Member Avatar for GaryJay53

I know that sounds wacky, but here is the deal. I have a new build with a 30GB 10K RPM SATA drive I'm using for OS and apps. I want to install a new 500 GB SATA drive for storage, but every time I connect it, the PSU shuts me down. The PC won't POST, and all that happens is that the fans intermittently spin and stop, spin and stop. The PSU is plenty big enough (500 watts). I've tried using different connectors from the PSU with no success. After trying this, the PSU stays dead for a few minutes; and will start back up only if I disconnect the new drive.

I suppose this could be a mysterious system board issue, but the fact that the PSU recycles each time causes me to think the problem lies there.

Here's the system info:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 with Zalman fan
Gigabyte GA-EP35C-DS3R
2 x 1 GB Kingston 1066 MHZ DDR2
30 GB WD Raptor SATA (Primary)
500 GB SATA/300 Matrox (16 MB cache)
OCZ 500SXS Stealth 500 watt PSU

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by jbennet
Member Avatar for 4th&3wood

What kind of errors are you getting in the Event Viewer at the times that this happens?

Start> right click on My Computer> Manage> Event Viewer. Be sure that you choose System.

The error will appear in the far left column and will appear as a red dot with a white X inside. Each of the columns has a title at the top of them, the column that you want is the Event column. When you see an error follow it to the right across the page to the event column, there will be a set of numbers in there, this is the error code. If you right click on the error code a drop menu will appear, click on Properties, another page will open which will contain a description of the error.

Please post the error codes and definitions back here.

Member Avatar for GaryJay53

Believe it or not, no errors show up in the Event Viewer. It shows the service initiations from each time that I disconnected the new HD and started up the system again, but there are no system errors logged at the time when I attempted to power up with the new HD connected. Its possible the startup sequence didn't get far enough along to begin an event log (as noted, the system did not even POST when I tried to start up with the new HD connected).

Member Avatar for 4th&3wood

Have you tried another PSU, or the drive in another machine?

Member Avatar for GaryJay53

Can't explain it. I simply moved the new HD to a different bay in the case, and the PC booted up fine. I formatted the new HD and it seems to be OK. Only thing I can imagine is that it was somehow contacting the existing HD in the first bay and shorting. No other explanation I can come up with. Thanks for your response.

Member Avatar for 4th&3wood

If it happens again check you cable. Glad to hear you got it working.

Member Avatar for GaryJay53

If it happens again check you cable. Glad to hear you got it working.

Thanks. Could be that the way the HD sat in the first bay, it was putting too much stress on a connection.

Member Avatar for jbennet

I've tried using different connectors from the PSU with no succes

something to note. If your SATA drive accepts both the IDE and SATA type power conectors, NEVER attatch both at once

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