Hard Drive LED glows even when computer is off??

[Cybordolphin]

Have a computer that the hard drive LED stays lit even when the computer is off. What would cause this?

It is on a Epox ENFORCE2 motherboard. WinXP corp. Antec PS.

The ps was swapped out..... and the old ps was a real POS. Not sure if the old PS fried something on the motherboard? I checked the case on/off switch in front of the computer..... and the connections seem clean.

Could it be a "sleep" mode or something in BIOS? Or is it a problem on the motherboard?

What do you think?

 

[chizow]

reverse the jumper....sounds like you have the pins turned around.

Chiz

 

[Erasmus-X]

All I can think of is that you have the HDD LED wire connected to the header the wrong way. Flip it over and see what happens.

 

[Cybordolphin]

No.. I have checked that. When the pin is reversed.... the LED does not ever come on .... not even when running.

This is the weirdest thing. The only thing I can think of is that the on/off switch is allowing just a very slight amount of power to get across it. The LED glows very dim when the system is shut off.

If I switch off the ps on the back of the computer.... the LED then goes out. This is a new ANTEC ps, and I don't think it is leaking power to the motherboard or hard drive.

I have never seen this on any system before. It is not my build... but a friends... and he is stumped also.

I know that ATX boards allow some power to constantly stay on... is this perhaps a common thing with the new EPOX Nforce2 motherboard?

Anyone ever heard of this?

 

[Broadkipa]

Just a thought but is the computer switching off or is it going into standby. On some of the newer computers I have built you can select what the power button does in the bios. you can select soft power off or hard power off, might be worth a look.

 

[Cybordolphin]

The bios only has a "soft-off by PBTN" and it is set to "instant off". There is no "hard-off by PBTN" option... I wonder if this has something to do with it? Could be a feature of the new EPOX Nforce2 board?

 

[Broadkipa]

I suspect that instant off is the hard off feature, if you only have two options then one is standby mode the other would be power off.
you don't have wake from lan or keyboard or any of those features enabled by any chance, most new boards have loads of these features and I always disable them all. either in the bios or jumpers, might be worth going though them all one by one to make sure. The power led should not be on when powered down thats for sure.

 

[Cybordolphin]

Yes.. all the power on features (lan, etc) are turned off in Bios. The HD LED is the one that stays on (dim glow). The power LED is off as it should be.

 

[Broadkipa]

I have just checked out a couple of motherboard manuals I have lying around and on some there are two outputs for the HD-LED, I supose you either tried both or you don't have that option. I can't for the life of me see how the led could be getting power when the comp is shut down. all I would say is to double double check your conectors but I'm sure you must have done that. If you re-post could you give more details on the motherboard, model number if there is one. I will try to download the manual and have a peek myself.
Yep,just checked out the Epox web site and need a model number to see which board you are having probs with.

 

[cockeyed]

If everything works normally on your system, maybe the LED is just going bad. Check the resistance both directions on the LED and compare the readings to the other LED's to see if it is ok; or get another 5V LED at Radio Shack for little cost and connect it to the HDD output on the mobo. If it lights normally, use it to replace the one in the case. Just a thought, before getting too involved in major parts replacement!

 

[Jeff7]

It could be that there's still just some power left in the capacitors on the motherboard. When I had my optical mouse on a PS/2 port, its lights would stay on after the computer was off; I also had a Belkin Speedpad n50 (gaming keypad) connected to a USB port; its lights are normally off, but they'd all come on when the system powered down. If I pulled the plug after shutting down, the lights would still stay on; I'd hit the power button, then everything would power up for a half second - THEN everything was off. Most likely it is just residual power either in the PSU or the motherboard.

 

[Cybordolphin]

Thanks for the thoughts....

I am still unable to figure this one out.

I have the new EPOX Nforce2 8RDA+ motherboard. I am certain the connectors are all correct.

The LED works normal as soon as the on/off button on the case is switched on.... (blinks as normal when hard drive is accessed).

I have never had this before on any system I have built..... although I did not build this one.... it was given to me to try to figure out the problem with the LED. I am kinda stumped on this one.

I guess it could be the residual/low voltage left across the motherboard due to the ATX form factor. But I have never seen an HD LED glow when the system is shut down.

Let me know if anyone is able to figure it out.... and I will also be sure to post my findings.

Thanks

 

[Cybordolphin]

Still unable to figure this out... anyone?

 

[Viper96720]

Your ps still supplies power to the board even though you shut down. If you want the light out you would have to turn off the ps. Some boards have a led on board that stays lit. Shows that the ps is on. That's why the led goes out if you turn off the ps. Don't worry to much about it.

 

[Cybordolphin]

Yea.... I know that there can be an LED on the motherboard that stays lit.

This is the HD LED on the front of the case. It glows even if the HD is disconnected. I have not found anyone else with this motherboard who has seen this.

I do know that the owner of this system already fried one motherboard using a cheap PS. The store that sold him the cheap PS (which went completely dead in 2 days AFTER it fried his first motherboard), replaced the first PS with the same cheap PS. I told him to go back in and demand an ANTEC, as the PS that they sold him was missrepresented to be an AMD approved PS. The store owner then appologized and DID replace his PS with an ANTEC. However.... the store owner booted up his system with the second cheap PS, and I am wondering if that bootup may have caused damage to the second motherboard.

I do not have another one of these motherboards to test. I am pretty certain the new ANTEC PS is good, I am going to swap out the ANTEC PS just to see.

I have a feeling it is the motherboard. I also have a feeling that when the store owner booted up this system using the second cheap PS, that it may have caused a minor short somewhere.

Anyway... if anyone else has run across this before, do tell.

Thanks

 

[Cybordolphin]

Ok...

Found the culprit:

Modem - Dial up Rockwell chipset


Go figure. All is good.