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
news
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
news
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
news
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
news 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
news 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.

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

"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