Nehmo Sergheyev <nehmo54@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Rod Speed wrote

>> Looks like some hardware problem with the secondary
>> master drive, either the cable or the power connector.

> Power. When I switch power connectors and use one coming off the
> set going to the working CD drive, the hard drive works and I can boot
> Windows. The C drive and the 160 GB drive weren't getting power.

Yeah, not an uncommon problem, particularly
with that intermittent result you were getting.

> I realized the drive wasn't powering up when I held it in
> my hand and I didn't feel the gyro sensation and vibration.

> (I made a mistake when I was describing the problem. When
> I was navigating using the command prompt, something I'm not
> used to, I was actually navigating in the working 80 GB drive -
> not the C drive as I had thought. A lot of the file tree is the same.)

Yeah, its easy to get confused when one drive disappears
when quite a bit of the directory tree is similar.

> Anyway, the bad power lines go directly to the power supply
> - there's no possibly-faulty connector-pair in the path. There's
> just two terminal connectors on the lines and both don't work.

Thats unusual. The usual problem is that the metal tunnels
the pins go into in the power connector itself can open up
over time and not make good contact. Unusual to have
both open up at once, tho it can happen if for example
they were used on the same drive which has oversized pins.

> So something must broke (a connection?) in the power supply.

Unlikely, the wires to the power connectors are usually
soldered in a big clump just inside the power supply case.

Its certainly possible tho if each wire has its own connection
to the printed circuit board and that has a bad solder joint.

> I could add a jumper

Presumably you mean a power splitter.

> or ditch the power supply.

Yes, they dont cost that much.

> Actually, I haven't yet returned the previous C drive back to its
> former place. I still have the 15 GB drive (the spare one I had
> on a shelf) working as the boot/system drive. I'm now updating
> all the software on it so it'll be ready for the next emergency.

Yeah, certainly handy if the drive is lying around unused
anyway. As those smaller drives often are now.

> I haven't got the volt meter out yet either. But as long as I had
> things working, I thought I'd post before I did anything else.

> Thank you, everybody.

Thanks for the feedback.