[Ham-Computers] BIG Question

[fkamp at comcast.net]

Gene WØQFC wrote:
> 
> I just run into something that has me puzzled.
> I have a computer that was dead - would not boot - and found that the PS was
> shot.
> Replace the PS and still no boot.
> Replaced the CPU and still no boot.
> Replace the MOBO (with new CPU) and still no boot.
> Replace the HDD and it now boots.
> (I worked backwards and used the original MOBO & CPU, but they were BOTH
> shot).
> DUH!!!!!!
> Anyway, after I installed WIN XP on a replacement HDD and got the machine
> going again, I hooked up the original HDD as a slave and guess what? It
> would not boot!
> It would go through the POST and then keep re-booting itself. Take out the
> Original HDD and viola! - it works.
> Sooooooo, the big question is: could a virus cause the problem with the
> machine not booting?
> (I think that the PS going west was something would have happened anyway,
> but not sure if it had anything to do with sending the MOBO & CPU out West).
> I would not worry about it but there is stuff on the original HDD that needs
> to be recovered....
> Any ideas out there????

Trouble shooting by email is difficult but your
experience is not unlike one I had recently.  I
use a removable tray system for my hard drives. 
No, I dont indiscriminantly swap hard drives
between computers, but I do find easy removal of
the hard drive to be an advantage.

I have plenty of tray housings but I am limited to
only one tray per housing.  So I end up removing
(unplugging) the hard drive from the carrier when
I want to use a differenent hard drive.

I have been doing this for years. Evidently the
wear and tear on the connectors caught up with me
recently.  The 12vdc wire on the power connector
in the tray had frayed to the point where it was
shorting out to ground.  That killed the computer
but it did not fry it.

What happened was that the power supply overload
protection kicked in and shut things down.  After
removing the short and pulling the plug on the
power supply, it evidently reset the protection
circuit and it worked fine.  No damage to anything
once the short was removed.

Your problems may be similar.  I would not be too
anxious to trash anything just yet.  Check the
suspect hard drive for shorts to ground at the
12volt and 5volt power pins.  Repair if possible. 
It could be that the hard drive is fried but I
would certainly give it a look-see to make sure.

Then go back and check the old motherboard, cpu,
with a good power supply and hard disk to make
sure it was not just a problem with a power supply
kicking off-line.

Regards,
Frank Kamp
K5DKZ