Meat Plow inscribed thus:

On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:17:22 -0700, ken wrote:

Have a Hard Drive (HD) that makes a very loose contact with the
power
connector. At first thought it was dead but changed PCs and it is
OK. Also some other Good HDs have start up problems with this PCs
power connector.

Normally when the HD does not show in the BIOS on startup I shut
down
the PC, then I move the power connector and restarted the PC and
the HD starts OK.

Am wondering if can wiggle the power connector while the PC is
going or can this damage either the HD or power supply?

Am also wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what was
done to solve it?

Should mention that the PC with this problem is inexpensive so am
wondering if the contacts are corroded so the resistance is
increased or if the contacts have just become loose from changing
HDs? Maybe both?

Thanks

Ken

Those kind of connectors will suffer from frequent use. I would try
to crimp the contacts in the plug so they fit tighter around the
pins in the drive jack.

Actually this problem so common that I turned a brass rod with a
tapered bore that I can push over the pin to compress and/or remove
it. The other problem that occurs is that the retaining tabs get
bent or broken, so the the pin becomes offset and pushed back.

--
Best Regards:
Baron.