[SOLVED] Barracuda 3.5" Internal hdd not spinning up

Jun 17, 2021
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I've never posted here before so apologies if I'm doing this wrong.

I have a somewhat new pc that I got, and it had no hdd or ssd in it so I decided to put in both. Settled on getting a 250gb ssd as the boot drive and a 2tb hdd as additional storage.
Pc powers up and works fine with the ssd, I installed win10 on it and it works perfectly fine.
However when it came to adding in the hard drive, which is brand new, I just purchased it yesterday, nothing happened. The system powers up, but it didn't spin up, and the system does not see it.
I was confused and took out the hdd and tried to put in an older 1tb one I have, and upon startup, the pc did not start and there was a click from its general direction and it instantly smelled burnt. I shut off the power straight away and removed it. I tried another 500gb drive right after and it again did not start up, and there was the same click and burnt smell, and even a small spark this time on the exposed circuit board. Again, I just shut off the power and removed it.
I then tried to connect the new 2tb hdd and both the 'burnt' ones to an old desktop and they work fine, the system sees them. So why is it that my new PC refuses to see the new drive? Both PCs I tested the drive in have a 750w psu, except one is a corsair cx750 and the other is an rm750.
The motherboard is an MSi MEG Z390 Ace, and has all the required drivers installed.

Any idea why this may be happening? I can provide a list of all the other components I have, to the best of my ability, if needed.
 
Solution
The cables from two different PSUs may look physical identical, but the pin definitions may differ. For example, pin #1 may be +12V for one cable but +5V for the other cable. If you mix these cables, then your HDD could end up seeing +12V on its +5V input, which would cause significant damage.
Jun 17, 2021
4
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Did you do this?

Warning: do not interchange modular PSU cables:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=2545

If so, then see ...

TVS Diode FAQ:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=86

The cable im using is labeled as a "SATA" cable, printed right on the psu-side end of it. I'm also plugging it into the psu's sockets that are also labeled "SATA/perif" Does that not mean that it is the correct one I should be using? I'm not super educated on this stuff, apologies.
 
The cables from two different PSUs may look physical identical, but the pin definitions may differ. For example, pin #1 may be +12V for one cable but +5V for the other cable. If you mix these cables, then your HDD could end up seeing +12V on its +5V input, which would cause significant damage.
 
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Solution
Jun 17, 2021
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Issue resolved after many tedious hours,
As suggested, the cable was indeed wrong. I measured the voltage of the cable I was using while the system was on, and the voltage was all weird, very different from another sata power cable in my other current working setup. After digging around I found another cable tucked away behind the motherboard under the backside cover, tested the voltage and it was the right one, had to rewire some things to make sure it reached the hdd but now its working fine, was very pleasing to finally hear the drive make a startup buzz. Thank you for all the help! I really appreciate it :giggle: