Weird hard drive/motherboard issue

[Booty]

Symptoms: PC freezes during POST while detecting hard drive; can't access BIOS or get past POST screen with drive plugged in.

Here's the details. First off, the PC was like this... we got it in, decided to replace the motherboard, after which everything was fine. Take it back to the customer, plug it in over their, same symptoms come back. Bring it back here, still messed up... so I don't know if it's possible that the mouse and/or keyboard caused a problem with the system, but...

We tried a different drive in the PC - that works fine. We tried the drive in a different PC. Works. Tried it in a USB 2.0 enclosure - worked. We tried a different power supply - didn't make any difference. Tried both master and cable select settings - no difference. Tried different cables. Nothing. Reset BIOS, tried 'fail-safe' options, etc... no go.

The ONLY thing that works is this - leaving the case open, connect the drive to the computer through the ATA66 cable, as usual, but... use the power connection from the USB external enclosure. Then it works. Odd, right?

So basically, if the drive is connected to only the computer, it won't spin up and the computer just sits there at POST waiting to detect the IDE devices. Put if we supply it with power from the enclosure, it spins up, then works fine. And like I said, other drives work fine in the system.

So - what on earth could be going on? I'd love to hear any ideas anyone has, because we're fresh out. Thanks.

 

[montag451]

psu?

New battery CMOS battery?

Some drives for whatever reason just do not like some cases - as you have just found out.
If you do find out, can you let us know please

 

[Paperlantern]

so the drive WONT spin up when its hooked to the case's psu. Then the psu isnt giving it power, youd assume. when the system is on, can you check the leads on the molex that the HDD is on with a voltmeter? what results do you get?

whats really a whopper is another drive works fine, AND the drive thats "bad" works in another machine, it could be what montag451 said and the drive jsut doesnt liek the case... is the drive actually mounted in there when you try it? or is it hooked up but like, hanging out the side not in contact with the case?

let me know, or if not tried, try it like these ways and let me know =)

 

[Booty]

montag - we swapped out the PSU as well as the CMOS battery, as well as reset the BIOS using the CMOS jumper. Unfortunately, no luck. The thing with this drive 'just not liking' this case is that it *did* work for about 2 days while we re-installed windows, updated, etc. Thanks for the reply, though.

Paperlantern - correct, the drive won't spin up when hooked to the case's PSU... OR a replacement PSU. So it's not that specific supply. We have a power supply tester that we checked the leads with on both supplies - both were fine. I could try the voltmeter - I'd have to go get it from home, so that won't be until this afternoon. Is it possible that the motherboard is affecting the amount of current being sent to the drive?

It is quite a 'whopper', huh? You understood correctly - the 'bad' drive works fine in another machine, and other drives work fine in this one. We've had the drive mounted in the machine (since it was originally working fine for a couple days) as well as outside the case (not hanging, though... set on a box, heh). So, basically, just about every configuration has been tried. It blows my mind.

If it had never worked, then I would come to the same conclusion as you guys - chalk it up to some weird incompatibility specific to that drive. But it *did* work at one point - for some reason, there was something at the customer's that changed that... don't know if something shorted something out or what... it's almost impossible to tell. This is so freakin' weird.

Anyway, thanks for the input - maybe someone out there has run into this and knows what happened, but at the very least it's good to know that I'm trying everything anyone else would have. I'll update if we ever figure out what the hell's going on.

 

[montag451]

Good luck -

Could you try one more thing:
well two really-

BIOS update
Chipset driver update [if you can get that far in]

 

[GunDog]

Its possible the customer has a dirty line. Does the customer use a protected powerstrip or UPS?
Should still work after bringing it back to the shop tho.. Hmmmm

Perhaps the drive cage isn't grounded to the case properly?

Just trying to toss out ideas

 

[jackschmittusa]

Have you looked at the drive closely? Checked for cracks in the pcb, good solder joints on the power leads, solid mounting of the pins, etc.. Sounds like a mechanical failure. And I have never heard of a drive and a case "not getting along". I've put about every kind of drive (3½", 5¼", ½ height, full height, scsi, ide, sata) of every brand (Maxtor, HP, WD, Seagate, Samsung, Quantum, Micropolis, JTS, Conner, etc.), in an awful lot of kinds of cases and never saw it.

 

[Stern]

if the drive works perfectly in another machine, have you tried using the PSU from the other machine to power it in the machine you're trying to get it to work in?

 

[Booty]

Well, here's an update -

Regarding the BIOS update, it is already the most recent version, so unless someone thinks it'd be a good idea to try to flash to an earlier BIOS for some reason (which I don't think I'd want to do)... I think I'll check the non-US Asus sites for more recent BIOS files, though, since sometimes they have betas and what not. I'll see what I can find.

Chipset driver's a no go because we can't get that far... it's not even making it past POST. The drive's not spinning up.

GunDog - dirty line maybe could have caused the initial problems, but then you'd think that it'd work once it was back here, like you said. And we've had the drive in and out of the case, so I don't think grounding is the issue. Appreciate the thoughts, though.

JackSchmitt - I'll take a closer look at the drive for damage, but again what's really grabbing me is that the drive works fine in other systems, or connected to that system with an external power source... the drive is, in fact, in the system I'm typing on right now (imaging the drive). Weird, huh?

Stern - we've tried about 4 different power supplies, all tested and known to be fully functional.

So again, to sum up - drive works in other computers as well as external USB enclosure. Drive will work in the 'bad' computer when it's recieving power from the USB enclosure, and other drives work just fine in the 'bad' computer. This is probably in my top 5 for unexplainable weird behavior...

 

[montag451]

Just another thought,

Can you check for bent pins on the drive?

 

[Paperlantern]

it cant be a bent pin or any other defect in the drive, since it WORKS EVERYWHERE but in that computer case, BUT then again, it could be, because all other drives work in that case...

what really blows my mind (besides the previous statement by itself) is that it just wont spin, its not like it not seeing it because its got a bad controller or something, its literally connected to a powerless drive, its like turning it on without the molex connector in it at all. am i right? and also, in the process of hashing this out, bear with me, that ANOTHER drive, connected to the same data cable on the same connector, and on the same molex connector, WILL spin and work? right? now if thats the case it would lead you to believe that theres something on that drive that is interacting with something in that system.... BUT that can also be disproved by the fact that it works just fine in other systems... a bad component will usually malfunction, no matter what system you introduce it to

Have you tried the same motherboard, case, vid card, memory processor power supply etc etc all hooked up OUTSIDE the case... that will rule out, or prove, the "case" phenomena

 

[Booty]

Paperlantern - you've got it... crazy, huh? The only thing we didn't do was yank out all the components and try them outside of the case... it was a customer's PC and we had to get it back to them, so imaged the old drive to another one, through in there, and got it back to them. So unfortunately, the mystery is going to remain unsolved in this case. I've never seen anything like this, before... it sucks to not get to the bottom of it, but I guess that's just how it goes sometimes...

Thanks for the attempts everyone.

 

[Paperlantern]

yeah your right, been there before when something just never gets solved totally because you found a work around