The power supply on my computer will not power my hard drive. It powers everything else ok.?

Question

I have switched power cables, eliminated drives, etc. For example, I took the power connection that was supplying power to the CD-ROM drive and hooked it to the hard drive: nothing. The hard drive works fine. I put it into another computer and it fired up fine. I could access it ok. Why will my power supply not power the hard drive?

The problem has been solved. It was a bas motherboard, specifucally the AGP slot. With a video card in the slot, the hard drive would not get power. With no card in the slot, the drive gets power. It has to do with how the power runs through the board to complete the circuit.

Answer 1

Try putting in a bigger power supply. Also, make sure that you are plugging the power leads to the hard drive firmly. This is not easy to do. I had to take mine to a shop because I just didn't have enough strength in my hands to push the connector all the way in. Sigh.

Answer 2

Hi,

Try these steps:

(1) Try connecting only your hard drive. I mean remove all other hard drives and cr drives and dvd drives and floppy drives or any such device and try connecting the hard drive. When I say remove, I mean to remove both the power cable as well as the data cable.

(2) If Step 1, the drive does not work alone, then you may have to get the Power supply checked. If your hard drive is working fine on another PC and make sure you double/tripple check it.

(3) Also, I know this is scary, but check there is any damaged pins on the hard drive.

(4) Also, try switching data cable.


Caution: Always refer to your vendor's instructions before doing any hardware change. If you are not comfortable performing any of the above steps, I strongly suggest that you get the setup inspected by a hardware specialist. Use these steps at your own risk if your are trained on hardware.

Hope this helps!


Thanks,
Manish

Answer 3

If you have a volt meter (Digital) check the voltages at the connector to the hard drive. Place the RED positive lead in the Yellow wire socket and the BLACK negative lead in the black wire socket next to it. If the test probes stay in fine, turn on the PC's power and note the reading (DC Volts). It should be slightly over 12 Volts. Note: be sure to set you meter to a range above 20 Volts DC. If this reads 12.1 your 12 volt power is good. If it is 11.7 or lower I'd suspect bad power supply. Also check the 5 Volt power at the same connector (the Red and Black on the connector). Slightly above 5 Volts is good - less is suspicious. Try the same measurements with the Hard drive installed in an other PC. You see a difference, then you know where to problem is.

Note on Digital Volt/Ohm meters: Most all modern digital meters are "Autoranging". This means that if you connect the probes in reverse the meter will display a "-" negative symbol before the numeric value. This is not true for Analog Meters - polarity must be observed.

Answer 4

Personnally i think your hard drive would be broken, to try this smell around it and if you smell a burnt aroma it is likely it is fried but also try disconnecting all other drives and see if you can get it spinning. If this dosn't work replace your hard drive and if it does replace your Power supply with a more powerful one.

Answer 5

some where in your hard drive when you connect your power supply to it will not accept it you need to fine if it is complies with your system some do now

Answer 6

just check altering the cable if doesnt work u need to contact the manufacturer for service