IDE & Audio problems

[Ampersander]

Hey everyone, hoping you can add a little insight into a problem I'm having with my home computer.

Yesterday, my power supply died while I was using it. Immediate shutoff, and it wouldn't come back on, though the power LED on the motherboard would still be lit while it was plugged in.

I replaced the power supply, but I can't get anything to detect on my secondary IDE channel, in BIOS or in Windows. I have an older plextor CD-RW and a WD 40 gig hard drive on that channel. Also, my audio doesn't work either anymore. I've made sure it's not a mute/volume/conflict issue.

The old power supply lasted a year and a half, was a 420W "Okia." The current power supply is a borrowed 400W "Dynex." I'm running an AMD 2100+ with a 9500 Radeon, Asus motherboard with onboard sound (A7V8X) two hard drives, one CD-RW, and an extra case fan as well as a ThermalTake CPU fan.

Before I run out and replace the power supply with a better one, are my problems a lack of power from this unit, or could I have damaged something when it conked out? This supply has shut off once already, when I had the secondary IDE devices plugged in. (They're currently unplugged.)

 

[Ampersander]

Little update here:

I swapped out the power supply and now almost everything works. Audio is back, as is the CD-RW.... But Windows will not boot up while that second IDE drive is there, and it only gets identified in the BIOS half the time, usually after a significant delay. I tried in both secondary and primary channels.

I need the data off this drive, it used to be my primary so it has pretty much everything. Can anyone recommend how I can either get the drive to work or copy the data over?

Even trying Safe Mode doesn't work, Windows stops booting at "Mup.sys" It works when the drive is removed.

 

[DragonQ0105]

Sounds like the Motherboard is damaged...

Any case, you say you have 2 HDDs and 1 CD-RW. You want to copy the stuff from the second HD (40GB WD) to your primary one? Simply find the drive on WD's website, and find the jumper configurations. Set it to slave, and connect both HDDs to the Primary Controller (one as a Master, the 40GB as a slave), boot Windows, and copy everything.

 

[Ampersander]

Unfortuantely, Windows will not boot when I try this. For some reason, having the second drive on any channel makes that channel stop responding.

During Safe Mode bootup, it shows as halting at "Mup.sys" Unplugging the second hard drive makes everything run normal.

 

[DragonQ0105]

Perhaps more than the motherboard was fried...have you tried the 40GB Drive in another PC? If not, do so, so you can verify it is working correctly.

 

[jurgen36]

Carefull with trying the drive on another board. My wife had a similar problem. The machine just would not boot up. After I checked the system I found a us motherbord and a us 2nd drive. I tried the drive in another machine and promptly blow that motherbord as well. The symptoms in both machines were as follows. Fans start spinning etc. even gave the beep for a correct bios check, otherwise both bords were completely dead. No video, no nothing. Resetting the Cmoss did not help. Even with the bords sitting outside the machine on a piece of cardboard with only the cpu, memory and video card connected showed both bords to be dead. We investigated the WD hard drive and found that one of the data lines was internally shorted to the 12 volt rail. Apparently this blow both main bords. Well I had to buy two new bords to get both system running again.
So be carefull with testing drives on other machines.
Regards

Jurgen

 

[paparazi]

Ampersander
A blown power supply will often damage other components particularly hard drives, sometimes CDroms and occasionally the odd motherboard.
Typically the hard drive will show visable signs of damage, look closely at the circuit board chips, there maybe a tail tail pit mark on one of the controller chips.
Unfortunately there is little you can do unless you have an identical hard drive that you can swap the PCB over from.
Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[Ampersander]

I can't see any marks on the drive itself, paprazi. I do have a similar drive, same model, but larger capacity, that's defective. It works but noisy and we don't trust anything on it. Would it be possible to exchange parts between the two to at least get access to the data and copy it over?

 

[stduc]

Sounds to me like the electronics on that drive are the problem.

As for swapping the drives electronics over. Yes, it is possible. But you have to be very careful. very clean, & ensure there is no chance of static damage. So, wear an ESD wrist strap - connected to earth. Work on an anti-static mat and do it all in a clean room! Well, the last is not possible probably. So, give the re-constructed drive a blast of clean air from a can, just before you pop the cover on!

You run the risk of ending up with both drives not working ever again however!

 

[mainegeek]

Ampersander,
Have you tried it with a different IDE cable? Also, try clearing the CMOS as it may be partially scrambled from the PS failure issue. Swapping the PCB is no big deal. Just take your time. Removing the PCB won't expose the platters either.

 

[Ampersander]

I've been reading up on swapping the PCB. I appreciate everyone's input on this matter so far.

Mainegeek - I have tried a few IDE cables. Whatever channel this drive is connected to, will end up timing out on detecting and finding nothing.

If anyone finds this thread and is in the same situation, check out

http://www.deadharddrive.com/

Does anyone have any other information to share before I go ahead and try this?