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Continuing seagate problems...

P

Phosphers

n00b
Joined
Feb 7, 2003
Messages
53
I've made a few other posts about my problems with my seagate drives before, but for a quick n' dirty refresher they power cycle in a certain temperature range. Typicaly 60-72F. Over 73F and the drive will never have an issue all day long.
I got a replacement from seagate earlier this month, and it does the same exact thing! RAAAAAAARGH! I thought my room had been getting well below operating temperature due to it being winter but the internal temp sensor has been saying the drive boots at around 50F.

So.....
ST3200822A 7200.7 barracuda (problem drive)

Along with....
ATI 9600
IBM 30g
WD 6g
WD 120g
sb 128pci
Athlon 1.2g (pc133)
Antec true power 430 PSU

Only thing I can think of is either it's not getting enough juice or somehow it's defective. It's also been suggested that my CPU or ram is bad but one would think if that were the case I would have other problems with the system instead of specificly the one Seagate drive in the system.

Any suggestions?

Tearing my hair out,
Phosphers
 
If you have or can get a hold of a multimeter/voltmeter, that'd be the tool for the job. Make sure the 5 and 12 volt lines stay within 5% of their rated voltages. That's 11.4-12.6 and 4.75-5.25 volts, irrespectively.

I know, it's not a word. Sue me.

 
Hrmmmm...... MBM is saying 4.61 and 12.13. So that may be the issue. Still odd that only the Seagate has problems though. I'll have to check with the mulitmeter when I'm not working or doing christmas stuff.
 
One other possibility is that since you are in a cold room the drive will perform a thermal
calibration to realign the heads since the platters can expand with heat. Just a thought
 
Phosphers said:
Hrmmmm...... MBM is saying 4.61 and 12.13. So that may be the issue. Still odd that only the Seagate has problems though. I'll have to check with the mulitmeter when I'm not working or doing christmas stuff.
Click to expand...

Yes, software readings are inaccurate. In my rig, Everest reported 4.89V and 11.71V when the multimeter said 5.13V and 12.11V, respectively.

In addition, hard drives draw power from both the +5V and the +12V rails.
 
I have the multimeter, but is it safe to stick that thing into the molex while the computer is on? Which wires are the +5 and -5? (I would hate to hit the +12 and -5!!)
 
stonedwaldo420 said:
I have the multimeter, but is it safe to stick that thing into the molex while the computer is on? Which wires are the +5 and -5? (I would hate to hit the +12 and -5!!)
Click to expand...

Actually, you will not measure the -5 or the -12 lines at all from the Molex connector. You will be measuring either the +5 or the +12 lines.

Assuming that you do not have a fan-only cable connected to the PSU, the wire on the red side of the connector (the side with a red wire) is the +5, while the wire on the yellow side is the +12. The two black wires in between the red and yellow wires are the ground wires. You need to stick the black probe into a black ground wire, and the red probe into either the red +5V wire or the yellow +12V wire.

And make sure that the multimeter is set for DC volts, not AC volts. (Many multimeters use symbols for DC and AC: a line over three dots signifies DC, while a tilde (~) signifies AC.)
 
So to make it completely plain, red lead goes to red wire and black lead in black (either) for +5, and yellow/red, black/black for +12. This is no risk to the PSU.

 
Hooked up the multimeter today, and as far as I can tell power is ok.
12.03v and 4.54v stable. Lowest I got was 4.44, and the 12v line spiked at 12.81 but I think that was because the multimeter's battery needed to be replaced.

Still not sure what the problem is.
 
Are you saying if that the meter reporting 4.44v on the +5v line? That is not good in my book. You did say that the metter may need a new battery.
 
The meter reported 4.44v on the 5v line. Then I replaced the battery and got the 4.54v. I booted from a complete shutdown and let it run for a while and it stayed at 4.54.
 
4.44V is outside the plus-minus range of 5% typically allowed for power supply load regulation.
 
Since you have went thru multiple drives I doubt they are the problem and the problem is actually your motherboard.
 
Phosphers said:
I've made a few other posts about my problems with my seagate drives before, but for a quick n' dirty refresher they power cycle in a certain temperature range. Typicaly 60-72F. Over 73F and the drive will never have an issue all day long.
I got a replacement from seagate earlier this month, and it does the same exact thing! RAAAAAAARGH! I thought my room had been getting well below operating temperature due to it being winter but the internal temp sensor has been saying the drive boots at around 50F.

So.....
ST3200822A 7200.7 barracuda (problem drive)

Along with....
ATI 9600
IBM 30g
WD 6g
WD 120g
sb 128pci
Athlon 1.2g (pc133)
Antec true power 430 PSU

Only thing I can think of is either it's not getting enough juice or somehow it's defective. It's also been suggested that my CPU or ram is bad but one would think if that were the case I would have other problems with the system instead of specificly the one Seagate drive in the system.

Any suggestions?

Tearing my hair out,
Phosphers
Click to expand...

Having some odd quirks with mine also...
 
The problem is the PSU, ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!
Turns out the 5v rail went south, and it also appears this is a "known issue". This bugs the hell out of me since it's a well made unit and it's <bold>quiet</bold>. So now I'll have to see if I can RMA the bugger and get a new one with proper voltage output.

Right now I'm running the cheapo enlight PSU that came with my case uh.....6 years ago? And I don't think 300w is quite enough to power everything. The idiot ibm went nuts last night so I unplugged the bugger and things seem to be ok for the short term.

Any suggestions for a 430ish watt PSU that won't lose voltage over time, is silent, and not horribly expensive?

I think I can use the Antec as a weapon, it's heavy enough....
Phosphers
 
That was my guess also that is was the power supply since the 5v was low to begin and even it did not tie with the Seagate issue would have cause problems later down the road and in your case the 5v died on you. The best power supply in my mind regardless of cost would be PcPower and Cooling because of tighter regulation and very low ripple. But the strong advanage of PcPower and Cooling is that they can matain higher power output at higher temperatures than most of the power supplies on the market. I ended up getting a Emermax nosietaker since I started to lose money with issues with two Antec supplies and I had to find something locally and I been happy with the choice.
 
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