[SOLVED] Disks wont mount after replaced power cable

[sergiopol]

Hello, I have an issue with a very long story but I'll cut to the chase. I have had power problems in my apartment recently and as a result I began having electrical problems inside my PC. Some disks started to fail and one fan stopped working. After some trial and error I figured out one connector from the power cable from the PSU was at fault. A friend gave me one and I replaced it but now none of the disks were showing. So I compared the cable's connectors and while they have both 6 pins the pattern is different. My old one leaves the third pin from the bottom row iddle while his had the middle pin from the top row iddle. So I decided to get the specific cable from my PSU model. I replaced it and still the drives are not mounting. I have a second cable to connect another group of disks and they're all working ok. All of those are SSD while the ones not mounting are all SATA drives. I shuffled some disks and figured out the new cable (the one I bought) is working. Is there a chance the wrong cable damaged my disks? Thank you for your help.

 

[Nemesia]

Yes it's possible the other cable damaged your drives. The cables you use for your PSU has to be the cables it comes with. You cannot use a cable from another PSU.

It's possible that the power issues you're been having is the cause of that damage too.

It's not hard to test a SATA drive. You plug it. You test another cable. If it's not detected anywhere and not even on another system the drive is dead.

 

[fzabkar]

There may be a simple, no cost DIY fix.

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

 

[carocuore]

A friend gave me one and I replaced it but now none of the disks were showing. So I compared the cable's connectors and while they have both 6 pins the pattern is different.

This is a noncommutative operation, this is why non-modular power supplies were better, when will manufacturers understand?

Since you mentioned chance, if you were lucky then you only have a burnt fuse on each drive's board, but, if you were unlucky it's possible something else was shorted by an incorrect voltage, that'll cost you since an expert will have to fix it.

If someone else's reading this I know what you're thinking, "just replace the PCB, duh", although it may work (chance again) each batch of drives carry a different firmware so if you get a PCB with v1.1238 firmware and your drive had v1.1239 it won't work.

 

[sergiopol]

Yes it's possible the other cable damaged your drives. The cables you use for your PSU has to be the cables it comes with. You cannot use a cable from another PSU.

It's possible that the power issues you're been having is the cause of that damage too.

It's not hard to test a SATA drive. You plug it. You test another cable. If it's not detected anywhere and not even on another system the drive is dead.

Thanks, that was what I feared but wasn't eager to assume.

 

[sergiopol]

There may be a simple, no cost DIY fix.

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

That sounds a lot to what I experienced. Still don't know about half the stuff they mentioned there, there's a littlebit of hope. Thank you very much.

 

[sergiopol]

This is a noncommutative operation, this is why non-modular power supplies were better, when will manufacturers understand?

Since you mentioned chance, if you were lucky then you only have a burnt fuse on each drive's board, but, if you were unlucky it's possible something else was shorted by an incorrect voltage, that'll cost you since an expert will have to fix it.

If someone else's reading this I know what you're thinking, "just replace the PCB, duh", although it may work (chance again) each batch of drives carry a different firmware so if you get a PCB with v1.1238 firmware and your drive had v1.1239 it won't work.

I trusted my friend's judgement too blindly since he builds PC's. I didn't ever expect a wrong cable could do that. It thought they were universal.