shorting 1 device?? could it go further?

Hi all,

Last week I managed to damage a hard drive while removing the power plug, after doing what I was doing and re-inserted the power plug I proceeded to boot, when some dodgy sounds and smoke started appearing from the HD. I immediatley stopped the boot, and removed the drive from the system.

The drive was installed on a pci ide controller card on the prim channel along with a dvdrw slaved to it. 2nd channel was occupied by a 2nd hd with a sony cdrw slaved to it. The onboard ide was occupied on primary by a dvd drive only, nothing on the secondary.

OK so during my recent build of a new PC I wanted to use the the sony cdrw and dvdrw, but neither was recognised in the boot sequence of my new build, and the boot would hang there with "searching for IDE's devices". To continue with my build I placed an old cdrw drive on, so that I could continue along and install an OS onto a new hd that I'd bought to go onto the new system.

So, I hope thats enough background info!!!

My question is, when the hd that "shorted out" could it have damaged or destroyed the other devices. In particular I am talking about the sony cdrw, the dvdrw as they are not now being found on boot on new pc. The 2nd hdd in the machine that "shorted" seems to be running OK even though it was master to the sony on the same cable. Could the ide controller card be damaged as well?

Sorry for the long winded, hope you understand it all..


Cheers

phil

The short answer is yes, what happened could have well taken other devices with it. I might be particularly (or mostly) concerned about any devices that were on the same power line coming from the PS as the HD that fried. But any damage that might have been done would certainly not have to be limited just those devices on the same line.

The card could be damaged, but I would guess that it is probably less likely. My suspicion would be that any damage was probably limited to devices connected to the power feeds from the PS.

Thanks again DrMDJ...

was really hoping not to hear that.. ah well live and learn eh!

Only money at the end of the day... :rolleyes:

Cheers

Phil

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Originally posted by techallenged

Only money at the end of the day... :rolleyes:

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And you can't take it with you.

Well you can but it won't do you any good.

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Originally posted by Nix
And you can't take it with you.

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especially so as it's not mine.. good old Visa :D

Phil

Yes seems ironic that the only time they send me letters offering to increase my limit is when I'm getting cloe to maxing it out.

I mean if i can't afford to pay off what I already owe, how will I be bale to pay off a larger amount.

That's probably the idea though more interest to be charged.

sounds like a pretty frustrating problem but if anything is more complex than a woman it is definetly the laws of electricity and the way it can wreak havoc on a mans pc..post back id like to hear the fix on this one...

Hi Mad,

not sure if there is a fix.... it looks as tho I took out the sony cdrw and the 4 week old (sob) dvdrw along with the 80g wd..

if anything good comes out of it, it will be a lesson learned with regard to stubborn 4 pin connectors and how to deal with them!!!

cheers

Phil

thats is till pretty bad though to lose that much on the rig is a major hit, a good idea next time would be to make sure all cables are reconnected and nice and tight after monkeying aroung inside the box, just a tip from my recent comptia a+ hardware class...

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Originally posted by maddhatter
a good idea next time would be to make sure all cables are reconnected and nice and tight after monkeying aroung inside the box, just a tip from my recent comptia a+ hardware class...

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Hi Mad,

Thing is that the 4 pin plug in the back of the HDD was too tight. It was because i was struggling to get the plug out that something gave...., but the problem only showed itself when it was plugged back in and powered up.

Just as a thought, can anyone explain to me why the sockets on HDDs seem tighter than on cd/dvdrom devices?

Phil