Plugging in HD crashes system

[longandrink]

I recently bought a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB, and it worked as expected for a month or so. Then for a week it was stored unprotected and unplugged near the main tower. Now when I plug in the SATA power connector, the entire machine immediately loses power. Pressing the power button again, the machine will power up for a moment and then lose power again. Pressing the power button again, nothing happens. After unplugging the HD and toggling the power supply switch, the machine boots normally. The SATA data cable and a connected fan assemply's power cord, which I presume are both in electrical contact with the HD itself, can be plugged in with no consequences.

Oh, hardware gurus, please help me save my music library!! Any responses are appreciated.

[dbwillis]

Your plugging inthe HDD to an already running PC? I really dont think your supposed to plug in a HDD while the PC is on.
(but it sounds like your PSU isnt enough to power everything in the PC)

[DonDon]

Wow, that's a pretty dramatic way for a HD to fail. All I can suggest is to try a different connector on a different rail on the PS. If you have access to another system try it there. Also make sure a stray paper clip or screw did not fall near the drive and get up under the circuit board. Not very likely, but there really isn't much that can cause this kind of problem.

Are you powering up with both cables connected, or just the power?

Prolly not the best thing in the world to be plugging and unplugging drives with the power on though. If the connector was misaligned, even for a mometnt, it is possible to short something out.

Don

[SmokeRngs]

Try connecting the drive when the machine is unplugged. Unless you have AHCI enabled, the OS isn't going to like it at all. Try a different data cable as well as a different SATA power connector. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen something like this.

http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag1.php/mem/207/1/1.png (http://www.hardfolding.com?go=38&tnum=33&id=207)

[SmokeRngs]

Prolly not the best thing in the world to be plugging and unplugging drives with the power on though. If the connector was misaligned, even for a mometnt, it is possible to short something out.

Don

Actually, the SATA connectors are designed with hotplugging in mind and there is little chance to screw hardware up like that. The ground leads are set much farther out than the power leads so it's almost impossible to get power to the drive before the grounds are connected.

http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag1.php/mem/207/1/1.png (http://www.hardfolding.com?go=38&tnum=33&id=207)

[longandrink]

So I tried plugging the problem HD into every SATA connector from my PS, even the ones going to my other HDs. Also tried the 4-prong to SATA adapters. Tried each with and without data cable plugged in.

In every case, I toggle the PS, plug in HD, and punch power button, and the MB lights shine, fans start to spin, but only for perhaps a quarter second, then everything stops. If I then unplug the problem HD, I can't power on the system until toggling the PS switch.

I did just recently switch out the PS, to a Antec EA-500D. And for the record, I've hotplugged SATA HDs in this system hundreds of times before with no trouble.

[OmegaAvenger]

When I recieved my 750gb drives (bought at seperate times). The first thing I always did i hotplug it to format it and test the drive. Better to do that IMHO than turn off my pc to mount it and only to find it doesn't work.

I've seen this problem on rare occasion with HDDs and Optical drives. It is likely hosed Its probably got a short on the PCB. If possible test it on another computer or a friends computer.

if it does the same thing RMA it.