Hard Drive cuts power to PC

[brk1221]

Hi, I was given a hard drive from a dead pc and asked to retrieve some data. The HD is a Maxtor 200GB PATA133 Model: 6B200P0. I'm attempting to hang it off another pc to access the files. But when I plug in the power to the HD and push the power button on the pc I get nothing. I've also tried on 2 other pc's with the same results. This is a first! Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[rclarke250]

Sounds like the controller board has a direct short for one of the power rails, either 5v or 12v, and that is causing the pc not to power on, unless you can safely change the controller with an exact board from another drive, then not much you can do, send it out to a data recovery specialist like drive savers, and expect to pay big money for the data, or consider it a loss, and a lesson to keep a backup of the data.

 

[goombawaho]

^^^I agree with that analysis completely. Never heard of a hard drive PREVENTING bootup when it's a slave drive, but since you've tried it on two other PCs, it's not a fluke.

 

[brk1221]

Thanks for the input

 

[BadBigBen]

Goom,

it is not as uncommon as you may think...

I've only seen two HDD's do that, but lots of ODD's (all IDE) and one SATA, but no SCSI drives...

and I have seen one mainboard not power up with a lonely SATA cable attached...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[goombawaho]

Well, not doubting it happens, I'm glad I haven't seen it because it sounds like it would make me crankier than usual.

 

[kjv1611]

and I have seen one mainboard not power up with a lonely SATA cable attached...

Wow, really? The SATA cable did it all by itself? I've seen a hard drive cause this, but never just a cable. That's very interesting indeed. Makes me want to go back and test a motherboard again that I basically thought was toast. Then again, that means more time, so maybe it's another mystery I'll never solve.

 

[BadBigBen]

KJV, yeah, it threw me for a loop... My boss came in, pulled the cable and the mainboard just fired right up, then he left grinning...

Goom, yep... I hear coffee helps... ;-)

seriously, that is one of the reasons I tell everyone, when diagnosing, to pull the cable at the mainboard not the drive...

btw. not all mainboards behave that way, but I think it was either a Tyan or an iWill mainboard that did not POST while the cable was attached...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[edfair]

Quote BBB
"I've only seen two HDD's do that, but lots of ODD's (all IDE) and one SATA, but no SCSI drives..."

Throw in some MFMs and SCSIs , FDDs of all flavors, and SCSI tape and zip drives. Add some modems and line drivers/receivers (1488 and 1489s for us techies).

Haven't seen any SATA that failed like that yet but suspect it won't be long.

Probably doesn't help that my customer base is/was sitting over this granite base that seems to attract spikes in the power and phone lines.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[brk1221]

I contacted Maxtor/Seagate messages board. A guy had me measure the resistants of some select diodes on the circuit board with a multimeter. I own one but have never used it. After sending him the readings here is the response:

Your board appears to have a short circuit across the +12V supply. The culprit is either CR201 or CR202, most probably CR202, ie the larger diode. I expect that its marking is "BUX". If so, snip it out with flush cutters. The drive will work without it, but you will no longer have overvoltage protection on the +12V supply, so be sure your PSU is good.

I clipped off the CR201 (this was the larger diode) from the board (it came off easy), plugged the drive into a pc and it booted up! And I was able to retrieve the user's files. Just thought I'd share.

 

[kjv1611]

Wow, that's something pretty neat to know. thanks for sharing. Could be a last ditch recovery method... a little snip here and a little snip there... oh wait, or was it there? or .. well, this snip worked on the last drive, I'm SURE it'll work on this one!

I'd like to see if I can find any dead drives around that might be from a similar issue and try it.. but I doubt i'll get the time.