Hard Drive on Fire!!

[hurubi]

I have had really bad problems with Maxtor. I will never ever buy from them agian!

 

[Indigopeacock]

Thanks to everyone for the valuable inputs. I am going to rma the drive and also get a new power supply, hopefully it will never happen again......

I have been trying to get the computer to boot without the hard drive, but it is simply not cooperating. All four diagnostic leds light up no matter what I do. I have changed jumper settings here and there, video card in different pci e slot, tried my old computer's psu, tried just one single stick ddr...... nothing made any difference.....

There are four power connections to the dfi nf4 sli-dr board. I am not sure if this means anything: I unplugged one connector at a time to see if at some point the board would react differently. Unfortunately no, it still reacted the exact same way. Although it is hardly a proof, I wonder if it is an electrical problem, by which I mean the power is not getting to some of the chips. I even took the cpu out and it still made no difference. I wanted to see if the cpu was getting any power at all. After I turned it on for a few seconds and powered off, the cpu was indeed slightly warm, so at least I know the cpu was getting some power.

From 486 to p4 I have had some decent experience building computers. There were always one or two minor glitches that worked out fairly quickly, but now I am almost out of ideas to try with existing parts I have here... no post since day one.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: Indigopeacock
Thanks to everyone for the valuable inputs. I am going to rma the drive and also get a new power supply, hopefully it will never happen again......

I have been trying to get the computer to boot without the hard drive, but it is simply not cooperating. All four diagnostic leds light up no matter what I do. I have changed jumper settings here and there, video card in different pci e slot, tried my old computer's psu, tried just one single stick ddr...... nothing made any difference.....

There are four power connections to the dfi nf4 sli-dr board. I am not sure if this means anything: I unplugged one connector at a time to see if at some point the board would react differently. Unfortunately no, it still reacted the exact same way. Although it is hardly a proof, I wonder if it is an electrical problem, by which I mean the power is not getting to some of the chips. I even took the cpu out and it still made no difference. I wanted to see if the cpu was getting any power at all. After I turned it on for a few seconds and powered off, the cpu was indeed slightly warm, so at least I know the cpu was getting some power.

Before you send it back, Make sure the PSU is truely at fault and if it is get the manufacturer to reimburse you for it, then RMA the HDD and get a new one.

 

[Indigopeacock]

I am not returning the power supply yet. At least not until the new one gets here.

 

[wisdomtooth]

I would try to reset the CMOS... There is usually a jumper that you can close to clear out the CMOS, and it might help.

 

[Indigopeacock]

I did that too

 

[wisdomtooth]

If you have a spare PSU handy, I would try it with a bare config-- vid card, CPU, mobo, RAM, nothing else. Those are the four minimal pieces required to POST I think.

If that still doesn't work, then the Maxtor HD also fried one or more of those components when it died.

Since you still have an older computer lying around, perhaps you can test out your RAM and PSU on the old system to rule out those pieces.

 

[Indigopeacock]

The system I am using to type this message is a p4 2.4 system, so I can't test most of the new parts. However I did try the old power supply on the new system and it did not get me anywhere either. The old power supply has only a 20 pin connector so maybe it is underpowered. On the other hand I'd imagine with a bare system it should still be able to boot it up. Right now the new system is about as lean as can be: just cpu, cpu fan, a stick of ddr, power supply, video card and keyboard.

Thanks again for your rapid response.

 

[cubby1223]

Originally posted by: Googer
10 Years ago Pentum 100's were Avalable in mass quantity and the 75mhz model was the most popular; A 486 DX4 100mhz (75, 66, 50mhz) was considerd a modest and accepable processor, many were sold and used in notebooks and desktops. At this time In 1995 I was still drooling over the thought of a 133mhz processor that Intel had not yet released. 120 mhz Pentiums were just coming out avalable but were the high end stuff of the day, Much like the FX is today. We broke the 200-233 Mhz mark in early to mid 1997. 300mhz did not come around untill early 1998. Oh what fond vivid memories I have of those days....

What ever happend to CYRIX and those other clone processors?

In 1995, the average system cost around 2,300 usd and a budget machine had a price tag of $1,400-1,500 usd. A power users system or desktop replacemet DELL notebook cost around $6,000.

Maybe it was a 200MHz cpu 8 years ago, I don't have a perfect memory. I just remember we would build & sell full machines around then for ~$1500ish, and back then a good reliable system we could sell with decent profit for far less $$ than a store bought budget crapper (Packard Bell, anyone?).

And Cyrix eventually became VIAs C3 processor, which are fully socket 370 compatible.

But this is off topic, so I'll end this side discussion here.

 

[wisdomtooth]

Hmm... Definitely try your RAM in your old P4 system to make sure they are OK.

You can also try the new PSU in your old P4 system to rule that out too (bare POST config only-- just mobo, CPU, vid card and RAM).

That would narrow it down to your vid card, CPU and mobo.

After seeing all these Maxtors dying in such spectacular fashion and wiping out the rest of the system with it, I'm never getting another Maxtor ever again.

 

[Indigopeacock]

I tried the new memory on the old system and the old micron memory on the new system. The new memory appeared to work flawlessly, booted into windows and everything. The old memory unfortunately did not help the new system at all.

I thought about trying the new seasonic s12 500w on the old system but I decided against it, am afraid of it frying the working p4 system....... would have to revive the ancient celeron 300 oc 450 deoc back to 300 system (the cpu fan fell off, so back to 300 mhz, lol)

 

[wisdomtooth]

Try the Seasonic on your old old Celeron if you don't want to risk your P4. Bare config-- Mobo, CPU, RAM, vid card.

I'm pretty sure the PSU isn't your problem, seeing as how other Maxtors have fried in the same fashion but with different brand PSUs.

 

[Indigopeacock]

I can't, my wife just said No!! She has not used it in a while, waiting for the new system so she can completely retire that ancient machine. But she has stuff in it she does not want me to accidentally retire it just yet.

 

[wisdomtooth]

Originally posted by: Indigopeacock
I can't, my wife just said No!! She has not used it in a while, waiting for the new system so she can completely retire that ancient machine. But she has stuff in it she does not want me to accidentally retire it just yet.

LOL, bare config, man. Leave the HD in that old machine disconnected so her stuff won't get touched.

Connect only the mobo, CPU, RAM and vid card. Do NOT connect anything else to it, and see if it will POST. If it POSTS, you got a working PSU.

No risk to your wife's data/programs, and you get to find out if you need to RMA a PSU or order a new one.

HTH.