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Hard drive horror story X2
I had a Western Digital mod.WD1200 120gb and a mod. WD600 60 gb both
working fine until my power supply died. After replacing the power supply bios will not detect either drive. I tried them in other computers with the same result. The only thing I can assume is that the power supply put out too much voltage and burned something out on the logic boards. Does anyone know if there is a fuse or resistor (hopefully) that blows in case of over-voltage in these models? Also, the logic boards on these drives are super easy to remove with no wires to unsolder. If I get a working drive of the same model and exchange boards could I recover my data? Is there anything that could blow inside the sealed drive with too much voltage? I had some backup but I was also backing up from drive to drive thinking "what are the odds both drives would fail at the same time"? Apparently, not that high. |
"RM" wrote in message ... I had a Western Digital mod.WD1200 120gb and a mod. WD600 60 gb both working fine until my power supply died. After replacing the power supply bios will not detect either drive. I tried them in other computers with the same result. The only thing I can assume is that the power supply put out too much voltage and burned something out on the logic boards. Does anyone know if there is a fuse or resistor (hopefully) that blows in case of over-voltage in these models? Also, the logic boards on these drives are super easy to remove with no wires to unsolder. If I get a working drive of the same model and exchange boards could I recover my data? Is there anything that could blow inside the sealed drive with too much voltage? I had some backup but I was also backing up from drive to drive thinking "what are the odds both drives would fail at the same time"? Apparently, not that high. There's too many variables to know, there could be a fuse of some sort, if so it shouldn't be too hard to track down but you may be screwed. With some luck you may be able to recover your data by swapping over a board from an identical drive, I've had good luck with this in the past but drives are more advanced now so YMMV. Good luck. |
Try a "Clear CMOS". Could be a jumper for this, or just remove the battery
for a bit. Re-install the battery and just turn the computer back on and let it auto-detect everything. Worth a try anyway. Mark Z. "James Sweet" wrote in message news:_3V_c.3529$j62.998@trnddc04... "RM" wrote in message ... I had a Western Digital mod.WD1200 120gb and a mod. WD600 60 gb both working fine until my power supply died. After replacing the power supply bios will not detect either drive. I tried them in other computers with the same result. The only thing I can assume is that the power supply put out too much voltage and burned something out on the logic boards. Does anyone know if there is a fuse or resistor (hopefully) that blows in case of over-voltage in these models? Also, the logic boards on these drives are super easy to remove with no wires to unsolder. If I get a working drive of the same model and exchange boards could I recover my data? Is there anything that could blow inside the sealed drive with too much voltage? I had some backup but I was also backing up from drive to drive thinking "what are the odds both drives would fail at the same time"? Apparently, not that high. There's too many variables to know, there could be a fuse of some sort, if so it shouldn't be too hard to track down but you may be screwed. With some luck you may be able to recover your data by swapping over a board from an identical drive, I've had good luck with this in the past but drives are more advanced now so YMMV. Good luck. |
Mark, that will not recover his dead drives, gent already said he placed
them into another computer and they were still not operational. Only option is to find identical drives and try swapping the logic pcbs, still modrately questionable. Third, but most expensive, is to send the defective drives to a recovery company who have the techniques to recover the data. "Mark D. Zacharias" wrote in message ... Try a "Clear CMOS". Could be a jumper for this, or just remove the battery for a bit. Re-install the battery and just turn the computer back on and let it auto-detect everything. Worth a try anyway. Mark Z. "James Sweet" wrote in message news:_3V_c.3529$j62.998@trnddc04... "RM" wrote in message ... I had a Western Digital mod.WD1200 120gb and a mod. WD600 60 gb both working fine until my power supply died. After replacing the power supply bios will not detect either drive. I tried them in other computers with the same result. The only thing I can assume is that the power supply put out too much voltage and burned something out on the logic boards. Does anyone know if there is a fuse or resistor (hopefully) that blows in case of over-voltage in these models? Also, the logic boards on these drives are super easy to remove with no wires to unsolder. If I get a working drive of the same model and exchange boards could I recover my data? Is there anything that could blow inside the sealed drive with too much voltage? I had some backup but I was also backing up from drive to drive thinking "what are the odds both drives would fail at the same time"? Apparently, not that high. There's too many variables to know, there could be a fuse of some sort, if so it shouldn't be too hard to track down but you may be screwed. With some luck you may be able to recover your data by swapping over a board from an identical drive, I've had good luck with this in the past but drives are more advanced now so YMMV. Good luck. |
"Art" writes:
Mark, that will not recover his dead drives, gent already said he placed them into another computer and they were still not operational. Only option is to find identical drives and try swapping the logic pcbs, still modrately questionable. Third, but most expensive, is to send the defective drives to a recovery company who have the techniques to recover the data. Yes, he did say that. But I've seen too many instances where one error was masked by another. So, it is worth a try. I'd think that a failed power supply destroying both harddrives without damaging the mainboard would also be unusual. --- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Mirror: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/ Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/REPAIR/ +Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/lasersam.htm | Mirror Sites: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/REPAIR/F_mirror.html Note: These links are hopefully temporary until we can sort out the excessive traffic on Repairfaq.org. Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header is ignored. To contact me, please use the feedback form on the S.E.R FAQ Web sites. "Mark D. Zacharias" wrote in message ... Try a "Clear CMOS". Could be a jumper for this, or just remove the battery for a bit. Re-install the battery and just turn the computer back on and let it auto-detect everything. Worth a try anyway. Mark Z. "James Sweet" wrote in message news:_3V_c.3529$j62.998@trnddc04... "RM" wrote in message ... I had a Western Digital mod.WD1200 120gb and a mod. WD600 60 gb both working fine until my power supply died. After replacing the power supply bios will not detect either drive. I tried them in other computers with the same result. The only thing I can assume is that the power supply put out too much voltage and burned something out on the logic boards. Does anyone know if there is a fuse or resistor (hopefully) that blows in case of over-voltage in these models? Also, the logic boards on these drives are super easy to remove with no wires to unsolder. If I get a working drive of the same model and exchange boards could I recover my data? Is there anything that could blow inside the sealed drive with too much voltage? I had some backup but I was also backing up from drive to drive thinking "what are the odds both drives would fail at the same time"? Apparently, not that high. There's too many variables to know, there could be a fuse of some sort, if so it shouldn't be too hard to track down but you may be screwed. With some luck you may be able to recover your data by swapping over a board from an identical drive, I've had good luck with this in the past but drives are more advanced now so YMMV. Good luck. |
I might throw something out. If you spectulate that something on the
motherboard went bad instead of the drives, you would try them in another computer, which you did. My question is first, could the other computer handle the larger drives, and if so, since Western Digital drives have a special situation with the master/slave jumpers, if you tried one at a time, did you set it to single or take the jumper off. Also, I did not see you mention whether the drives were making noise. Are they running and cannot be read, or are they completely dead. Do you have any idea what killed your power supply. Lightning strike or just old. Clark "Sam Goldwasser" wrote in message ... "Art" writes: Mark, that will not recover his dead drives, gent already said he placed them into another computer and they were still not operational. Only option is to find identical drives and try swapping the logic pcbs, still modrately questionable. Third, but most expensive, is to send the defective drives to a recovery company who have the techniques to recover the data. Yes, he did say that. But I've seen too many instances where one error was masked by another. So, it is worth a try. I'd think that a failed power supply destroying both harddrives without damaging the mainboard would also be unusual. --- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Mirror: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/ Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/REPAIR/ +Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/lasersam.htm | Mirror Sites: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/REPAIR/F_mirror.html Note: These links are hopefully temporary until we can sort out the excessive traffic on Repairfaq.org. Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header is ignored. To contact me, please use the feedback form on the S.E.R FAQ Web sites. "Mark D. Zacharias" wrote in message ... Try a "Clear CMOS". Could be a jumper for this, or just remove the battery for a bit. Re-install the battery and just turn the computer back on and let it auto-detect everything. Worth a try anyway. Mark Z. "James Sweet" wrote in message news:_3V_c.3529$j62.998@trnddc04... "RM" wrote in message ... I had a Western Digital mod.WD1200 120gb and a mod. WD600 60 gb both working fine until my power supply died. After replacing the power supply bios will not detect either drive. I tried them in other computers with the same result. The only thing I can assume is that the power supply put out too much voltage and burned something out on the logic boards. Does anyone know if there is a fuse or resistor (hopefully) that blows in case of over-voltage in these models? Also, the logic boards on these drives are super easy to remove with no wires to unsolder. If I get a working drive of the same model and exchange boards could I recover my data? Is there anything that could blow inside the sealed drive with too much voltage? I had some backup but I was also backing up from drive to drive thinking "what are the odds both drives would fail at the same time"? Apparently, not that high. There's too many variables to know, there could be a fuse of some sort, if so it shouldn't be too hard to track down but you may be screwed. With some luck you may be able to recover your data by swapping over a board from an identical drive, I've had good luck with this in the past but drives are more advanced now so YMMV. Good luck. |
"Sam Goldwasser" wrote in message
... "Art" writes: Yes, he did say that. But I've seen too many instances where one error was masked by another. So, it is worth a try. I'd think that a failed power supply destroying both harddrives without damaging the mainboard would also be unusual. Hypothetical situation: There was a voltage spike on the +12. Many drives use this and it could kill them. What's it used for on the motherboard? Mostly the RS-232 which many people would never even miss if you stole it from their computers. Norm |
Hi!
Hypothetical situation: There was a voltage spike on the +12. Many drives use this and it could kill them. Not usually for the controllers and circuitry. It's usually only the spindle actuator and head movement assembly (voice coil or stepper motor in old designs) that use the +12V. What's it used for on the motherboard? Mostly the RS-232 which many people would never even miss if you stole it from their computers. Quite a bit more than that, actually. It's available to all the slots on the bus, and I know that some Ethernet cards use it to power their "media side". At the very least most motherboards seem to require that it be present in order to power up. Modems also might require it to be present. William |
Sam Goldwasser wrote in message ...
I'd think that a failed power supply destroying both harddrives without damaging the mainboard would also be unusual. Hah! My brother's died and took everything but the monitor with it. On topic, modern hard drives don't appear to have fuses, at least not like the obvious ones on older IBMs (square sm ceramic things marked 1A)... ALex |
Of course, the first thing a drive recovery service does is swap the logic board from a working drive.... Mark, that will not recover his dead drives, gent already said he placed them into another computer and they were still not operational. Only option is to find identical drives and try swapping the logic pcbs, still modrately questionable. Third, but most expensive, is to send the defective drives to a recovery company who have the techniques to recover the data. |
"William R. Walsh" m
wrote in message news:896%c.121969$9d6.83666@attbi_s54... Hi! Hypothetical situation: There was a voltage spike on the +12. Many drives use this and it could kill them. Depending on the exact failure, the drive could still be reported as dead, either by itself or the BIOS or the OP Not usually for the controllers and circuitry. It's usually only the spindle actuator and head movement assembly (voice coil or stepper motor in old designs) that use the +12V. What's it used for on the motherboard? Mostly the RS-232 which many people would never even miss if you stole it from their computers. Quite a bit more than that, actually. It's available to all the slots on the bus, and I know that some Ethernet cards use it to power their "media side". At the very least most motherboards seem to require that it be present in order to power up. Modems also might require it to be present. The OP might not have gotten that far to determine if these were working before panicking. The situation was simply proposed as a possible explanation of a hypothetical situation in which someone would report that the drive(s) died and the motherboard was okay. Norm |
Alex Bird wrote:
Sam Goldwasser wrote in message ... I'd think that a failed power supply destroying both harddrives without damaging the mainboard would also be unusual. Hah! My brother's died and took everything but the monitor with it. On topic, modern hard drives don't appear to have fuses, at least not like the obvious ones on older IBMs (square sm ceramic things marked 1A)... ALex Funny thing is, that whenever I've had catastropic computer failure--usually traced to a surge of some sort on the a.c. line--the hard drive is the one thing that usually survives. I've repaired at least a dozen computers in which nothing else worked, but the drives were salvable. In fact, I can only recall one instance where 'everything' went. Even a machine that took a major jolt, which split a 150 year old oak tree in the back yard, had salvable pieces. The modem, of course was dead...in fact, the chips on board had pieces blown off them. The mobo never worked again. Even the laser printer which was attached, had it's port burned out. The fairly high quality speakers attached had one tweeter fried. All of the memory was toast. The drives (all of them) survived. jak |
On Mon, 06 Sep 2004 13:53:13 -0400, Andy Cuffe
wrote: On Mon, 06 Sep 2004 00:03:42 -0500, RM wrote: I had a Western Digital mod.WD1200 120gb and a mod. WD600 60 gb both working fine until my power supply died. After replacing the power supply bios will not detect either drive. I tried them in other computers with the same result. I agree with the other suggestions about buying two identical drives and swapping the circuit boards. You could even use dead drives as long as it wasn't due to a board failure. When you tested the drives in the other computer, did you try them one at a time with the jumpers set to single drive? It's possible for one bad drive to stop the other one from being detected. Some WD drives require different jumper settings for master with a slave and for a single drive with no slave. Andy Cuffe The motherboard does not seem to be affected. (I am using the computer to write this). I have tried all kinds of slave/master jumper settings on the drives and in combination with other drives or alone the computer always stops on "detecting IDE drives" when using one of the bad drives. In another newsgroup, I was told that the "chokes" on the logic board could possibly be bad. How do you identify these on the board? I am also wondering since these were both Western Digital drives if they may a component that is more sensitive to over voltage than other drives. Thanks for the replies. |
Are these drives spinning up ? What I mean is that you can tell even if you
can't hear them by holding the drive in your hand. You should be able to feel the gyroscopic forces produced by the mass of the platters. There is also a peculiar noise that most drives make when un-parking the heads. It will not un-park the heads until the platter(s) are up to the specified RPM. The spindle motor driver is one of the most high current draining things in a HD and is probably underbult. You might get off with replacing one chip, which is more likely to work than swapping the entire board. I extremely un-recommend Western Digital drives, if you get them working, clone them to some real drives, like Seagates or even Maxtors (non OEM) I will never buy another WD drive. I've lost too much. JURB |
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