is suspect. As soon as you put power to it i confuses the data and/or I/O bus and then your PC is also defunct. It is the same as if you would short out the data tracks. Throw away the drive.

 

[bullfrog]

It must be a power short in the hdd cause it doesn't boot, even if the ide is out

I'm pretty convinced that your computer isn't going to boot if you short 2 wires on the molex plugs, well it shouldn't if your psu has the right protection mechanisms in place...not that I'm gonna go try it!

 

[Juggy]

It a short feedback to the PSU that messing it up. Unfortunately there probably isn't a way to get the data off.

Maybe try an external HDD case.

 

[Flippit]

Jumper config right?

Yep - when I put it in my computer, I set the jumper to slave (my HDD is master on that channel). When I put it in his computer, I set the jumper to master. Neither works

That hardrive is suspect. As soon as you put power to it i confuses the data and/or I/O bus and then your PC is also defunct. It is the same as if you would short out the data tracks. Throw away the drive.

Thing is, the drive has quite a bit of valuable (and un-backed-up) data on it!

It a short feedback to the PSU that messing it up. Unfortunately there probably isn't a way to get the data off.

Maybe try an external HDD case.

Would an external case help? Surely it would still be shorting out, and not work?

Can anyone think of a way to get this drive up and running to get data off it?

 

[mancombseepgood]

My uncle asked me to please fix his computer, which had what he described as a "hard drive problem". He had already taken it to a computer repairs place, but they weren't able to fix it.

The first thing I noticed was that the power supply was broken - it was making a whining, leaking-capacitor sort of noise. After connecting another power supply, the computer still did not boot. By not boot, I mean nothing at all - no fans, keyboard lights, nothing. Note that this is with a known-working PSU.

I then took the suspect hard drive out of his computer and put it into mine (100% working normally). My computer would boot fine without his hard drive, but as soon as I plugged the 4-pin molex power connector into it, my computer also refused to boot! Removing the power from the hard drive caused the computer to operate like normal again! This happened both with the IDE cable in and out, and in both my computer and his!

Has anyone heard of anything like this before? As far as I understand, even if the hard drive is very broken, just plugging it into the power supply shouldn't cause the rest of the computer to break??? Help!!!!

Probably a short of some sort - popped component, etc, that is causing too much drain or a voltage imbalance, causing the built in mobo sensors to prevent boot. Depending on the drive, you may be able to replace it with an identical one and swap the boards to get his data off - or even better still, convince the PC shop to give you a faulty one of the identical spec to swap boards. It's likely that the board is the problem. What model is it? Maybe a myadsl'r can help out a m8 in distress!

 

[NoADSLyet]

Thing is, the drive has quite a bit of valuable (and un-backed-up) data on it! :

What is valuable? There companies specializing in data recovery. R3k+ per drive with little guarantee. If you have a exact working copy of the same type of drive, All code numbers must be agreeable exact then a final chance is to replace the electronic board. If it then works you are lucky. Alternate a electronics engineer may have a look at it and try to determine what is wrong? That is also costly and I for one would not have the time on hand. Thus the value of the data must be measure in monetary value to even try.
Hope the PC shop where you have these plug and play engineers did not screw it up further for You.

 

[Flippit]

Probably a short of some sort - popped component, etc, that is causing too much drain or a voltage imbalance, causing the built in mobo sensors to prevent boot. Depending on the drive, you may be able to replace it with an identical one and swap the boards to get his data off - or even better still, convince the PC shop to give you a faulty one of the identical spec to swap boards. It's likely that the board is the problem. What model is it? Maybe a myadsl'r can help out a m8 in distress!

It is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 40 GB, model number ST340014A. It also has various other codes on it, such as Config: A4K-03 and Firmware: 8.01.
Since it's Seagate 7 series and they're currently on 10, I'd guess there aren't many retail ones hanging around... does anyone have a drive of this type, and isn't using its controller board?

What is valuable? There companies specializing in data recovery. R3k+ per drive with little guarantee. If you have a exact working copy of the same type of drive, All code numbers must be agreeable exact then a final chance is to replace the electronic board. If it then works you are lucky. Alternate a electronics engineer may have a look at it and try to determine what is wrong? That is also costly and I for one would not have the time on hand. Thus the value of the data must be measure in monetary value to even try.
Hope the PC shop where you have these plug and play engineers did not screw it up further for You.

When I say "valuable" I mean sort of personal stuff - many photos, as well as many pieces of original writing that are not backed up (my aunt is a writer) - not sure if that justifies R3k or not, that's up to my uncle.

I am a first-year electrical engineering student but I don't think I count I can't see any visible damage on the components around the power connector, but it shorting it out does sound like the best explanation. Does a hard drive have a "fuse" (or equivalent) which may have blown first?

Edit: Oh and the PC shop gave the hard drive back to him in a Pick and Pay packet (just that, no anti-static or anything!). I doubt it booted for them either!

 

[NoADSLyet]

It is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 40 GB, model number ST340014A. It also has various other codes on it, such as Config: A4K-03 and Firmware: 8.01.

Sorry had a look in my heap. No luck!

 

[Wisemansa]

its the hard drive imo . had the same problem with a hard drive that got fried, no boot when connected. try www.cssi.co.za and ask them to assess it, and maybe they can replace the circuit board (costs +-150 i think) and youll have your data back

(get a new PSU as well sounds like its very suspect)

 

[lsuacner]

Take the disk out, hold it in your hand and boot. If it doesn't work, and trust me on this, put it in a sealed plastic bag, freeze the disk as cold as possible, boot it once, get the data off. I had a PC fall of a table once, the disk made the PC unbootable, could not get the data off, though the freeze thing was covered on slashdot.org so I trust it will work.

 

[DragonLogos]

well the good news is that that the drive should still be under warranty - surprised they did not know that (five years ) - bad news is you only get another drive - However you might want to contact the agents (Storegate) - if you ask them nicely they might try changing the board for you - on a side note, the drive uses two voltages, the red wire +5v for the circuit board - and +12u for the motor

 

[Flippit]

In the absence of another hard drive of the same model, which between Storgate and CSSI are the better option (and cheapest)? Should I go with Storgate because they are the official Seagate suppliers, and the warranty still exists?

 

[mancombseepgood]

It is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 40 GB, model number ST340014A. It also has various other codes on it, such as Config: A4K-03 and Firmware: 8.01.
Since it's Seagate 7 series and they're currently on 10, I'd guess there aren't many retail ones hanging around... does anyone have a drive of this type, and isn't using its controller board?



When I say "valuable" I mean sort of personal stuff - many photos, as well as many pieces of original writing that are not backed up (my aunt is a writer) - not sure if that justifies R3k or not, that's up to my uncle.

I am a first-year electrical engineering student but I don't think I count I can't see any visible damage on the components around the power connector, but it shorting it out does sound like the best explanation. Does a hard drive have a "fuse" (or equivalent) which may have blown first?

Edit: Oh and the PC shop gave the hard drive back to him in a Pick and Pay packet (just that, no anti-static or anything!). I doubt it booted for them either!

1) I will follow up with you tomorrow about getting a replacement - you may want to try suppliers like mustek / rectron.
2) They often have fuseable resistors / pico fuses just like your mobo does, but not sure that that is the hassle (hdd should just not boot if that was the case) - more likely to be a shorted coil.