Need help Troubleshooting TIA

[TomF]

Dell Optiplex GX!
PII 400 mhz
128 meg ram DIMM
3.2 gb maxtor hard Drive
Artec WRR-52Z CDRW
152 watt Dell AT power supply

Problem:
On start up, (Boot), the hard drive acts like it has no power.The CDRW is ok
at this point. Once the hard drive starts it will run until the system is
shut down again. During the times when the HD will not start, (spin up), if
I disconnect the power plug from thedrive and reconnect it, the hard drive
will start. Yes I know, NOT a smart thing to do.
I have run various diagnostics on the hard drive. All come back ok.
I have clipped the original plug off of the power supply and installed
another one thinking the plug was bad. Also I have replaced the IDE cables.
I have put the Hard Drive into another machine as a Slave and it started
right up.

Plug wires, Red, Black, Black, and Yellow.
When the unit is acting up I have:
+ 11.79 volts DC between Yellow and Black
+ 4.79 volts DC between Red and Black
Maybe a bad bearing or dead spot in the HD motor?
The HD makes no noises.


The power supply looks to be proprietary in physical shape and size.

So opinions please, Bad Hard Drive, Bad Power Supply, or a Mother Board
going bad?

 

[kony]

Dell Optiplex GX!
PII 400 mhz
128 meg ram DIMM
3.2 gb maxtor hard Drive
Artec WRR-52Z CDRW
152 watt Dell AT power supply

Problem:
On start up, (Boot), the hard drive acts like it has no power.The CDRW is ok
at this point. Once the hard drive starts it will run until the system is
shut down again. During the times when the HD will not start, (spin up), if
I disconnect the power plug from thedrive and reconnect it, the hard drive
will start. Yes I know, NOT a smart thing to do.

Will it start if you VERY gently wiggle the connector while it's plugged
in?

I have run various diagnostics on the hard drive. All come back ok.
I have clipped the original plug off of the power supply and installed
another one thinking the plug was bad. Also I have replaced the IDE cables.
I have put the Hard Drive into another machine as a Slave and it started
right up.

Plug wires, Red, Black, Black, and Yellow.
When the unit is acting up I have:
+ 11.79 volts DC between Yellow and Black
+ 4.79 volts DC between Red and Black
Maybe a bad bearing or dead spot in the HD motor?
The HD makes no noises.


The power supply looks to be proprietary in physical shape and size.

So opinions please, Bad Hard Drive, Bad Power Supply, or a Mother Board
going bad?

It's not the motherboard, probably not the power supply IF that 11.79
reading is while the connector is plugged into the drive, not
disconnected.

If it were my system I would go ahead and replace the hard drive... Even
if it isn't the problem at this point it's age makes it a liability, plus
a new drive will be much, much faster.

 

[Trent©]

Dell Optiplex GX!
PII 400 mhz
128 meg ram DIMM
3.2 gb maxtor hard Drive
Artec WRR-52Z CDRW
152 watt Dell AT power supply

Problem:
On start up, (Boot), the hard drive acts like it has no power.

Does that mean it doesn't boot up?

The CDRW is ok
at this point.

On what controller?

Once the hard drive starts it will run until the system is
shut down again. During the times when the HD will not start, (spin up), if
I disconnect the power plug from thedrive and reconnect it, the hard drive
will start. Yes I know, NOT a smart thing to do.

Try a different power connector on that drive.

I have run various diagnostics on the hard drive. All come back ok.
I have clipped the original plug off of the power supply and installed
another one thinking the plug was bad. Also I have replaced the IDE cables.
I have put the Hard Drive into another machine as a Slave and it started
right up.

Plug wires, Red, Black, Black, and Yellow.
When the unit is acting up I have:
+ 11.79 volts DC between Yellow and Black
+ 4.79 volts DC between Red and Black
Maybe a bad bearing or dead spot in the HD motor?
The HD makes no noises.

Try takin' the drive out of the bay...and laying it along side the
machine. When it won't boot, try wiggling the power lead to the
drive. You should also be able to tell at this point whether or not
the drive is spinning...whether or not it has power.

The power supply looks to be proprietary in physical shape and size.

So opinions please, Bad Hard Drive, Bad Power Supply, or a Mother Board
going bad?

If the drive isn't spinning, its not a mainboard problem. I'd suspect
a bad power lead to the drive...since you said you can get it running
by unplugging it and plugging it back in. But this could also be
indicative of a bad drive.

You may be jogging the drive when you unplug and plug. If you just
wiggle the wire, you may get more accurate results.

Good luck.


Have a nice week...

Trent

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!