No power to HDD or Opticals when IDE is attached.

[schizoid77]

I've got a problem with my 2 year old PC;
Asus A8N-SLI Premium
Opteron 185
2Gb RAM - 4 x 512
7600 GT
80Gb HDD
DVD drive
500W Antec-SLI certified PSU

This build was up and running for more than 2 years. Then I built my new rig in sig - as I originally used my old DVD drive in the new rig, I went out and bought a new one, so I put the drive back into the old PC and decided to make a media PC out of it.

But now the DVD drive and HDD don't get any power when the IDE cable is connected to the mobo. Both ports, sec and pri, as soon as the pins touch, the drives lose power, and then as soon as I remove the cable, the drives power up. Everything else on the mobo remains turned on, the cpu fan, and all the case fans.

I've tried multiple cables, I've checked everything I could think of, all power connectors are where they need to be. The PSU is obviously fine too, seems to be the IDE ports on the board itself.

I don't have a speaker so I can't check for any beep codes, but the one thing I noticed is that the HDD activity light stays a solid red....

The PC was working fine the previous day, all I did was reinstall the original DVD player. Now I can't even get into the BIOS.

Does anybody know what is going on here, any ideas on what I should be looking for?

 

[schizoid77]

Thanks all.

I bid and won on a used s939 cpu and mobo deal. So whether the board died or the cpu died, things should get sorted out. Hopefully both didn't.

 

[Old Hippie]

Sorry for the lack of responses.

I was gonna vote the PS was bad.


I had an SLI-Deluxe that did the exact same thing, pretty much under the same circumstances. I transferred all components to a new case and the origional IDE DVD unit wouldn't work in the same way as yours.

I installed XP with a different drive.

The PS died 2 months later. Before it completely died, all sorts of unusual things were happening.


Good Luck with the new stuff!

 

[schizoid77]

Ah man, thanks for the reply, I really hope it's not the PS, I bought a spare one, but once I saw the the drives get power, my finger pointed straight at the mobo. I've since returned the PS and bought the new parts.

If this Antec 500w that's only been used for 2 years on an Opty and single 7600GT died, I'ma lose a bit of faith in that company.

Thanks!

Edit: I've got an A8N32-SLI DELUXE mobo and FX-55 comin'....so in the long run, if the PS DOES turn out to the culprit, not only does my mom get a new pc, I guess I get my media PC after all 🙂

 

[dbailey]

I'd check the pins on the motherboard, hard drive and dvd drive and make sure you don't have a bent one.

 

[schizoid77]

Good idea, I'll check the pins...

But, I just remembered last night what my last config on this old PC was, I had OC'd the Opty and installed 2 8800GTS - I couldn't get SLI working, everything was powered on, but I couldn't get the 2nd video card acknowledged...and that's what prompted me to build the new rig.

So something blew while I was trying to get that config to work....and most likely the PS now that I think about it...an OC'd Opty and attempting 8800's in SLI on an older mobo with just a 500w PS....yeah.

I just picked up a A8N32-SLI DELUXE and an FX-55 for $100, I guess a new PS will be on the way too.

 

[Narse]

What are the IDE settings of the drives, ie Master/Slave/Cable Select

 

[schizoid77]

I've got one DVD drive off the SEC IDE slot set as master, and I have the one HDD coming off the PRI IDE slot set as master.

 

[schizoid77]

I got the replacement mobo and CPU and issue is still the same, I can't even get it to POST. Everything powers up, fans are spinning, mobo lights are green, but I get no video, no post, no nothing.

I tried multiple combinations, a separate video card, different RAM slots. I can't get into the BIOS on either board with any config.

Either I have 2 bad mobos, or 2 bad CPU's, or the only common denominator is the PSU I am using - 500w Antec. Or all 4 sticks of my 512 Corsair died all at the same time....

Should I buy another PSU to check? What does this sound like to you guys?

When I attempting to get into BIOS, I have nothing but RAM, GPU, and CPU, nothing else connected. Is this right?

 

[Old Hippie]

It's not like you'll never need a spare PS. 🙂

That's what I'd be buying next.

Course, I'm probably older than you and have had a chance to make a lot more screwy decisions! :laugh:

Good Luck!

 

[schizoid77]

lol, this is fantastic. The spare mobo snapped off one of the pins on my opty 185, the cpu is toast.

also checked the spare fx-55 I got and a bunch of pins are bent, not sure how I even got it into the socket.

I think I am going to stay away from building for a couple months 'cuz this has been a total disaster - it's just not my time.

 

[webada]

It probably didn't and this would explain why you couldn't get it to POST.