2 hdd in a row failed to start

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Pnevroq

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Feb 5, 2013
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Hi all!
I have to say I've tried to search for the solution all over the Internet but no luck. So here I am asking here :)

The thing is I've built a new system:
mb: ASRock Extreme4 z77
CPU: i5 2500k
RAM: Samsung 2 x 4GB, 1600MHz 1.5v
psu: Chieftec CFT-650-14cs
ssd: OCZ Vertex4 128GB

The first HDD I added was Western Digital Caviar Green IntelliPower WD10EARX and it failed to start. No noise, no spinning, nothing at all. I connected it to another sata port where ssd was previously plugged and nothing changed. I tried to swap sata cables, tried to connect another power cable and still nothing worked. BIOS just does not see it. I've got it connected to another PC and the same story happened. The decision was to replace it with WD15EZRX. And it failed the same way.
Any idea why is that happening, what could be wrong?
 
It could be just bad luck and you got two bad drives in a row, which can happen, or your PSU could be frying them. That particular Chieftec PSU is a CWT, so it's not too bad, but it's from 2008 so it's certainly not new.

One possibly destructive way to test this is to get yet another hard drive (ideally an older SATA drive that you don't care if you lose it), and test it first on the other PC that doesn't have problems and see if it works before you put it in this PC.
 
evilsofa said:
It could be just bad luck and you got two bad drives in a row, which can happen, or your PSU could be frying them. That particular Chieftec PSU is a CWT, so it's not too bad, but it's from 2008 so it's certainly not new.

One possibly destructive way to test this is to get yet another hard drive (ideally an older SATA drive that you don't care if you lose it), and test it first on the other PC that doesn't have problems and see if it works before you put it in this PC.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that is something I am certainly going to do. But it will take about a week or so to get my HDD replaced. What about SSD, why PSU doesn't affect it then?
 
Pnevroq said:
Thanks, that is something I am certainly going to do. But it will take about a week or so to get my HDD replaced. What about SSD, why PSU doesn't affect it then?
Click to expand...

Yeah, because of that I'm inclined to think you just got unlucky with DOA hard drives.
 
Although at work I have had my share DOA drives this seems very unlikely to have 2 drives fail in this manner. I would use a volt meter and verify that the voltage is correct.
 
bad luck is one guess.

Do you have a big video card pulling the 12v hard?

you might try and see what the 12v rail is reporting.

SSD needs a lot less power so it may not show the damage of a voltage dip as quickly as a hard drive (which needs 10x more watts/amps than a ssd).
 
Thanks for these suggestions!
I can get one multitester tomorrow, but how and where to get correct measurements, I mean the exact procedure?
 
hotcrandel said:
bad luck is one guess.

Do you have a big video card pulling the 12v hard?

you might try and see what the 12v rail is reporting.

SSD needs a lot less power so it may not show the damage of a voltage dip as quickly as a hard drive (which needs 10x more watts/amps than a ssd).
Click to expand...

Do you mean HDDs may be fried instantly because of voltage dip?
 
I would say the drives were not fried because of too low voltage. Too high that is a different matter. Have you tested the drives in a different PC?
 
hotcrandel said:
bad luck is one guess.

Do you have a big video card pulling the 12v hard?

you might try and see what the 12v rail is reporting.

SSD needs a lot less power so it may not show the damage of a voltage dip as quickly as a hard drive (which needs 10x more watts/amps than a ssd).
Click to expand...

Forgot to mention there is no discrete video card in my system.
 
So here I am again, got new HDD WD15EARX.
Today I went to our IT team first and tried this HDD on their PCs, it worked fine. Also yesterday I checked my PSU with voltmeter and it showed all correct - 3.3V, 5V, 12V.

Also I've been told there is a chance my motherboard could fry a HDD controller, but they were not sure. Could that be possible? Anyway, what would be the best option to go with now?
 
If the previous hard drives were fried by something, the motherboard is the second suspect after the PSU - not the models you have specifically, just in a general sense.

Your two options are to try the new drive in the new build, or replace the PSU and motherboard and all cables involved in the new build before putting the new drive in. You now know you have a working drive before putting it in, which is information you didn't have about the previous two drives. I would try the new drive.
 
evilsofa said:
If the previous hard drives were fried by something, the motherboard is the second suspect after the PSU - not the models you have specifically, just in a general sense.

Your two options are to try the new drive in the new build, or replace the PSU and motherboard and all cables involved in the new build before putting the new drive in. You now know you have a working drive before putting it in, which is information you didn't have about the previous two drives. I would try the new drive.
Click to expand...

Thanks,
going to put the new drive then!
 
The problem is solved.
While connecting the HDD I found out the sata connector from PSU (which I usually tried to connect first) is loose and I guess it caused a few frequent connections-disconnections being powered on. Quite stupid...

Thanks for help!
 
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