Modded case problem?

[Luis ORTEGA]

Can a modded case with lights cause a power glitch to a hard drive that
winds up ruining the drive? Has anyone else suffered this problem?
I got a case with clear sides with lighted columns on the front and several
fans with little lights on them inside about 5 months ago. I noticed that
sometimes the little lights on the fans flickered or didn't work.
I have a C drive and a CD drive on the primary controller and 2 extra drives
for video on the secondary controller.
About a month after I started using the new case with lights, I started
hearing a screeching sound at startup sometimes and the computer couldn't
find one or both of the drives on the secondary controller. At first it was
intermittent, but the computer started reporting at bootup that the drive
had a bad status based on something called S.M.A.R.T. monitoring. Eventually
it wouldn't recognize the drive at all.
I replaced it with a SATA drive and put that on one of the SATA controllers
on the mobo. I also replaced the power supply and took out some of the lit
fans and disabled the column lights on the case.
The problem went away and the remaining drive on the secondary controller
kept working OK.
Now the same thing is happening again. I noticed that the fan with lights
was acting up and the lights were sometimes not working or flickering, and
the drive on the secondary controller has screeched a few times at startup
and a couple of times the S.M.A.R.T. monitoring has reported a bad status on
the drive and advised a backup and replacement. The drive still works.
I find it unusual that I should suddenly have these problem on two drives
after getting one of these lighted cases.
Is it possible for a case with poor implementation of these lighted columns
and fans to cause some sort of power glitch at startup that could harm a
hard drive?
Or are the two events coincidental and the drives are the ones which have
gone bad on their own?
Could the secondary controller on the mobo be at fault?
So far the problem has only involved a couple of 40 gig maxtor drives that
were on the secondary controller and none of the other drives.
Has anyone had a similar problem?
Thanks a lot for any advice.
I have win xp as the operating system.

 

[Jerry]

My first guess would be your power supply is not large enough to drive all
your stuff. What"s the rating of the one you have?

 

[Luis ORTEGA]

It's a 650 watt quiet power supply. I did change power supplies the first
time it happened.

 

[SteveH]

It's a 650 watt quiet power supply. I did change power supplies the first
time it happened.

What make? QTec by any chance?

SteveH

 

[Victor Smith]

Can a modded case with lights cause a power glitch to a hard drive that
winds up ruining the drive? Has anyone else suffered this problem?
I got a case with clear sides with lighted columns on the front and several
fans with little lights on them inside about 5 months ago. I noticed that
sometimes the little lights on the fans flickered or didn't work.
I have a C drive and a CD drive on the primary controller and 2 extra drives
for video on the secondary controller.
About a month after I started using the new case with lights, I started
hearing a screeching sound at startup sometimes and the computer couldn't
find one or both of the drives on the secondary controller. At first it was
intermittent, but the computer started reporting at bootup that the drive
had a bad status based on something called S.M.A.R.T. monitoring. Eventually
it wouldn't recognize the drive at all.
I replaced it with a SATA drive and put that on one of the SATA controllers
on the mobo. I also replaced the power supply and took out some of the lit
fans and disabled the column lights on the case.
The problem went away and the remaining drive on the secondary controller
kept working OK.
Now the same thing is happening again. I noticed that the fan with lights
was acting up and the lights were sometimes not working or flickering, and
the drive on the secondary controller has screeched a few times at startup
and a couple of times the S.M.A.R.T. monitoring has reported a bad status on
the drive and advised a backup and replacement. The drive still works.
I find it unusual that I should suddenly have these problem on two drives
after getting one of these lighted cases.
Is it possible for a case with poor implementation of these lighted columns
and fans to cause some sort of power glitch at startup that could harm a
hard drive?
Or are the two events coincidental and the drives are the ones which have
gone bad on their own?
Could the secondary controller on the mobo be at fault?
So far the problem has only involved a couple of 40 gig maxtor drives that
were on the secondary controller and none of the other drives.
Has anyone had a similar problem?
Thanks a lot for any advice.
I have win xp as the operating system.

My kid did it with his car. Different lights all over the place
Had to put in a high output alternator.
You might consider that. And a good amp.
Seriously, the HD problems may be coincidental.
To troubleshoot, you might plug in the lighting to a second power
supply, and the HD into a PCI controller.

--Vic

 

[kony]

Can a modded case with lights cause a power glitch to a hard drive that
winds up ruining the drive? Has anyone else suffered this problem?

Typically no. If there was something faulty about the
wiring then who-knows-what was actually doing on, but a
properly implemented bunch of LEDs will not harm the drives.
Since you've not given any details of the specific parts or
their electrical configuration we can't be very specific...
and still might not be able to if you had a defect or frayed
wire shorting out.

I got a case with clear sides with lighted columns on the front and several
fans with little lights on them inside about 5 months ago. I noticed that
sometimes the little lights on the fans flickered or didn't work.

That could mean anything, simply that the electrical
connection wasn't good. Could also/instead mean the power
supply had major problems.

I have a C drive and a CD drive on the primary controller and 2 extra drives
for video on the secondary controller.
About a month after I started using the new case with lights, I started
hearing a screeching sound at startup sometimes and the computer couldn't
find one or both of the drives on the secondary controller. At first it was
intermittent, but the computer started reporting at bootup that the drive
had a bad status based on something called S.M.A.R.T. monitoring. Eventually
it wouldn't recognize the drive at all.

Were the drives getting hot?

I replaced it with a SATA drive and put that on one of the SATA controllers
on the mobo. I also replaced the power supply and took out some of the lit
fans and disabled the column lights on the case.
The problem went away and the remaining drive on the secondary controller
kept working OK.
Now the same thing is happening again. I noticed that the fan with lights
was acting up and the lights were sometimes not working or flickering, and
the drive on the secondary controller has screeched a few times at startup
and a couple of times the S.M.A.R.T. monitoring has reported a bad status on
the drive and advised a backup and replacement. The drive still works.
I find it unusual that I should suddenly have these problem on two drives
after getting one of these lighted cases.
Is it possible for a case with poor implementation of these lighted columns
and fans to cause some sort of power glitch at startup that could harm a
hard drive?

"lights" in themselves wouldn't but the prior comment about
power or connections might still apply. In other post you
mentioned "650W" PSU but is it a decent PSU or just one of
those junky ones that they polished up and pasted a
high-wattage label on? A good 650W PSU would typically cost
in the neighboorhood of $200 + They could cost less once
higher volumes, buyers make it more of a commodity item but
that is still a rare wattage for actual user needs.

Or are the two events coincidental and the drives are the ones which have
gone bad on their own?
Could the secondary controller on the mobo be at fault?
So far the problem has only involved a couple of 40 gig maxtor drives that
were on the secondary controller and none of the other drives.

I had a couple of 40GB Maxtors fail, might've been Plus 60
series (one of the first Maxtor generations with 7K2 RPM).
If it were those then perhaps it was just bad drives.

 

[Plato]

Can a modded case with lights cause a power glitch to a hard drive that
winds up ruining the drive? Has anyone else suffered this problem?

Yes.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Sounds more like a bad power supply to me. The flickering tells me your
voltage output is probably not steady and regulated properly. Either it's
underpowered (perhaps less than 350W) or simply a bad unit (my guess). This
is probably the cause of the drives' early demise, the lights draw very
little power and are unlikely to be an issue.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Luis ORTEGA]

It's a 650 watt quiet power supply. I did change power supplies the first
time it happened. That one was a 550 watt power supply.

 

[Matt]

Could the PC not be getting enough power from the outlet? I read somewhere
about a person who found out that the power supply to his computer was
inadequate when he plugged in an uninterruptible power supply for his PC and
the alarm kept going off because of poor household current.

 

[dg]

This reminds me of the old days when we started seeing car stereo amps in
magazines listed as "1500 WATT AMP, $79.00". While you looked at a
reputable dealers prices and you couldn't even get a 60 watt amp for that
cheap. I mean, 650watt power supply? Thats just ridiculous.

--Dan

 

[Luis ORTEGA]

Given the crap condition of this house, I wouldn't be surprised. We have
lights that periodically blow and trip the circuit breakers, and once in a
while all of the lights in the house dim for a second.
I can't say that I can connect these events to the times that the drives
have made ascreeching sound on startup, though.
I may look into an uninterruptable power supply to help buffer against these
conditions.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Luis,

I may look into an uninterruptable power supply to help buffer against
these conditions.

That is probably the best idea, as it will help smooth out the supply. If
the house voltage is screwy, the voltage being passed to the system will be
as well.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Plato]

Could the PC not be getting enough power from the outlet? I read somewhere

I had that once when installing a new pc in a customers really old
house.

 

[Al Smith]

It's a 650 watt quiet power supply. I did change power supplies the first

time it happened. That one was a 550 watt power supply.

Well, clearly you need 750 watts.
(Yes, I am joking.)

 

[BBUNNY]

It's a 650 watt quiet power supply. I did change power supplies the first
time it happened. That one was a 550 watt power supply.

You are not by any chance using those pass through molex connectors
to go into the HDD. Those pass throught for fans and lights are usually
only two wire instead of the usual four.