root Inscribed thus:

root wrote:
Franc Zabkar wrote:
On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:36:27 +0000 (UTC), root
put finger to keyboard and composed:

I replaced the motherboard with one known to be good: I pulled
it from a working computer. I wanted to be able to use SATA
drives in the "new" case. The power supply did not have any
SATA power cables so I used the molex-sata power adapter cables.

When I turned the system on with the first SATA drive in
the system a component on the drive smoked and the
drive is dead. The component is a surface mount plastic
two-terminal (I think) device about 1/8 x 3/16 inch.
I can just barely read C651 on the device.

I see this problem several times per week in various storage forums.

In fact it's a FAQ:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/TVS_diode_FAQ.html

Here are several photo clips:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/

- Franc Zabkar

Thanks. I will clean out the debris and see if the drive
works. I had already put the drives in the recycle bin.

Well that was really worthwhile. First I tried the
drive that I saw burning. I clipped out the burned part
and removed all the parts. The drive came alive and,
apart from being sensitive to spikes, is working.

I had caught the other two drives before the part burned
up completely. No problem, when I connected them up the
fuse finished its burn and was easy to identify. Again
I clipped the fuse out, cleaned up the debris, and
both drives were seen.

If the drives had contained vital information I guess
this would give me a chance to pull the data.

Thanks, this has been very informative. I hope
those following this thread can profit.

I will scrap the power supply that is the likely
cause of the spikes.

That sort of confirms an open ground issue ! Though I don't think the
PSU itself is the culprit.

--
Best Regards:
Baron.