Very complicated hard drive problem - I wonder if anyone can solve this?

[Combat_Killer]

Hello to one all,

 

I have a very complicated issue here with a old hard drive and i have never come across an issue like this before out of all the years of being a pc technition, so being here is kind of my last hope and really hoping that someone can help me or point me in the right direction.

 

What happened. (The Story)

 

The customer said that lightening hit the home and it fried the surge protector that the PC was plugged into. They then they had the PC looked at by another technition (not me) and apparently all they did was change the hard drive and everything else was ok.

They then later found out that they had files on their old hard drive that they wanted to get off, so they gave it to me.

So now im trying to get files off this complicated hard drive.

 

The Hard drive specs.

 

Seagate - Barracuda 7200.10 - 80gb

S/N: 6QZ3HTX2

ST380815AS

P/N: 9CY131-305

FIRMWARE: 3.AAD

DATA CODE: 08103

SITE CODE: SU

 

My troubleshooting steps (now it gets really weird)

 

1st attempt.

My PC was in sleep mode, i hit the space bar to wake it up, then inserted the HD into the HD dock. As soon as it plugged in my PC's power went out, but the power light remained ON, but dead PC.

So i had to hold the power button on and it turned off the power light.

 

2nd attempt.

I then unplugged the HD, turned on PC and it booted into windows. Once my PC fully loaded into windows i plugged in the HD again. Bang same thing as before PC turned off, accept the power light stayed on. So i again held the power button in again to turn off PC, then once the PC was fully turned off i unplugged the HD.

 

3rd attempt.

After the last attempt i decided to do a power cycle with my PC, i turned it on all loaded as normal, then i shutdown windows.
Once my pc was completely off, i plugged in the HD again, but this time i thought loading the HD before turning the PC would be different, but it wasnt. The PC just wouldnt do anything, it was as if i had no PSU plugged in at all. 

So i then unplugged the HD from the HD dock, turned on my PC and it loaded into windows perfectly.

 

4th attempt.

Being fearful from screwing up my main PC as this behaviour from an HD was un-normal to me, so i decided to pull out an old PC that i had laying around and use that to get into the HD.

Once i got everything hooked up, i turned on the PC first without the HD, the PC turned on and i got into BIOS, so i turned it off and plugged in the HD and turned on the PC again.

As before nothing, no power. So i turned of PC and unplugged its power, then unplugged the HD. Turned on PC again, but still nothing no power. Then i said to myself, "Hmm this is weird"

 

5th attempt.

I found another PSU and hooked that up into the PC.

Same result as in the 4th attempt. Booted fine into BIOS without HD in, then put HD in nothing, unplugged HD, still nothing no power.

 

6th attempt.

Got a 3rd PSU and hooked it up to the PC.

Same results as the 4th & 5th attempt. And again booted fine into BIOS without HD in, then put HD in nothing, unplugged HD, still nothing no power.

 

My outcome

 

So now im thinking wtf is going here, i cant of blown 3 PSU's by just simply plugging a HD.

After thinking about it some more, i decided to unplug the HD & wipe the mobo settings by pulling out the on board battery, this done nothing still no power and boot.

Then i thought to myself, well it works when i change power supplies, so maybe if i unplug the 24pin power connector and plug it back in see what happens. Then BANG the machine fired straight up and can now get into BIOS.

 

So now im stumped, what & how does a HD effect the 24pin power connector on a mobo?

Just to make sure that im correct, i put back the original PSU and it worked fine, booted into BIOS no probs. Then i replugged the HD again, then bang no power. I then unplugged the HD & the 24pin power connector, replugged the 24pin back in, turned on PC and booted into BIOS.

 

TL:DR people - read from here down

 

So this is where i am at atm, never ever i had a HD problem like this that effects the 24pin power connector on a mobo.

If anyone has come across an issue like this before could you please shed some light on this matter for me and explain how does a HD effect a 24pin on the mobo.

 

I have pulled off the PCB from the HD to inspect it and couldnt find any burn marks or black spots of that nature, by looking at it with the naked eye.

I have emailed some HD companies, to see if i can replace the PCB on the HD, as i couldnt find any PCB on their sites that have the same firmware 3.AAD for ST380815AS type HD's.

 

So IF i do change the PCB, if its even possible, would this fix this current issue, by not allowing machines to boot normally?

 

Any kind of help at this point would be muchly appreciated, as i have never ever seen anything like this HD & mobo behaviour before.

 

Thanks.

Edited September 16, 2018 by Combat_Killer
Added some forgotten info.

[dcgreen2k]

That sounds like there's some sort of short circuit occurring somewhere on the hard drive. The most likely place for this is probably the PCB, so if you are able to replace that, it's the first thing I would do. I've never heard of a hard drive making computers act like that though.

[Cyberspirit]

The HDD probably got shorted and, that's why the PC refuses to boot up. If the data isn't important then just get rid of the drive.

If it is important then, professionals can get the data off of the drive but that's usually pretty pricey.

[WereCatf]

15 minutes ago, Combat_Killer said:

So now im thinking wtf is going here, i cant of blown 3 PSU's by just simply plugging a HD.
 

--SNIP--

 

So now im stumped, what & how does a HD effect the 24pin power connector on a mobo?

--SNIP--

I have pulled off the PCB from the HD to inspect it and couldnt find any burn marks or black spots of that nature, by looking at it with the naked eye.

Yes, you could blow a PSU by plugging in a device with a short in it. As for what does it have to do with the 24-pin connector, well, it happens to be connected to the PSU. As for the HDD's PCB -- most times, you can't see shorts with a naked eye. You can't for example see if a diode has gone bad and is now simply a short.

[Combat_Killer]

4 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

 As for what does it have to do with the 24-pin connector, well, it happens to be connected to the PSU.

Yeah but thats the bit that is fascinating to me, by plugging and unplugging the 24pin allows the the PC to reboot again.
For example, i have seen devices with shorts that either blow the device itself, or the mobo, and very rare occasions a PSU. But i have never seen or come across an instant on all i have to do is reset a boot function just by simply plugging and unplugging a 24pin power connector, i just thought it seems a little odd, imo.

 

@thegreengamers @Cyberspirit

 

Yeah thats what i told the customer, that it could have a blown part or diode on the board somewhere and i dont have a thousand dollar microscope to check the circuitry, when its just as cheap to replace the PCB.
The trouble i got is trying to find the exact same one, lols.

[WereCatf]

5 minutes ago, Combat_Killer said:

Yeah but thats the bit that is fascinating to me, by plugging and unplugging the 24pin allows the the PC to reboot again.
For example, i have seen devices with shorts that either blow the device itself, or the mobo, and very rare occasions a PSU. But i have never seen or come across an instant on all i have to do is reset a boot function just by simply plugging and unplugging a 24pin power connector, i just thought it seems a little odd, imo.

There's a +5V low-current wakeup-power going into the mobo at all times and this low current quite likely kept the protection-circuit inside the PSU latched, once you first tripped it with the HDD. You would've been able to reset it just by unplugging the PSU and letting its caps drain too, though.

[Bananasplit_00]

Sounds to me like a short in the HDD is what's causing your problems. Unless you are experienced with HDD repair I'd send it off to drive savers or someone else with a good rep

[Cyberspirit]

11 minutes ago, Combat_Killer said:

Yeah but thats the bit that is fascinating to me, by plugging and unplugging the 24pin allows the the PC to reboot again.
For example, i have seen devices with shorts that either blow the device itself, or the mobo, and very rare occasions a PSU. But i have never seen or come across an instant on all i have to do is reset a boot function just by simply plugging and unplugging a 24pin power connector, i just thought it seems a little odd, imo.

 

@thegreengamers @Cyberspirit

 

Yeah thats what i told the customer, that it could have a blown part or diode on the board somewhere and i dont have a thousand dollar microscope to check the circuitry, when its just as cheap to replace the PCB.
The trouble i got is trying to find the exact same one, lols.

The PC doesn't turn on because it can see that the HDD is faulty so, that's a good thing. If it did turn on it could possibly damage something else in there.

 

As for replacing the PCB, I'm not an expert on this but, I believe it's not all that easy. If it's really important data just send it to professionals.

If you do want to repair it then, you'd need to find the part number on the PCB and get the exact same one.

Here are some links:

Spoiler

https://www.hddzone.com/seagate_pcb_swap_replacement_guide.html

 

https://www.hddzone.com/seagate-barracuda-720010-pcb-c-9.html

 

[Combat_Killer]

5 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

There's a +5V low-current wakeup-power going into the mobo at all times and this low current quite likely kept the protection-circuit inside the PSU latched, once you first tripped it with the HDD. You would've been able to reset it just by unplugging the PSU and letting its caps drain too, though.

Oh i see, thanks for the further explaination, now i understand it now.

Thank you!