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Hard drive issues

T

Tanis143

Gawd
Joined
Aug 18, 2001
Messages
606
Ok, I'm in a pickle here and not sure where to go with it. My wife's system is having a hard drive issue that I thought I had resolved. Here is her system spec's:

AMD 2100+
512meg Crucial PC2700
MSI KT333
GeForce FX 5200
WD 80gig 8meg cache
Turbolink 420 watt PSU

Now, the original hard drive lasted from march 03 to the start of last month. Worked fine that day, wife came back to use the computer and it was shut off. Tried to turn it back on, would power up then power right back off. The only way to get it to power back up was to turn off the PSU for about 10 seconds, then turn it back on. After troubleshooting for a bit I found when I took the hard drive out it would power up just fine. So, I took the hard drive and put it in three other computers, they would boot, but would take forever the and drive would not be readable. Thought ok, get WD to replace the drive. Well, just got the replacement, and same thing is happening. Called WD, they are going to replace the drive again, however I have this feeling that something in the my wife's system is causing the issue.

Now, to further complicate the problem, here is what I've done to narrow down what or if her system is causing this. FIrst thing I did was check the PSU (being a cheap PSU this is where I would thought the problem could be). However, everything checks out. Rails are good, mobo shows this values:

+5v = 5.003 +/- .027
+12v = 12.100 +/- .300
-5v = -5.127-.177
-12v = -12.071-.153

The only thing that has me slightly worried is the +12v rail fluctuates a lot. The others fluctuate slightly, but usually back and forth between the same values ( for instance the -5v rail goes from -5.127 to -5.177). But the +12v rail will go between 12.1 and 12.400 with lots of numbers in between. However, when I put an old Maxtor 6gig drive in it works fine, no hiccups or anything. Could it be that the WD is just more sensitive to the 12v rail jumping around than the older maxtor drive? Or is there another issue I should look into?
 
There are some more reliable ways to test the PSU, like a cheap PSU tester or an ohmeter. If there are Harbor Freights near you, you can get an ohmeter for $4.

For what it's worth, I think hard drives draw five volts.

It really could be that the drive is just borked, and I would hesitate to assume that the computer that it was installed into was it's death knell. But replace the cable, while you're in there. I have had more problems with IDE cables than I care to think on. Honestly, I think it's just the drive (sorry. This is a bad time to suggest frequent backups, but you know. Do it).
 
I've already taken an ohm meter to both 5 and 12 v rails, all looks good, matches what my mobo is telling me. I did replace the IDE. The other factor that makes me think its the PSU is at the same time my CDROM failed as well. However, both temp hard drive and CDROM in it now are working fine.
 
Axman said:
an ohmeter

For what it's worth, I think hard drives draw five volts.
Click to expand...
An ohmmeter won't do you much good. You want a *voltmeter*. :p Many times, they're contained in the same device (known as a multimeter), but don't buy it because it says ohmmeter.

Hard drives draw on 5 and 12v lines, but mostly on the 12. About 2A at startup, and 1A while running.

If you've got an extra $44 sitting around, try this fortron PSU. They've got good stability on the rails, and I've used 3 similar units with zero problems. It's probably worth replacing it on general principles.

 
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