Specific HDD being plugged in stops pc from posting

[8BitLoser]

My pc wouldnt post today when I woke up, it's been in this exact configuration for 3 months now, and nothing was wrong when I shut down last night. 

 

I have a Msi B450 so it doesn't give a post code, but it does have error lights, and the gpu error led is lit. I assumed my gpu just died, but I put it in another system and it worked fine.

 

So I started unplugging things one at a time and lo and behold when I unplugged both drive cables from my psu it worked. Then when I started plugging drives in one at a time, one drive was stopping me from booting, and it's only that specific one, I've tried other combos and they all work. 

 

So for some reason this drive won't even let me post. I started to think it was my psu but every drive will boot, and just having this one won't. Also why wouldn't I be able to post/why does the motherboard think it's the gpu when it's just a dead drive? 

 

Any clue what's going on? 

[Guest]

It's getting stuck on the VGA light because the failed drive is probably preventing the "Boot" self check during startup. 

 

What kind of drive is it? A spinner?

 

An old trick with spinners 50% chance of it working is to stick the drive in your freezer for a day and then slap it in the system and pull your data off as quick as possible (the important stuff first) and then ditch the drive.

[8BitLoser]

Just now, Guest 5150 said:

It's getting stuck on the VGA light because the failed drive is probably preventing the "Boot" self check during startup. 

 

What kind of drive is it? A spinner?

 

An old trick with spinners 50% chance of it working is to stick the drive in your freezer for a day and then slap it in the system and pull your data off as quick as possible (the important stuff first) and then ditch the drive. 

Yeah I just tried plugging in a different sata cable and it did the same thing, I think you're right. And yeah it's a HDD not SSD. 

 

I'll try the freezer trick, nothing critical is on it but its my main steam drive/my emulation drive.

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, 8BitLoser said:

Yeah I just tried plugging in a different sata cable and it did the same thing, I think you're right. And yeah it's a HDD not SSD. 

 

I'll try the freezer trick, nothing critical is on it but its my main steam drive/my emulation drive.

It's not doing the "clicking of death" is it? That increase the chances the freezer trick works. But luckily there's nothing important on it.

 

Seagate?

[Rysters Tech]

23 minutes ago, 8BitLoser said:

Yeah I just tried plugging in a different sata cable and it did the same thing, I think you're right. And yeah it's a HDD not SSD. 

 

I'll try the freezer trick, nothing critical is on it but its my main steam drive/my emulation drive.

The freezer trick no longer works with modern drives as the densities are so high and the tolerances are so tight that freezing it certainly wont help the situation.