Can a motherboard problem destroy hard disk drives?

[Bob]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

I have a machine I have been using as a test bed. I started
having hard disk drive failures, and finally realized this
motherboard might be the problem. At first, I thought cable
problems, etc. I finally tried the drives in other PCs, but they
still are displayed as failing by the powermax maxtor drive test
program, even after a low level format on one. Is it likely that
a motherboard problem could actually destroy the drives? Or, is
the damage recoverable? Is there a test program which can verify
proper motherboard disk controller operation?

Bob

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Tue, 07 Dec 2004 04:27:00 GMT, "Bob"
<bobnospam1@softhome.net> wrote:

>I have a machine I have been using as a test bed. I started
>having hard disk drive failures, and finally realized this
>motherboard might be the problem. At first, I thought cable
>problems, etc. I finally tried the drives in other PCs, but they
>still are displayed as failing by the powermax maxtor drive test
>program, even after a low level format on one. Is it likely that
>a motherboard problem could actually destroy the drives?

No.

>Or, is
>the damage recoverable?

No, if they fail the Maxtor diag. they're gone.

>Is there a test program which can verify
>proper motherboard disk controller operation?

Why assume it's the motherboard?
Do other drives work if connected to that board? If so it'd
seem to be in working order still.

Far more likely an overheating or power supply problem.
If it were only one drive we might wonder if it was just a
random drive failure but with multiple drives it'd seem most
likely to be the power supply.

What power supply and what was the rest of the system like?

 

[Bob]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"kony" <spam@spam.com> wrote in message
news:3uvar05qi3i0jvqt8om9o0imtiqld5kbcf@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 07 Dec 2004 04:27:00 GMT, "Bob"
> <bobnospam1@softhome.net> wrote:
>
> >I have a machine I have been using as a test bed. I started
> >having hard disk drive failures, and finally realized this
> >motherboard might be the problem. At first, I thought cable
> >problems, etc. I finally tried the drives in other PCs, but
they
> >still are displayed as failing by the powermax maxtor drive
test
> >program, even after a low level format on one. Is it likely
that
> >a motherboard problem could actually destroy the drives?
>
> No.
>
> >Or, is
> >the damage recoverable?
>
> No, if they fail the Maxtor diag. they're gone.
>
> >Is there a test program which can verify
> >proper motherboard disk controller operation?
>
> Why assume it's the motherboard?
> Do other drives work if connected to that board? If so it'd
> seem to be in working order still.
>
> Far more likely an overheating or power supply problem.
> If it were only one drive we might wonder if it was just a
> random drive failure but with multiple drives it'd seem most
> likely to be the power supply.
>
> What power supply and what was the rest of the system like?

I was thinking about this last night and decided that the power
supply could be the problem. I'm glad to have your confirmation.
The supply was a "tiger power" supply in a micron millenium
chassis. I just swapped in a 350 watt supply, and will run some
tests to see how it's doing.

This is the first time I've had a problem like this in many years
of building and rebuilding systems. I'm afraid I've fried a few
drives in the process. I will retest them with the replacement
supply and hope for the best.

Bob