Finicky HDD

[Snommis69]

Got a P166 here with a 3.2GB HDD. Everything was OK for something like 2 years, now suddenly it refuses to recognize the drive. Any other HDD installed works OK, and the drive in question works OK in several other machines. Tried Auto Detect and CHS. Any ideas?

[shamus]

can you clear the cmos settings via jumpers on your mobo? If you can,try clearing your your cmos and try the auto detect again.
just a thought..

[AlienDyne]

Short the CMOS battery and check the IDE and power cables too.

[Snommis69]

After a bit more investigation, cables OK and clearing the CMOS did not do the trick. It appears that the drive will not so much as spin up in this machine, but works fine in all others. This is killing me! Tried several other drives, they work OK. WTF?!?

[Stalemate]

Damaged power supply cable?

[Rkring1]

Wow ! Strange one , is it possibly a grounding problem , try attaching the cables and leave the drive out of (not touching) the case.

[CyberTech]

I see a similar kind of problem quite regularly with many PC Chips boards. It seems to be a bad IDE controller, because if I put the HDD on the secondary channel it works every time.

But you say that other HDDs work ok in this system?? Then I'd say it's most likely a power supply problem. Some HDDs draw more current than others. It could be that the 3GB drive draws a little more current than the other drives you've tried. Therefore, the power supply can power the others ok.

Try another PSU.

[Snommis69]

Well, I guess I got it figured out. The drive is dying, and only works intermittently. I think those of you who said power was the problem were correct, b/c it will only spin up with a p/s 300w or better. (Go figure) And even then, it only works "when it feels like it". Thanks for all your help!!!

[Pogi]

Suggest you also replace the PS while you're at it. "It's killed before and it's gonna kill again." <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">

BTW, that song from the Mitsubishi commericial we were looking for is called "Ooh La La" by the Faces. It's on the "Rushmore" soundtrack, I think.

[Snommis69]

Originally posted by Pogivan:
<STRONG>BTW, that song from the Mitsubishi commericial we were looking for is called "Ooh La La" by the Faces. It's on the "Rushmore" soundtrack, I think.</STRONG>

Good work! Where in the world did ya find that tidbit?

[Pogi]

Actually, someone mentioned the song's name as possibly being "Ooh La La" in the original thread and I took it from there.