Fried Components

[Stormcrow]

Me again, I know I'm opening alot of threads, but I'm in the process of repairing my computer and don't wanna mess up anything more then it already is. This is probably a dumb question, but I just got my returned mobo, and I can test to see if anything else is cooked. Besides just the hardware connected directly to the board, processor, memory, GPU, etc; can the hard drives and optical drives be effected by a failed PSU as well?

I have one other worry, and its that when I put my CPU/RAM into my new board, if it's fried does can it short out my motherboard, or does the system just not start up and give its warning beeps. RMA is a pain, so I wanna do this right the first time

[Yellowhello]

1) I think anything connected to the PSU when it fails can potentially be affected.

2) Putting a failed CPU into a good board won't destroy the board (I think). It just probably won't start up.

Not sure about this, don't want to give any false info here, just wanna help.

[gvblake22]

You're always welcome to start new discussions Stormcrow

yellowhellow is on the right track. Anything connected to the power supply has potential for some kind of power surge or the like. And trying to install dead/fried components into a good motherboard should not usually kill the motherboard. The only exception would be if the processor, RAM, GPU, etc was modified somehow (like a volt mod), then maybe the motherboard would suffer a casualty. If you know a component is bad (particularly the PSU) DO NOT try and hook it back up to another system. But if you are still testing to determine the failed part, see if you can test the parts individually before connecting the entire system. For instance, jump start the PSU without it connected to anything else and see if it works. Or jump-start a known good PSU with a possibly failed hard drive to see if it spins up or makes the "repetitious click of death". Get my drift?

[Stormcrow]

Yep, thats what I was going to do. My new PSU comes in tomorrow (hurray Fedex), and while I have a spare PSU, its a Bestec harvested from a fried eMachine..no way I trust that to even test the system. Nothing is noticeably cooked, no brown or black marks, no burnt pins or anything. I'm going to start with the processor, then add the memory one stick at a time, then the sound card, GPU, and so on until it all works or I get a error beep. Nothings been modded, I just wanted to play it safe. Thanks for all your help guys, something good has come out of this at least in the form of trial and error.

[Stormcrow]

Well crap. All the components work, the new motherboard and PSU fried up with no problem and my CPU and RAM are safe. After much rejoicing, I put in my new XP Pro disc, and start to reformat and install. Windows couldn't find a bootable device. Hrm. I check the BIOS, everything shows up except for the hard drive. I break out the mobos driver CD, and make a SATA/Raid floppy. Put back in the Pro disc, try to install again...F6, load the drivers, still can't find it. I shut down the system. Well, dang, I put the SATA power connector in upside, harhar. Fix it, try everything again. Still nothing. I swap SATA ports on the mobo, nope. I change cables, nada, run the Bios auto detect in one last vain hope, denied. So I guess this means my hard drive is fubared, huh?

[Quakindude]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

Well, dang, I put the SATA power connector in upside, harhar. Fix it, try everything again. Still nothing. I swap SATA ports on the mobo, nope. I change cables, nada, run the Bios auto detect in one last vain hope, denied. So I guess this means my hard drive is fubared, huh?

If you somehow managed to force the power connector on upside-down, then you've more than likely fried your HDD. Try a different power connector to your HDD. Maybe you simply broke the other one.

[gvblake22]

WOW, you must have really forced that power connector on the hard drive!
Little tip:

When working with computers, if a connection or plug doesn't seem to fit DON'T FORCE IT!

Computer hardware and connections are designed with "keys" so you cannot physically connect the device or plug the wrong way. So if it doesn't fit, you are probably doing it wrong so double check everything before powering on the system!

[Stormcrow]

Well, I retested the same connector. It went on easy enough, just was almost stuck tight pulling it out, so I thought it was upside down. I'm RMAing the drive back out to Western Digital and getting the replacement cross shipped, something the Egg doesnt do that will help me alot. Heh, guess it shows I was really racking my brains to have thought the connector was inverted.