Help! I've burned up 3 SATA drives today

R

root

Guest
I got a used computer on Saturday at a yard sale. I bought
it for the case, although it came with a motherboard and power supply
but no drives or video card.

I put a video card into the machine, along with an IDE drive
and the system ran fine.

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 swapped out the power supply for a second unit,
and put in another SATA drive. I checked voltage to the
molex and it was 11.86 volts and 5.09 volts.

It happened again, when I turned on the power I killed
the second SATA drive.

I took my motherboard out of the new case and put it
back in the my old case. Everything runs fine.

I put another power supply in the "new" case, this
power supply did have SATA power cables. Back into
the case went my motherboard. Again, upon power up
a third SATA drive was blown. The SATA cables coming
from the power supply had an extra orange wire that
the molex adapter cables do not have.


Three SATA drives down the drain. IDE drives work
fine.

The last drive that burned up had only the SATA
power cable connected. That means the motherboard
is out of the picture.

I have run out of expendable SATA drives. Any idea of
what might be the problem?
 
En el artículo <jhcdqr$2qs$2@news.albasani.net>, root <NoEMail@home.org>
escribió:

I have run out of expendable SATA drives. Any idea of
what might be the problem?
Click to expand...
If the drives had both Molex and SATA power connectors - not all do -
and you were connecting both (you don't say), that would damage it.
Connect either the Molex or the SATA but never both.

I would have said you might have a mis-wired Molex-to-SATA adapter (it's
not unknown, especially with cheap crap coming out of China), but you
ruled that out by using the PSU's own SATA connector.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")
 
Mike Tomlinson <mike@jasper.org.uk> wrote:
En el artículo <jhcdqr$2qs$2@news.albasani.net>, root <NoEMail@home.org
escribió:

I have run out of expendable SATA drives. Any idea of
what might be the problem?

If the drives had both Molex and SATA power connectors - not all do -
and you were connecting both (you don't say), that would damage it.
Connect either the Molex or the SATA but never both.

I would have said you might have a mis-wired Molex-to-SATA adapter (it's
not unknown, especially with cheap crap coming out of China), but you
ruled that out by using the PSU's own SATA connector.
Click to expand...
Thanks for responding. A long time ago I had a SATA drive with both
power connectors. None of the drives I ruined were the dual power
socket types. I have a lot of the Chinese adapter cables, and
the ones I used were from China: Deal Extreme.

I have put a brand new ThermalTake power supply in. I have to
wait until I can round up some old SATA drives for testing.
 
En el artículo <jhchja$btc$1@news.albasani.net>, root <NoEMail@home.org>
escribió:

Thanks for responding. A long time ago I had a SATA drive with both
power connectors. None of the drives I ruined were the dual power
socket types.
Click to expand...
OK, so that rules that out. Worth mentioning though.

I have a lot of the Chinese adapter cables, and
the ones I used were from China: Deal Extreme.
Click to expand...
I've bought stuff from them via ebay and have been happy.

I have put a brand new ThermalTake power supply in. I have to
wait until I can round up some old SATA drives for testing.
Click to expand...
I can't imagine what the problem might be, but hope you don't blow up
any more drives ;o)

There's some knowledgeable people on

news://comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage

Suggest you post there. Beware of the group troll, Rod Speed. Best
killfiled.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")
 
On 14/02/2012 01:36, root wrote:


The last drive that burned up had only the SATA
power cable connected. That means the motherboard
is out of the picture.

I have run out of expendable SATA drives. Any idea of
what might be the problem?
Click to expand...
So, the motherboard works in another case but causes problems if
installed in this one?
When you checked the voltages with the data lead disconnected, was the
motherboard still connected/powered?

Pure conjecture of course, but maybe there is a partial short causing an
odd voltage issue at the sata connector, sata drives in general do seem
to be more prone/sensitive to power issues than ide ones.
 
Lee <cyberwitch@ukonline.net> wrote:
On 14/02/2012 01:36, root wrote:


The last drive that burned up had only the SATA
power cable connected. That means the motherboard
is out of the picture.

I have run out of expendable SATA drives. Any idea of
what might be the problem?

So, the motherboard works in another case but causes problems if
installed in this one?
When you checked the voltages with the data lead disconnected, was the
motherboard still connected/powered?
Click to expand...
Yes, when I checked voltages at the molex connector the
motherboard was still powered up and running.

Pure conjecture of course, but maybe there is a partial short causing an
odd voltage issue at the sata connector, sata drives in general do seem
to be more prone/sensitive to power issues than ide ones.
Click to expand...
 
In article <jhds2g$2uf$1@news.albasani.net>, root <NoEMail@home.org>
writes

Did that years ago.
Click to expand...
:eek:)

You and a thousand others, I suspect.

--
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")
 
In article <jhdvm3$aup$1@news.albasani.net>, root <NoEMail@home.org>
writes
Big advance since my last post. I scrounged up
another expendable SATA drive and powered up
the system with the new ThermalTake PS.
Click to expand...
this is the one with the included SATA power plugs?

Perhaps you should check the Molex-to-SATA power adapters you were using
previously. It isn't unknown for that sort of thing to arrive
incorrectly wired. Quality checks - they've heard of 'em.

--
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")
 
Big advance since my last post. I scrounged up
another expendable SATA drive and powered up
the system with the new ThermalTake PS. All went
well. That gave me the courage to put in two
more SATA drives and the system is running now
with all three drives in.

No progress in resolving the 3 burned drives
but my immediate goal of bringing up the system
in the new case is near complete.

All this, BTW, was because of the case: it is
a D-Vine Home theater case. Something suitable
for putting in a living room home entertainment
system.
 
Mike Tomlinson <mike@jasper.org.uk> wrote:
In article <jhdvm3$aup$1@news.albasani.net>, root <NoEMail@home.org
writes
Big advance since my last post. I scrounged up
another expendable SATA drive and powered up
the system with the new ThermalTake PS.

this is the one with the included SATA power plugs?
Click to expand...
Yes, this PS has the SATA power plugs.>

Perhaps you should check the Molex-to-SATA power adapters you were using
previously. It isn't unknown for that sort of thing to arrive
incorrectly wired. Quality checks - they've heard of 'em.
Click to expand...
Before closing up the new system, I tried the Chinese molex-SATA
cables and they were OK.

I intend to pursue an explanation of what happened. If I find
out I will post here.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
root Inscribed thus:

I got a used computer on Saturday at a yard sale. I bought
it for the case, although it came with a motherboard and power supply
but no drives or video card.

I put a video card into the machine, along with an IDE drive
and the system ran fine.

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 swapped out the power supply for a second unit,
and put in another SATA drive. I checked voltage to the
molex and it was 11.86 volts and 5.09 volts.

It happened again, when I turned on the power I killed
the second SATA drive.

I took my motherboard out of the new case and put it
back in the my old case. Everything runs fine.

I put another power supply in the "new" case, this
power supply did have SATA power cables. Back into
the case went my motherboard. Again, upon power up
a third SATA drive was blown. The SATA cables coming
from the power supply had an extra orange wire that
the molex adapter cables do not have.


Three SATA drives down the drain. IDE drives work
fine.

The last drive that burned up had only the SATA
power cable connected. That means the motherboard
is out of the picture.

I have run out of expendable SATA drives. Any idea of
what might be the problem?
Click to expand...
Possibly open circuit grounds on the power connector...

--
Best Regards:
Baron.
 
root Inscribed thus:

Mike Tomlinson <mike@jasper.org.uk> wrote:
In article <jhdvm3$aup$1@news.albasani.net>, root <NoEMail@home.org
writes
Big advance since my last post. I scrounged up
another expendable SATA drive and powered up
the system with the new ThermalTake PS.

this is the one with the included SATA power plugs?

Yes, this PS has the SATA power plugs.

Perhaps you should check the Molex-to-SATA power adapters you were
using
previously. It isn't unknown for that sort of thing to arrive
incorrectly wired. Quality checks - they've heard of 'em.


Before closing up the new system, I tried the Chinese molex-SATA
cables and they were OK.
Click to expand...
In that case please ignore my last post. Thanks.

I intend to pursue an explanation of what happened. If I find
out I will post here.

Thanks for the suggestions.
Click to expand...
--
Best Regards:
Baron.
 
Baron <baron@linuxmaniac.net> wrote:
root Inscribed thus:


I got a used computer on Saturday at a yard sale. I bought
it for the case, although it came with a motherboard and power supply
but no drives or video card.

I put a video card into the machine, along with an IDE drive
and the system ran fine.

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 swapped out the power supply for a second unit,
and put in another SATA drive. I checked voltage to the
molex and it was 11.86 volts and 5.09 volts.

It happened again, when I turned on the power I killed
the second SATA drive.

I took my motherboard out of the new case and put it
back in the my old case. Everything runs fine.

I put another power supply in the "new" case, this
power supply did have SATA power cables. Back into
the case went my motherboard. Again, upon power up
a third SATA drive was blown. The SATA cables coming
from the power supply had an extra orange wire that
the molex adapter cables do not have.


Three SATA drives down the drain. IDE drives work
fine.

The last drive that burned up had only the SATA
power cable connected. That means the motherboard
is out of the picture.

I have run out of expendable SATA drives. Any idea of
what might be the problem?

Possibly open circuit grounds on the power connector...
Click to expand...
Using my last expendable SATA drive, I retraced my steps
as closely as I could remember what I did on Saturday.
Starting with the original MB that was in my new case,
I put back the original power supply, and plugged in the
SATA drive. No Problem. I used the same Chinese SATA adapter
cables as I did. I have no idea of what the problem
might have been since it is not reproducible.

It might be that, in my haste, I didn't push the SATA power
plug all the way in and it might have been askew.
This is really a stretch because I have pushed on
SATA cables for a long time, and I would have had
to repeat that screw up two more times.
 
En el artículo <jhe92o$vn2$1@news.albasani.net>, root <NoEMail@home.org>
escribió:

I intend to pursue an explanation of what happened. If I find
out I will post here.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Would be very interesting to know what it was.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")
 
Having read this, it seems that most "normal" possibilities have been
eliminated.

It's not known though if you are mounting the drives or letting them
hang around, but if you are actually mounting them in the case you
might actually have a ground fault.

Now nothing has changed inside the case and the problem is gone, but
what about outside the case ? Grounds can be funny things at times.
What's more, there may have been some sort of ground fault that
eventually got blown out. The problem with that theory is that a
ground fault would almost for sure be in the PS, at least in an ATX
case right ? I mean the wires to the power switch are not on the hot
side.

I have seen some strange ground fault problems. Try to think back, if
the drives were not mounted, were they in electrical contact with the
case ?

And of course don't forget what might have been plugged in. Hell under
certain conditions a ground fault in the monitor might cause something
like this. Not to coin a phrase LOL - but think outside the box. I
think that somewhere down the line you might wind up blowing another
one. What would be interesting to know is if there are any significant
differences in the architecture of the power distributoin between IDE
and SATA drives. How many grounds and where ?

Whenever a problem seems to cure itself I get butterflies in the
ulcer. (I don't have an ulcer, that is a PutneySwopeism)

J
 
root Inscribed thus:

Baron <baron@linuxmaniac.net> wrote:
root Inscribed thus:


I got a used computer on Saturday at a yard sale. I bought
it for the case, although it came with a motherboard and power
supply but no drives or video card.

I put a video card into the machine, along with an IDE drive
and the system ran fine.

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 swapped out the power supply for a second unit,
and put in another SATA drive. I checked voltage to the
molex and it was 11.86 volts and 5.09 volts.

It happened again, when I turned on the power I killed
the second SATA drive.

I took my motherboard out of the new case and put it
back in the my old case. Everything runs fine.

I put another power supply in the "new" case, this
power supply did have SATA power cables. Back into
the case went my motherboard. Again, upon power up
a third SATA drive was blown. The SATA cables coming
from the power supply had an extra orange wire that
the molex adapter cables do not have.


Three SATA drives down the drain. IDE drives work
fine.

The last drive that burned up had only the SATA
power cable connected. That means the motherboard
is out of the picture.

I have run out of expendable SATA drives. Any idea of
what might be the problem?

Possibly open circuit grounds on the power connector...


Using my last expendable SATA drive, I retraced my steps
as closely as I could remember what I did on Saturday.
Starting with the original MB that was in my new case,
I put back the original power supply, and plugged in the
SATA drive. No Problem. I used the same Chinese SATA adapter
cables as I did. I have no idea of what the problem
might have been since it is not reproducible.

It might be that, in my haste, I didn't push the SATA power
plug all the way in and it might have been askew.
This is really a stretch because I have pushed on
SATA cables for a long time, and I would have had
to repeat that screw up two more times.
Click to expand...
The mental picture was of an OC ground could put 7volts on the drives 5V
rail. As an aside I suspect the device which let out the smoke could
have been a transient voltage protection device. A bit like a pair of
back to back zener diodes. These tend to go SC when they fail.

--
Best Regards:
Baron.
 
Jeff Urban <jurb6006@gmail.com> wrote:
I have seen some strange ground fault problems. Try to think back, if
the drives were not mounted, were they in electrical contact with the
case ?
Click to expand...
One of the drives was in my hand when it burned out. That
is the one whose C651 melted. In the other two instances, the
metal of the drive was in contact with the metal of the case.

I share your worry when a problem just seems to go away.
 
On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:36:27 +0000 (UTC), root <NoEMail@home.org> 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.
Click to expand...
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
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
 
Franc Zabkar <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> wrote:
On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:36:27 +0000 (UTC), root <NoEMail@home.org> 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
Click to expand...
Thanks. I will clean out the debris and see if the drive
works. I had already put the drives in the recycle bin.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Welcome to EDABoard.com

Sponsor

Back
Top