system won't post with hard drive plugged in

[skarekrow]

I have a 40 gb seagate ide hard drive that came from a compaq. The
system was running fine and then it it would not turn on the next day. I
replaced the motherboard and powersupply and it still wouldn't boot. I
unplugged all the peripheals and it booted. Then I plugged in the cd rom
and floppy and it booted, when I plugged in the hard drive it will not
boot. It's like I'm not even pushing the power button. I tried other
hard drives and the system will boot. I tried that hard drive on other
motherboards and they do the same any ideas?

Aaron

 

[Ken]

I have a 40 gb seagate ide hard drive that came from a compaq. The
system was running fine and then it it would not turn on the next day. I
replaced the motherboard and powersupply and it still wouldn't boot. I
unplugged all the peripheals and it booted. Then I plugged in the cd rom
and floppy and it booted, when I plugged in the hard drive it will not
boot. It's like I'm not even pushing the power button. I tried other
hard drives and the system will boot. I tried that hard drive on other
motherboards and they do the same any ideas?

Aaron

If you fail to boot due to the HD being attached and it displays the
same symptoms on another computer, a good guess would be a grounded data
lead on the logic board for the HD. Although it is difficult to do, a
reversed data cable on an IDE HD will ground out data/address bits and
negate the booting of a computer in MOST cases. If you want to use the
HD that is failing, seek an identical logic board and you will probably
be able to access the data.

 

[DaveW]

It sounds like that bad harddrive's circuit board is fried.

 

[skarekrow]

It sounds like that bad harddrive's circuit board is fried.

Yeah I'm thinking so too. Now finding an "exact" replacement is as
easy as finding a copy of print master deluxe for red hat 7.

Aaron