Hard disk light permanently lit

[Chrissirhc]

Why is my hard disk light permanently amber even when the hard drive is not active? Its not even flashing.

IBM 75 primary master
Ricoh 7200 secondary master
DVD hitatchi secondary slave
ASUS a7v133


Thanks in advance christopher lym

 

[edfair]

Circuitry has gone bad. Has not completed powerup tasks. Controller has it selected.
These are assuming the drive is working.
Try with no ribbon cable. If drive stays lit then circuitry or not completing. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Chrissirhc]

If circuitary is bad why does the system still work? Or is it just the light that could go wrong. Someone else suggested that it could have been wired the wrong way round. Possible?

Chris

 

[edfair]

Light is an output from a controller chip probably through a driver chip section. Or something could have grounded out.
Probably in excess of 200 circuits on the board. This one going bad probably is benign. Could probably get it replaced if the drive is still in warranty.
I've had several do this. You can always do the VCR trick. (black electrical tape to hide the blinking clock) Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Guest_imported]

The l.e.d. (light emitting diode) that is used as an indicator on the front of the PC case, will not work if it is connected the wrong way round - the diode blocks the current flow, so no light. Are you sure this particular l.e.d. has been connected up to the correct terminals on the mobo? You should also have a "power on" l.e.d. lit, and sometimes the old "turbo" l.e.d. is wired in as well (this should also be permanently illuminated assuming your board has an output for it).

I have occasionally found that having two hard disks on the same controller causes the l.e.d. to illuminate constantly.

ROGER - GØAOZ.

 

[Chrissirhc]

Not sure I didn't set up the system. I read in the motherboard manual that if you have no light then swap the terminals round. I have permanent light so I get the feeling that if the led is attached to the right socket then swapping it round will give me no light. If it is in the wrong socket then the problem is solved.

Thanks for the post

Chris

 

[Guest_imported]

Mmm, not quite as simple as just swapping connections round! You have to select the correct terminals. There are often a number of pin-headers (terminals) grouped together on the mobo and these can give, amongst others, connections for the following:-

power-on l.e.d.
power-on switch
reset button
hard disk activity l.e.d.
loudspeaker
standby button
standby l.e.d.
green switch (power saving function)
green l.e.d. .. .. ..

Older mobos may have turbo switch and turbo l.e.d. connections.

On some mobos you have to look quite carefully to select the correct terminals, otherwise you can get unexpected results, particularly if for example the reset switch terminals are wrongly placed!

If you have connected an l.e.d. and it doesn't illuminate when you expect it to, then assuming the l.e.d. is working ok and the connector does have the correct voltage available, then REVERSING the two wires ought to make it light up.

Hope that helps...

ROGER - GØAOZ.

 

[edfair]

Motherboard manual should have a layout of the board with some indications of the offboard connectors. Possibly printed on the M/B. Look at the led and see the color of wires. Probably red and white. They will plug on 2 pins of the offboard connector block identified as IDE led if you can find it.
You may find the pins grouped in such a way that there is a 5 pin (power & keylock), 4 (speaker) 3(turbo switch) and a bunch of 2s as Roger listed.
Sorry that I didn't pick up that your light was the front panel light. Drives have lights too. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Chrissirhc]

OKay thanks everyone. The cable was just in the wrong socket. I just need to sort the floppy drive out. It doesn't light when I click on the A drive with a disk in it in explorer. I know power goes to it because it lights up green when I reverse the cable that goes into it (the data cable). Any ideas

Thanks in advance

Chris

 

[Guest_imported]

Ok, glad you have the hard disk light sorted...

Start checking the floppy disk in the BIOS. Is the A: drive listed as having a 1.44Mb installed? If yes, check the BIOS settings to see the drive order at bootup. The default is usually A: first, then C: followed by maybe D: drive. Adjust if necessary so that A: is first. Put a bootable floppy disk in the A: drive, save BIOS settings, exit BIOS, and see if the PC will boot on your floppy. Do you see the floppy disk l.e.d. come on for a short time during POST? Does the drive "grunt" at this point? If not, then either the drive or the ribbon cable is at fault. You should also check to see that the power connector is firmly located. Note that the minature 4-pin power connector on some floppy drives CAN sometimes be inadvertantly pushed home one pin out. This can be fatal for the drive, so be extra carefully if you don't have a clear view of the power socket on the floppy drive. You should see that the drive is working at this level before attemtping to sort any problems in Windows.

ROGER - GØAOZ.

 

[Chrissirhc]

The floppy drive light does not come on or grunt. I've checked teh 4 pin power connector and it seems fine.

Thanks you for your help.

Any other suggestions.

Chris

 

[edfair]

Power pin one position off usually crowbars the power supply. Power starts on , the fans get about two revs, then it shuts down.
If the drive works you have a blown led,dropping resisitor, or something else in the select circuit that affects the led. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Chrissirhc]

The cable that attaches the drive to the motherboard, I tried moving that the other way round in the floppy drive to see if it wasn't put in correctly. The drives led was permanently on at that time. So I don't think the LED is faulty. I didn't build the pc so I have just connected the floppy the way it came originally.

Thanks

Chris

 

[edfair]

OK, lamp circuitry is fine on the drive.
Back ot drive or cable. Which connector are you using. Should be end (past cut and twist) for drive 0 and floppy a assigned and seek on post activated+ drive swap off in CMOS.
Should crank up, jiggle the heads and light the led during post.
And check the floppy cable where it goes on the drive. Very easy to get 1 pin off in either direction which will give same symptoms. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Chrissirhc]

I checked the cable because it did seem easy to get it in the wrong place.
The cable was cut and twisted so that was okay.

>floppy a assigned and seek on post activated+ drive swap off in CMOS.

Don't know about drive swap, I think its off but I will check.

Thanks again,

Chris