Tried to install Floppy drive, and power supply fails?? 2

[Psyke]

Hey guys.

My Pc is a HP dc7100 Series. The workstation didn't come with a floppy drive installed, so i took it upon myself to install one.

Anyways i plugged in an OLD floppy drive, connected the ribbon cable and connected the power to the floppy.

And tried to boot..... The LED lights flicker, and the CPU and power supply fans run for about 2 seconds, then everything shuts down. After disconnecting the floppy totally the same thing happens.

I swapped out the power supply, and got my system running again.. I tried the "faulty" power supply on another pc and it gives the same results..

Question is how did i manage to kill the power supply? It shouldn't have been from installing the floppy...

Anyways, comments/ideas are welcome..

Just curious as to what the hell i did to cause this..

Thanks!

 

[edfair]

Sorry to have to correct you Garebo, but there is no real standard that puts the power cable and ribbon cable as you describe them.

The only, for real, method is to find the proper pin1 on the drive and on the M/B. If the connector has a shroud with a notch pin 1 is to the right with the notch up looking at it. Otherwise you have to look for some indication, numbers, triangle, or square solder pad.
Most ribbon cables have a cut & twist that is intended to be on the floppy end. But some computers have built in drive selection so a straight through cable is used.

Whenever you take a machine apart or otherwise identify which way a ribbon cable goes on it makes it a lot easier to use the next time if you use a marking pen to draw an arrow on the case to indicate where pin1 is.

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

 

[garebo]

I dont want to start an argument but i bet i could go look at 5 pcs right now and find they are set up the way i am describing.
But, hey, if im wrong, i have no problem with that. I just dont believe i am.
The ide and the floppy, i do believe are always oriented the same. I have always gone by that.
And the same thing with the red edge on the floppy cable and the red wire on the power.
I guess i will have to go check some pcs and see. I know you know a lot more than i do about this, so i will go look. Tomorrow, lol.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[BaudKarma]

I don't think I've *ever* seen a drive (floppy, HD, CD, DVD, whatever) where the cable connection into the drive was other then pin 1/red stripe is closest to the power supply. It may not be a standard, but it's pretty darn close.

The connection on the motherboard I'm a lot less sure about.

I try not to let my ignorance prevent me from offering a strong opinion.

 

[Psyke]

Just to close up this thread.

I ordered a new floppy drive, specific to the computer model (dc 7100) from HP, and i installed it no problems.

Just a freaky coincidence that the power supply decided to die on my i guess..

Anyways, thanks guys for all the information!

Everything is working no problems now.

Thanks again.

 

[ceh4702]

Power supplies will give up the ghost at the most inconvenient times and for seemingly any reason. Normally you cant plug in the power wrong on a floppy because the plugs are designed to work only the correct way and have to be forced to plug them in incorrectly.

Sometimes power supplies just give up. All power supplies are not created equally. Often HP and other manufacturers use a power supply barely strong enough for the computer and adding any device can cause them to give up. If the computer has been running for over a year anything can go wrong at that point.

Glad to hear you ordered a new power supply. Some of the power supplies are proprietary and have plugs that will only work on their proprietary motherboards, so you have to be careful sometimes.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.