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power supply for HD

1K views 13 replies 2 participants last post by  Tony 
#1 ·
My good fortune didn't last long..one day in fact. I found out from Maxtor tech that my power supply is not powerful enough to run both drives. Also after a week of calling tech for help, someone had the brains to ask me if i had a another power plug for the other drive. No I didn't even know about that, nor about the limitation of my power supply. How is a novice suppose to know all these things. I 've done some reseaarch before i bought the hd, and no where was it mentioned about a stronger power supply and an another power plug. The result from the tech said that the hd is probably defective now and they wouldn't accept it as a return. Because it wasn't send defective, but my connection did it. Their manual never even mentioned anything about the PS or extra plug.
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
HD power supply

Hi Speedo,
U got a week or so...just kidding. I had 10 gig HD in my computer. I bought a Maxtor 80gig with a controller card. No one mentioned to me anything about my power supply. All I was told that it would work with the controller card, because of the limitation of my Bios, whch cannot be upgraded anymore. Well it worked just fine for one day with my older 5400 hd as a slave. But since then my new hd has been corrupted enough for me not being able to get into windows long enough without screens freezing up on me. Senior Max tech mentioned how much power was my PS, and the best that I could make out is 135 watts. Is this possible? Its a sony slimline desktop. why would it work one day with both hd's connected? If the PS is insuffiecient, it wouldn't of made my connection work for one day. What amount should I look for if I replace the PS? Would my MB sustain the increase of the PS? That was yesterday. This morning I tried again with just the old HD and it worked fine. for a little while. So, I thought if I can now connect the other HD, I'll be able to install my software of my burner, so I could copy very vital files to what was the working drive. But I never got that far, because the new hd acted up again. and now it snowballed into my Bios got disabled. Don't know how that happened, and don't know how to enable it again. I guess as long as the bios is disabled..its fruitlesss to continue. What angers me, is for a week on the phone with various Maxtor techs, not one mentioned to me, that it might be my powersupply isn't powerful enough to run both. In the meantime, because the lack of knowledge that I had and those techs, I've might of 'fried' my 80 gig HD because of it. The senior tech said, as long as the hd was not sold to u defectively, they cannot accept it as a return. .which means now that i wouod be out of 140 dollars and a computer. My guess is after being shut down overnight, as the system heats up, I start to have problems. Thats why it must of worked with at least one of them, until then. I'm writing this on my slow laptop.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
power supply

SPEEDO said:
Did you use an 80 wire IDE cable with the blue end connected to the motherboard?

Could you list some of your hardware?
Yes, I did to my controller card...not to the mb, my bios wouldn't allow me to run the 80 and get that full amount without a controller card. I have Sony L600, win98. The usual cd rom, floppy. I've disconnected my printer, scanner and burner.
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
Re: PS recomendations

Pseudocyber said:
For the PS - depending on the number of devices in your case ... but I would think a 400w PS should be fine.

You'll need to take some care to find one that is compatible. If you have a newer PC, it should be ATX - but if you're a newbie/novice, you might ask someone just to make sure. The connectors are different to the MoBo on older PC's (motherboard). Also, the holes through the case on the back and the screw locations might not be standardized if it's not an ATX (standard now) case.

You can get a lot of PS'online and they should be fine if you go with a reputable dealer and get a NEW one.

If in doubt, take it to your local PC shop and tell them you want to upgrade your PS.

Hope this helps!
>>>>>>




Someone told me that 350w would be an overkill. What will it do to my mb? Is ther a limit to what power a mb can take? Its 4 years old, the sony computer slimline.
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
power supply

SPEEDO said:
Pseudocyber

No sense in sending the guy out to buy a power supply til we figure out how old this system is. If it has a 135 in it that should be a clue in itself........................:D

Is this a Vaio
>>>>

YES, its a Vaio slimline L600 and I bought it 4 years ago. At tgus stage I don't know if my mb or ps is shot. What good is a PS if the mb is gone, so to speak? Is there a sign that could tell me?
Anyone know?
 
Discussion starter · #12 ·
To Speedo

This morning I tried my old drive on the primary port of my new controller card, and although windows is 'unstable', I'm managing to write this on line with this sony computer. So that would be an indication that my PS is not defective, correct me if I'm wrong. I am able to install some software ( my cd rw ) in hope that somehow I would be able to copy those vital files that are on the new HD. Now the task at hand is to see if I could get them 'networked' .If I could do this, then I would be able to format the 80 drive clean...I hope. In the meantime, I'm torn about the new HD. After all that is what I want as my primary drive...the other would only be temp. until I get those files back. I had 3 new objects when i bought this mess. The controller card ultra 100,133, a Y shape ps splitter, and the 80g HD. I'm trying to tweak out the culprit. Its my guess, that the controller is working, and so is the splitter, when i use it for the 2 HD's. In fact I'm useing it now on my old drive. I suspect my ribbon cable on my MB is 'shot'. That is where I had the original hd attached to. So this is just a guess, maybe i did something to the MB. This other fella in this group recommends a 400 ps...but fails to tell me if it would affect my mb any furthur. Isn't there such a limit? BTW, thanks for being there.:)
 
Discussion starter · #14 ·
SPEEDO said:
A 400 wouldn't hurt anything but it may be a little overkill for your system.

If you can get all of your software backed up just use the 80gig as master drive and wipe it clean then put your OS on there till you get all your problems sorted out.
That is the core of my problem..copying my vital files. My ECD Creator software is for windows only, and the way the new hd has been acting up, I can't get it to show in windows. Would u know how I can do this in Dos? It took me an hour today to just sign on..because the modem driver 'disappeared'. I had to reinstall again..thats what i mean about being unstable. If I could only use my burner in Dos, that is the only place I am able to see my files that I want back.
 
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