Hard Drive killing PSU

[TechguyUK]

Went to a customer the other day and the machine was totally dead. No fans, No LED's, No beeps. Checked the PSU with a tester and nothing at all so I diagnosed a dead PSU and began the process of replacing it.

Installed the new PSU and powered up, the CPU fan did 1 spin and then stopped. So I disconnect all but the ATX and P4 connectors and the machine then appears to power up ok. I re-installed the drives one by one and found that as soon as the HD is installed, the PSU shuts down a split second after power on.

So with the new PSU, old PSU and hard drive on the bench I plug in the PSU tester again and its clear the old PSU bad. The new PSU checks out fine as long as I dont plug a molex into the hard drive - if I do the new PSU won't power up. So it appears that the HD as failed and taken the PSU out as well.

The customer has said that the machine has been getting gradually worse in terms of powering down on its own and numerous other errors.

Anyone else seen an electrical fault on a drive kill a PSU ?

Is there any chance to recover the data from the HD without going to a professional data recovery company ?

 

[NYJimbo]

Brand and wattage for old and new PSU's ?

 

[TechguyUK]

Old PSU = 500W Bestec
New PSU = 500W Casecom

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Anyone else seen an electrical fault on a drive kill a PSU ?

Is there any chance to recover the data from the HD without going to a professional data recovery company ?

I've seen a bad drive shut a machine down on numerous occasions and a bad PSU take out a drive on numerous occasions but not what you are describing unless there is a short somewhere. Did you try a different drive plugged into the molex connector and power up? Other than that I'd check for something shorting on the case that may be killing things. You should be able to at least remove all the screws and connect everything to where nothing is touching the case and see what happens when powering it on.

As far as the data goes ther shouldn't be any problem slaving the drive and getting an image.

 

[Puff]

Take a look at the PCB, you might have to remove it from the drive and see if there are any damaged or burned circuits. If you have a PATA/SATA to USB adapter with an external PS you might try that and see if the drive spins up.

 

[usacvlr]

I just had a system in with a loud cdrom where the spindle was apparently binding up. Whenever it did this it drew too much current and the power supply would shut off instantly to protect itself.

Went to a customer the other day and the machine was totally dead. No fans, No LED's, No beeps. Checked the PSU with a tester and nothing at all so I diagnosed a dead PSU and began the process of replacing it.

Installed the new PSU and powered up, the CPU fan did 1 spin and then stopped. So I disconnect all but the ATX and P4 connectors and the machine then appears to power up ok. I re-installed the drives one by one and found that as soon as the HD is installed, the PSU shuts down a split second after power on.

So with the new PSU, old PSU and hard drive on the bench I plug in the PSU tester again and its clear the old PSU bad. The new PSU checks out fine as long as I dont plug a molex into the hard drive - if I do the new PSU won't power up. So it appears that the HD as failed and taken the PSU out as well.

The customer has said that the machine has been getting gradually worse in terms of powering down on its own and numerous other errors.

Anyone else seen an electrical fault on a drive kill a PSU ?

Is there any chance to recover the data from the HD without going to a professional data recovery company ?

 

[TechguyUK]

ok, I removed the old PSU from the PC and onto a bench with a PSU tester hooked to its 20pin ATX and P4 connectors. It would not power up/nothing on the PSU tester so the original PSU is dead for sure.

With a brand new PSU also on the bench and again with the PSU tester hooked to its 20pin ATX and P4 connectors the new PSU powered up ok and all voltages looked fine as I would expect.

I then connected the customers hard drive to one of the molex connectors on the new PSU and switched it on - nothing on the PSU tester at all, removed the HD and the PSU then powers up fine.

HD must be a gonner and a short or over current condition (spindle lock??) is pulling the PSU down. I'm pretty sure that it must have killed the original PSU which maybe couldn't protect itself like the new PSU is currently doing.

 

[atlanticjim]

Thanks for posting this, although it appears to be a rare occurance, it is a good thing to keep in the back of our minds.

 

[Puff]

Hard Disk Drive Power Consumption Measurements: X-bit’s Methodology Indepth

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/hdd-power-cons.html

 

[NYJimbo]

Thanks for posting this, although it appears to be a rare occurance, it is a good thing to keep in the back of our minds.

.......

 

[Larry Sabo]

Rather than the HDD killing the PSU, I suggest that the PSU failed and killed the HDD. All PSUs incorporate overload protection and constrain their output if overloaded (e.g., by a short on the output bus). Use a DVM and measure the resistance between each power line and ground on the HDD Molex connector. If one of them is shorted, replace the PCB. If neither is shorted, I'd bet on a bound spindle.