SATA power problem.

[chottomat]

Hi all,

After having read various sticky(s) / sub-forums, I couldn't decide where this post should go.

I have just built a new PC, taking the 2x HDD and 1x SSD (bootable) from the old PC. Everything else in the new PC is brand new.

The problem is, that the drives (all connected via SATA) and the optical drive (also brand new) do not power on. All connections are present and correct and going to the right places. I am certain the PSU is not at fault, as I bought a PSU power tester and all the cables were streaming correct voltages through.

I have also tried in turn, creating a direct connection from the optical drive and HDDs to the PSU, but to no avail. Nothing now seems to work on the previous PSU, either. I would like to think I haven't 'smoked' it, as I haven't smelt burning or such equivalent, but am I missing something? How can I truly determine if the drives are truly dead or not.

With regards to the Optical Drive, this hasn't powered on once, so I am assuming it could well be a DoA product, but I can't believe it would be, given as it seems to much of a coincidence that none of the other SATA things are powering up. Even when having connected the HDDs to the previous PSU, I can't hear anything whirring, though I doubt it would be on a simple data storage drive?

The PC boots to BIOS and can correctly detect CPU, RAM, Mouse and Keyboard, but there is nothing in the SATA list or bootable list. BIOS is upgraded to latest version.

I have scoured the internet for solutions, including resetting BIOS, turning off PSU, CMR etc etc, but nothing ahs seemed to work. I do not know where to go from here, so any advice, would be hugely appreciated.

Spec is as follows:

Case: Corsair 300R Gaming Case
PSU: Corsair AX860
Cooling: Corsair (CW-9060019-WW) Hydro Series H110i GT 280mm Extreme Performance All-In-One Liquid CPU Cooler
Case fans: Corsair Air Series AF120-LED 120mm Quiet Edition High Airflow LED Fan - Blue
Motherboard: ASUS X99-S
CPU: Intel 5960k (8-core / 20mb cache)
RAM: 1x 4gb / Crucial Ballistix BLE4G4D26AFEA Elite 4 GB DDR4 Memory Module (16gb on the way, though)
Graphics: Asus GeForce GT 610 Silent NVidia
Optical: Pioneer BDR-209EBK
Storage: 1x SanDisk Ultra Plus SSD (Win 7 / 64-bit) / 2x Western Digital (3TB) WD30EfRX (data)

 

[Fardringle]

When you say the drives don't power on, are you seeing a light on the front of the optical drive or can you feel/hear the vibration of the hard drives spinning at all? If so, but the drives don't show up in the BIOS, then I'd suspect a bad SATA controller on the motherboard.

If there's no light on the optical and no spinning in the hard drives, then the drives are not getting power at all. You mentioned that the same thing happens with the old PSU now. Have you tried connecting the drives to the PSU but _not_ to the SATA ports on the motherboard just to see what happens? If they spin up that way but not when connected to the motherboard, then I'd still suspect a problem with the SATA controller/ports or possibly with the SATA cables.

 

[chottomat]

HI,

Thanks for your reply.

The LED does not even power on, on the front of the optical drive. I've already tried just a 'pure power' connection, i.e. no SATA data cables connected, and still no power to anything.

I know there is power coming down the cables, as I tested them with a PSU power tester, and the voltage levels lit up. This was also the case with the old PSU.

A faulty SATA controller had occurred to me, but I can't even get the things to power up, so I would assume that the onboard SATA controllers are fine, and that it's just a power issue. I am completely stumped on this...!

 

[Ketchup]

To continue on Fardringle's connect, power it on and hit the eject button on the optical drive. Does it open?

As you hit the power button, hold you hand on the hard drive. Do you feel it spin up?

Make sure your boot drive and your optical drive are plugged into the Intel SATA ports, not the Asmedia SATA ports.

 

[chottomat]

Hi Ketchup,

All plugged in to onboard Intel SATA ports.

I should have mentioned in my initial post, but pressing the eject button on the optical drive does nothing, even without a SATA data connection; just a pure PSU to optical drive power connection.

At the moment, I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible, i.e. just trying to hook up an SSD only or an optical drive only. But neither seem to be working. The POST State Boot Device LED is on, so at least it recognises there's an issue somewhere.

However, from my point of view, surely there couldn't be anything to stop a direct power connection to the PSU powering up an optical drive to simply open and close?

I cannot figure this out. It's driving me mad!

 

[Ketchup]

You are correct. If the power supply is powering on, you would be getting power to 12v devices connected. If not, something is wrong with your devices or your power supply. I don't know of anything on the board that would prevent this.

Out of curiosity, you could try a CMOS reset just to see.
Do you have another computer you can try the devices on?
Have you tried all the power connections?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Then either your PSU or your optical drive is bad.

What Brand / Model / Wattage is the PSU?

 

[chottomat]

Hi,

All specs are above, but it's a Corsair AX860.

I tried hooking up a data HDD to my old PSU, but I couldn't hear anything. Likewise, I connected the optical drive to the old PSU; nothing.

 

[Ketchup]

Hi,

All specs are above, but it's a Corsair AX860.

I tried hooking up a data HDD to my old PSU, but I couldn't hear anything. Likewise, I connected the optical drive to the old PSU; nothing.

Out of curiosity, how about a different board/case?

 

[chottomat]

The 'old' PC, is a Gigabyte 965GM-S2 / mATX case.

Thanks for all your replies thus far. I'm going to keep plugging away at things and will definitely update here once I find something, but I'm all-ears for suggestions.

Thanks.